Trust in media down in UK (but great in China) | National World results
And Daily Mail's long-serving tennis correspondent dies on assignment
Good morning and welcome to your daily helping of news about the world of news from Press Gazette on Friday, 19 January, brought to you today in association with PA Media.
New research has found that just 31% of Britons trust media institutions to do what is right.
The latest Edelman survey puts the UK bottom of 28 leading economies when it comes to trust in media.
The only possible solace we in the media business can draw from the report is that China ranked top of the table with 77% of its citizens trusting that country’s largely corrupt and biased media institutions.
So perhaps there are worse things than having a sceptical electorate and media institutions that sometimes get things wrong.
It is a shame though that - from the Post Office IT scandal to the dodgy dealings of sketchy politicians like Michelle Mone - Britons don’t give journalists more credit for their vital watchdog role.
Talking about Baroness Mone, if you enjoyed the latest extraordinary revelations about her family’s dodgy business dealings on Newsnight last night you should read my interview with the man who investigated them - tax lawyer turned crusading investigative journalist Dan Neidle. He fears there will be nowhere for reports like this to air once Newsnight’s reporters have all been axed and the show cuts down to 30 minutes.
Today we also have the latest big publisher financial results to show broadly the same picture of decline from last year. Regional press giant National World has, however, managed to continue overall growth via acquisitions which have included Wolverhampton Express & Star publisher Midlands News Association.
National World CEO David Montgomery said: “Given our scalable infrastructure the company will continue to seek to take advantage of further acquisitions that release significant synergies.”
Inspiring words to rally the troops!
Over 38 years he covered 30 sports in almost 50 different countries. A tragically early end to a wonderful life in journalism.
Job of the week:
News UK - assistant head of features - based in London (12 months FTC)
Promoted report
PA Media are delighted to present the third edition of their yearly content guide – ‘Year in Content 20232 - a guide to how journalists engaged with PA's words, pictures and videos in 2023.
It's an in-depth look back at the past year, highlighting the key stories from each month and what proved most popular on PA’s award-winning editorial platform Explore.
It also provides a snapshot of the year ahead, with editorial experts sharing how they see the news landscape in 2024 across topics including news, sport, entertainment and politics.
Please click here to view the report and see how journalists used PA’s content last year.
New from Press Gazette
Trust in media: UK drops to last place in Edelman survey of 28 nations
The annual survey asked how much people trust the media "to do what is right".
Acquisitions help National World buck trend with 5% revenue growth
The publisher is now forecasting revenues above £100m in 2024.
Daily Mail tennis correspondent Mike Dickson dies while covering Australian Open
The Mail described "Dicko" as "talented, kind and knowledgeable".
Podcast 63: Political reporting in an election year with Chris Hope and Gloria De Piero
In the latest episode, Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford met GB News presenting duo Gloria De Piero and Christopher Hope. They spoke about their new weekly show, PMQs Live, the future of political reporting in an election year and why they think GB News is striking a chord with viewers by offering them more of what they want.
News in brief
Paul Royall has been named the permanent executive news editor for the BBC News Channel, which merged from the BBC's two previous TV news channels last April. (Press Gazette)
Video streaming platform Twitch has ended multi-year partnerships with publishers including Rolling Stone and Vice as their contracts ran out. Vice told Press Gazette last year it was making a "long-term commitment" to Twitch. (Adweek)
Music news website Pitchfork is being folded into GQ by owner Conde Nast, which bought it in 2015. It comes "after a careful evaluation" of its performance, with layoffs taking place and the departure of its editor-in-chief. (The Quietus)
New CNN CEO Mark Thompson has set out his plan to shake up its newsgathering operations into one unit for TV, streaming and digital. He also wants to monetise its offering, possibly through subscriptions, and find a better way to show video news on phones. (Wall Street Journal)
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said they "actually don’t need to train" on New York Times data amid the publisher's lawsuit. "Any one particular training source, it doesn’t move the needle for us that much.” But he predicted "great new ways to consume and monetise news". (CNBC)
Academics looking at whether Google results have become less helpful have found that across 7,392 product review searches "higher-ranked pages are on average more optimised, more monetised with affiliate marketing and they show signs of lower text quality". (404 Media)
The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee has launched a new inquiry into the future of news in the UK including issues arising from the impact of tech platforms and generative AI on business models, plus impartiality and trust. (UK Parliament)
Telegraph Media Group has reported subscriptions up 2.3% period-on-period in last quarter of 2023 to 1,035,710, of which 688,012 are digital. (TMG)
Los Angeles Times journalists will walk out on strike today in opposition to “major” upcoming layoffs and "obscene and unsustainable" changes to the union contract. (Daily Beast)
Meanwhile The LA Times has entered into a content sharing agreement with three foreign-language newspapers in the city that will see translated LAT articles appear in those papers and vice versa. (LA Times)
ITN is publishing a children’s book aimed at 8 to 14 year-olds, written by ITN communications expert Jane Marlow, about how the news works, covering fake news, impartiality and career options. It's part of an outreach and media literacy drive at ITN.
BBC News chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet has been recognised with an honorary degree for her contribution to journalism at Keele University this week. (BBC)
Bauer Media has appointed Nicola Bates as group managing director - commercial for UK publishing. Bates rejoins Bauer, where she was formerly managing director for its specialist and food brands and head of marketing, from her latest role as CEO at Autovia. (Magnetic Media)
Previously on Press Gazette
How publishers can buck the trend of declining online advertising spend
How publishers should respond to a deluge of news industry cyberattacks
Post Office IT scandal underlines need for a reset in corporate communications
Reach boosted by Prince Harry trial result and end of pension deficit says CEO
While New York Times litigates over AI, many media companies will liquidate – US Congress warned
