Why Starmer will get easier media ride than Kinnock | ABCs | Politicalite libel payout
Plus The Messenger's ex-editor takes over at Us Weekly, new Newsnight chief and National World to sell a business it only acquired in September
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Wednesday, 13 March.
Barring any extraordinary reverse ferrets, Keir Starmer will go into the next UK general election facing a largely hostile right-wing printed press.
The Mail and Express titles, Sun and Telegraph can be expected to lead the charge. But in today's online age do the views of a few national newspaper editors matter?
I've crunched the numbers to look at the reach of news publishers with a declared political preference across print, broadcast and online. And while right-wing news outlets still have the edge, they are vastly outweighed by politically neutral broadcasters and websites.
And according to Ofcom research, they are nowhere near as influential a source of news as Facebook.
My hypothesis is that Starmer will face a far more level media playing field than predecessor Neil Kinnock who in 1992 blamed his narrow general election defeat on vociferous opposition from right-wing tabloids which were then a far stronger voice in UK national life.
Today we also report on an online news website which is facing a £90,000 libel payout after making seriously damaging allegations and then behaving somewhat petulantly when asked to retract them.
We also have the latest national press newspaper circulation figures which include, for the first time, my own estimate for where sales of The Sun, Times, Telegraph, Guardian and Observer now are. These titles have kept their circulations secret for at least the last three years. I've given a view on where they are likely to be if sales have fallen in line with the industry average.
New from Press Gazette
Partisan publishers: Why Keir Starmer will have an easier election than Neil Kinnock
In print, right-leaning daily newspaper titles have a substantial 2.1 million to 300,000 circulation advantage over left-wing titles.
Phillip Schofield friend wins £90k damages from news site over false grooming claim
Politicalite’s editor stopped engaging in the case and missed the deadline to file an acknowledgement of service or defence.
National press ABCs: FT sees biggest month-on-month print fall in February
The FT had an average circulation of 108,125 in February according to ABC, down 6% compared to January – although it lost just 0.4% compared to a year earlier.
BBC News podcasts chief to lead cut-down Newsnight
Jonathan Aspinwall currently leads podcasts including Newscast, Americast and Ukrainecast.
Ex-Messenger editor Dan Wakeford gets top Us Weekly job
Wakeford’s appointment comes less than two months after The Messenger collapsed.
National World in ‘advanced discussions’ to sell tech provider it bought in September
National World said staff impacted are currently being consulted.
News in brief
Charlie Bird, one of Ireland's best-known journalists, has died aged 74 more than two years after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease. (RTE)
PA Media's training arm PA Training has relaunched as PA Media Academy with new courses, including short professional training courses, branding and website. MD Vicky Frost said: "Our bold new brand mirrors the confidence we have in our training courses…”
The Culture Secretary says she will publish reports from the CMA and Ofcom about the sale of Telegraph Media Group to Redbird IMI, and make her decision on whether to refer the deal for a further investigation by the CMA, "as quickly as possible". (Parliament)
Associated Press is launching an e-commerce site called AP Buyline with Taboola as the agency tries to grow its consumer revenue. Its categories will include personal finance, home products, beauty and fashion and content will be created by a Taboola team. (Axios)
The New York Times has denied OpenAI's accusation that it "hacked" the AI company's systems to manipulate results for its lawsuit. The publisher in turn accused OpenAI of "grandstanding" in its request to dismiss the case. (Reuters)
Google's latest search update is cracking down on: 1) sites publishing thousands of low-quality articles a day using low-paid contractors or AI, 2) otherwise respectable websites renting out part of their sites for spam content, and 3) expired domain abuse. (The Verge)
Latest podcast
Podcast 66: Online advertising – how publishers can survive a tsunami of change
Online advertising used to support investigative journalism at digital-native brands such as Buzzfeed News and Vice. In the space of just a few years everything has changed, and thousands of journalists have lost their jobs as a result.
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford talks to former Business Insider editor-in-chief Jim Edwards about what is going on and how publishers should adapt to an online publishing ecosystem which is being rocked by a tsunami of disruptive change.
This week on Press Gazette
Tortoise boasts growing podcast audience of up to 3m downloads per month
News media job cuts 2024 tracked: At least 980 redundancies in January and 615 in February
Ukraine’s local news deserts could be barrier to national recovery
Kate apologises after five news agencies withdraw manipulated family photo
Nils Horner deserves justice ten years after murder – as do journalists killed in Gaza
Secunder Kermani: ‘Let us go into Gaza, we’re not beholden to anyone’
Press Gazette live
Our next event (fully booked) is a Media 100 breakfast with Independent chief executive Christian Broughton at The Gherkin in London on 14 March. See our full calendar of awards and events for news, media and publishing in the year ahead and find out how to get involved.