American friends and colleagues who are interested in the media but might not want Press Gazette's daily newsletter: May I recommend my Future of Media US newsletter which comes out each Friday? I round up all the stories that will be most relevant to you: open.substack.com/pub/pressgaz...

Mishal Husain responds to Nigel Farage's 'listen, love' and shares a good take on how to do the best interviews - it's not as a 'contest' or letting it become a 'slanging match' pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/b...

I usually forget to share my stuff on Bluesky, but I should flag this one that I'm particularly proud of: what happened when we found out about a 'freelance journalist' called 'Margaux Blanchard' who had got published in Wired and Business Insider pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/d...

Interesting to see Reach papers the Express and Daily Star use a blurred image of an injured Liverpool supporter but The Guardian and The i Paper use the same photo uncensored www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

News: Management at the New Statesman and sister titles including Press Gazette have signed a union recognition agreement after years of negotiation. www.nuj.org.uk/resource/nuj...

Vittles in print: profitable, twice a year, the culmination of a long-held ambition - although print is "now countercultural" and can have "misplaced sense of prestige". ‪Great interview with @jonathandnunn.bsky.social‬ pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/m...

We're hiring at Press Gazette! We're looking to hire either a junior reporter up for learning all about the world of media, or a more experienced person who can work part-time with me & Dominic Ponsford. Feel free to send me any Qs. You can get all the info here: pressgazette.co.uk/media-jobs/p...

This is wild, fascinating and genuinely important. pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/d...

My favourite thing about this piece by Colin Freeman is the emphasis on how great local newspapers were/are as a place to start for young journalists. "Yet like many in my trade, I regard my days on local papers as the most useful in my career." www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...

Aside from the financial results themselves, really interested to see Jim Mullen highlight the customer experience on Reach sites. He says they are rolling out a new website platform which is tripling page loading speed pressgazette.co.uk/media_busine...

Three incredibly striking front pages today: 1. Daily Mail taking a massive stand on AI ahead of the Govt consultation closing. 2. The Sun: "paedo spotted spluttering on vape"! 3. New York Post calling out Trump and Putin. I have seen all three of these praised today: the power of print lives on!

It's a tough choice but here is my favourite of Tom's commandments: "And here is another thing to remember every time you sit down at the keyboard: a little sign that says "Nobody has to read this crap.""

@charlottetobitt.bsky.social covers our new paywalls study at @pressgazette.co.uk. Fully study: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... We dug into millions of visits to paywalled articles at 21 news websites to see what prevented & prompted visitors starting & finishing the subscription journey.

Fascinating interview with Will Hayward who left Wales Online to relaunch his newsletter on his own and said it has proved a financial "no-brainer". Publishers are going to have to reckon with the fact a lot of their top talent could earn more on their own pressgazette.co.uk/newsletters/...

For a few years now the Mail has been slowly combining its print and digital operations, in part getting rid of duplicated work between Mail Online and the papers. This is believed to be the final stage. Double-digit job cuts (so 99 or fewer) expected. pressgazette.co.uk/news/mail-do...

New Adrian Chiles classic just dropped: "I have lost all faith in zips" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Enjoyed outgoing Daily Star editor Jon Clark's entire quote about his departure: “It’s been fun.” Big shake-up as new Daily Star editor-in-chief will be focused on online for the first time, with the print editor reporting to him. pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/n...

An absolutely remarkable judgment. Court of Appeal says judge was "unfair" to the media including because he said "with such vehemence… that the journalists had been guilty of inaccurate, unfair and irresponsible reporting" and was sarcastic about a Dispatches prog pressgazette.co.uk/news/journal...

News UK admits ‘unlawful activities’ at Sun in settlement apology to Prince Harry pressgazette.co.uk/news/prince-...

Fascinating to discover the tech world is currently obsessed with using the Chatham House Rule “There’s no clear reason why we’re using it,” he said. “I haven’t noticed people saying spicier stuff.” sfstandard.com/2025/01/11/c...

In which I give some analysis of the Tortoise-Observer deal, share our biggest British Journalism Awards winners, shout out some women in journalism.. oh and also reveal my sister-in-law is obsessed with Gavin & Stacey and that I have a soft spot for a Netflix rom com (One Day and Nobody Wants This)

Big day for media takeover news in the UK: The Observer and Tortoise make their deal official, while the 3rd-biggest regional publisher National World agrees a takeover by marketing business and Irish local publisher Media Concierge. Both are expected to take effect in Q1 (spring for The Observer)

Billy Bragg sang at the Guardian/Observer picket line today! He cracked out protest song Which Side Are You On? @gonuj.org @nujofficial.bsky.social Pic credit: Mark Thomas

British erasure! 😅 if you type 'The Times' into Bluesky search, The New York Times comes up above The Times & Sunday Times (Yes, I know it will be because the NYT has so many more followers)

UK journalists: I'm on the lookout for a news publisher or two who's using Reddit really successfully or in an interesting or developing way. Any ideas who I should look at, let me know! Thanks

Some remarkable quotes from Observer staff's furious meeting with management. One journalist asked The Scott Trust's chair if he knew his name (he didn't). "To care about the Guardian and Observer you have to know us, you have to read us, you have to care..." pressgazette.co.uk/news/scott-t...

The deal to sell The Observer to Tortoise Media was approved while staff were on the second evening of their 48-hour strike, through which they were asking for a pause to the sale to look at other bidders.

In other sale news this morning, National World's board is 'minded to' accept a major shareholder's takeover offer (if it is now made formally). National World is the UK's third-largest regional news publisher. pressgazette.co.uk/the-wire/med...

Press Gazette editor-in-chief @dominicponsford.bsky.social has got going on Bluesky! 100% worth a follow for media stuff. And he’s doing the best stuff on the Observer - Tortoise stuff.

incidentally, social traffic breakdown for this story: - 21% X - 39% "dark social" (presumably Bluesky) - 40% LinkedIn

I've seen people saying The Guardian made the wrong decision as it's better to be in the room. But Twitter never did bring in much traffic compared to Facebook etc, and as a news org you have to consider where you put your resources as well as the moral points. pressgazette.co.uk/news/the-gua...

TIL Barry Diller has cloned his dead dog five times !!!?? www.ft.com/content/ebf2...

posting this again as it sadly feels relevant today youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/quite-a-bl...

Evening Standard losses grew to £21m in 2023 - the biggest losses it's sustained in its free era. Revenue was also at a low. It explains the financial backdrop to the end of the daily Evening Standard newspaper last month pressgazette.co.uk/media_busine...

Here is fake Keir in all his paper glory and yes the Brian Sewell AI review is real. It states that the Standard has made a donation to a charity of his estate’s choice and gives you some of his real writing to compare

Google AI Overviews proving immensely helpful...Just got this response (I was looking for an actual website answer, but it's hard to avoid these when they appear): "The main difference between the free and paid versions of Picflow is that the paid version costs money, while the free version is free"

Google's snippet answer for “PPE Medpro owner” is a good example of why you should ignore the no-click AI answer and read the piece it's imitating, in this case @danneidle.bsky.social's piece on the company. (Barrowman has since admitted being the ultimate beneficial owner.)

Awful news to share today as The Telegraph's 'Ukraine: The Latest' podcast presenter, David Knowles, has died. He was 32: pressgazette.co.uk/news/telegra...

BBC to cut up to 115 jobs in Nations and Regions editorial and production: - about 40 to 45 jobs at BBC Local in England - 25 to 30 in Wales - 25 to 30 in Scotland - 10 to 12 in Northern Ireland pressgazette.co.uk/news/bbc-to-...

Came to learn a bit about Lebedev and the Standard (the below is pretty much all he said about that) - stayed for the amazing photos of his Hampton Court Park house

This is a really lovely piece about Ryan Evans, the Reuters safety adviser killed in Ukraine at the weekend. '“Are you ok?“ was a question Evans repeatedly asked of journalists he worked with.' www.reuters.com/investigatio...

It's a data bonanza on Press Gazette today: Most encouraging is the data from the UK regional news websites. The latest online audience estimates for the top 78 local newsbrands in the UK reveal booming growth in July for most titles. pressgazette.co.uk/media-audien...

I hope this spreads as widely as some of the nonsense about all vegan food being super processed and unhealthy... www.theguardian.com/business/art...

bluesky had 36,000 uk sign-ups in the two weeks after the riots started, which cross referenced with our account growth produces the very funny conclusion that ~3% of the newcomers followed press gazette. welcome!

'important to treat Bluesky like a serious platform instead of a fallback..If you put effort into creating a solid presence on Bluesky you'll be rewarded with plenty of engagement despite the platform's vastly smaller size': Wise words for growing here from the FT pressgazette.co.uk/platforms/pl...

This should be a wake up call for the industry. The Lincolnite was one of the shining lights of local indy journalism in the UK and has now gone under. There are many others, including us at Social Spider, that need help to survive. pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/r...

Never seen @pressgazette.co.uk referenced in fiction before! Very excited to find this halfway through Andrew O’Hagan’s (excellent so far) Caledonian Road

Some new info about what the Evening Standard will look like when it goes weekly - it will come out on Thursdays as The London Standard from 26 September pressgazette.co.uk/news/the-lon...

This is fun! More collectibles journalism, I say www.adweek.com/media/athlet...

we're now approaching 200% growth since a month ago. those starter packs have very much helped solve bluesky's discoverability issues