NEW: A critical memo by an ex-BBC adviser has hit the beeb this week. But some question the way it has come out & how Boris Johnson has reacted - as well as the role of figures from his time in power. Johnson states this is "complete & utter bollocks". www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Creator economy latest - you can now create your own Wordle: www.nytimes.com/games/create...

Kudos to Sky News for a project trying to measure the political bias of the X algorithm. Looks like a lot of work involved here: news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

NEW: BBC risks being a Titanic, irrelevant to GenZ, unless it properly embraces the content they want, says The Sidemen manager. Jordan Schwarzenberger says he supports the BBC - but attempts to force YouTube to give it prominence is a “defeatist mentality”: www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

NEW: The Culture, Media and Sport Committee demands to see a report, by former BBC adviser Michael Prescott, which criticised a Panorama programme on Trump and some of the BBC's Gaza conflict coverage. Perhaps we'll get to see this document, which Prescott sent to the BBC's board.

NEW: Rupert Murdoch's Talk breached impartiality rules in a show that repeatedly said Labour had cancelled local elections out of fear of Reform. A rare move from Ofcom - but is this a change in approach? It hasn't issued these rulings often recently... www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

I’ve been off for a fortnight, and in that time the extraordinary battle over the Telegraph sale - within the pages of the Telegraph - has exploded again. Fraser Nelson here with more, attacking the current proposed owners: frasernelson.substack.com/p/when-will-...

Telegraph sale latest - extraordinary accusation from former editor Charles Moore that Gerry Cardinale (from prospective owner RedBird) said he would "go to war with our entire newsroom" over its inquiries into the sale. RedBird contacted for comment. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10...

Sometimes it is worth stepping back and reflecting on what is going on in the media at the moment - the political environment and the disruption. Imagine telling anyone a decade ago this would come from the Pentagon in 2025.

NYT to debut new TikTok-like "Watch" tab in its app TikTok has changed social media with its algorithm. Now it’s changing the mainstream media. It’s not clear what the consequences are of algorithmic attention seeking, other than it works. www.axios.com/2025/10/21/n...

Casting for Celebrity Traitors S2 is getting ridiculous

Having done quite a lot previously to champion children’s literature, an interesting choice for the Today programme to interview Kiera Knightly about her new kids’ book. Probably proving why it is so hard for publishers not to go down the celeb road.

NEW: There was a big backlash to “Tilly Norwood”, the supposed AI actor. It has served to surface a battle taking place on sets right now - over the data taken from performers and where it ends up. My deep dive into the attempts to wrestle back some power: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...

SCOOP: A backlash is growing on sets over full body scans of actors, amid AI concerns. Actor Olivia Williams has spoken to the Guardian about the need to claw back actors’ rights to their data and likeness. Treat the data as strictly as nudity scenes, she says: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

NEW: BBC lambasted again over Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. Ofcom says it committed serious breach of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose child narrator was the son of a Hamas official. BBC has already apologised, but it will now have to broadcast Ofcom's finding at 9pm on BBC2 (date TBC).

Jim's totally right - there is something about Omaze that has put it in a clicky media basket along with Martin Lewis, the Royals etc. Suspect if you looked at number of people with Zoopla/Rightmove alerts, you'd see similar - the fetishisation of housing in a traditionally owner-occupier country?

Planet Earth having another totally normal one

Ofcom used qualitative "focus groups", including GB News viewers, to reach the view there was "no consensus" to stop politicians fronting "current affairs" shows. Farage's show not classed as "news". This new quantitative research appears to contradict that finding. Could Nandy/Ofcom reopen this?

NEW: Net migration almost halved last year. But 84% of regular GB News viewers believe it went up. More importantly, new research revealing this also suggests the public opposes politicians presenting shows - contradicting Ofcom. Lisa Nandy now taking note: www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

NEW: A big pushback from editors, journalists, lawyers over a government plan to give anonymity to firearms officers facing criminal charges. A coalition has contacted the Home Secretary warning it'll damage scrutiny, open justice & fuel online misinformation. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

spoke to the guardian about why there's still a future in linear yet

This is a huge moment in linear broadcast TV. When I began my TV career in 2005, even history documentaries were expected to get 2 million viewers

When I say ‘the crisis in TV isn’t a blip, it’s a paradigm shift’, this 👇👇👇 is why. The ground is shifting fast under our feet and ‘more of what worked before’ isn’t going to cut it. TV needs to see this as an opportunity for innovation, risk, experimentation and the new before it’s too late…

Last month, something unusual happened in TV - none of the main channels got a million viewers at 9pm. The bigger problem was it happened a 2nd & 3rd time soon after. Another unwelcome landmark for linear TV & our shrinking shared TV experience. Does it matter? www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

Farage's flights were paid for by GB News (where he as over for the channel's US launch). Very interesting trans-Atlantic ecosystem developing around media/free speech/radical right.

NEW: Having already been sued, creators of a show depicting Paddington bear as a drug-fuelled podcast host have doubled down. Paddington depicted using the legal docs as... toilet paper. Legal action is an "attack on comedy"/part of a wider trend, they. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

SCOOP: Matthew Garrahan, head of digital platforms at the FT, is off to RedBird Capital. It has various media interests, but will soon own the Telegraph - could Garrahan end up as the Telegraph's new CEO? With the purchase incomplete, that's not a bauble RedBird can yet offer.

This obviously could and should have been caught several times over before broadcast, but I think Mulville is talking about the very thin end of a bigger issue here - how certain political talking points end up in the minds of people in the mainstream media.

NEW: A false claim about Euan Blair found its way into Have I Got News For You. It was from an X post seen almost 3m times - and it was wrong. Production chief blames a "digital native" culture. A very online media class drinking in social media = danger: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

NEW: The BBC is pushing the govt to dip into the defence budget to pay for the BBC World Service. But others close to the broadcaster are worried about the risks to its journalism that could arise from that. The broadcaster feels crucial as the US withdraws... www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

Currently the front page of the BBC News website. Fair to say they're leaning in to vertical video. They're v proud of it

NEW: Celebrity Traitors was the most-watched terrestrial show yesterday with a whopping 46.4% audience share. Average audience was just below 6.1m and peak audience was just over 6.5m. But I missed it, so no spoilers, please. Figures from the Digital-i agency.

Team Aniston on this one... www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...

NEW: Last month, a delegation from GB News entered the White House & met with Trump. Senior Trump figures turned up at its US launch party. Could it now become Trump’s preferred outlet in Europe? It’s reopened the debate over Ofcom’s oversight of impartiality. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

NEW: It turns out depicting Paddington Bear as a drug-crazed, potty-mouthed podcast host doesn't go down well with those that own his rights... Spitting Image team being sued over their use of him in YouTube show, The Rest Is Bulls*!t.... www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...

The incredible rise of Bari Weiss - The Free Press only started up in 2021...

Bari Weiss is set to be named the editor in chief of CBS News, the New York Post reports

BREAKING: Reform council ENDS its ban on local journalists after legal threat. Blames a misunderstanding. Victory here for Nottinghamshire Live and local journalism: www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

NEW: Could Nigel Farage really win the next election? Here’s what the polls say... A great data exercise by the Guardian team, which also goes into how multi-party politics - and the nature of Labour's election landslide - now makes it vulnerable: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

AI experts - with the creation of #TillyNorwood, is Particle6 doing anything that someone couldn't do themselves on one of the big AI video platforms? It says it has proprietary software, but is it really doing something studios couldn't do themselves? www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...

NEW: A local paper whose journalists have been ostracised by a Reform UK council is taking legal action, arguing it's a breach of its right to free expression. Nottingham Post points to free speech - a notion championed at US Congress by... Nigel Farage. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/s...

I was recently lamenting the relative absence of new Chris Morris material. So completely normal to learn that in 2023, he spoke at... the local medical committees conference to talk about GP surgeries. Talk features Wes Streeting with a flash drive in his neck. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vECE...

NEW: Bullying and harassment towards women is still rife within the creative industries. Despite serious attempts to change the culture, a worrying new survey found 7/10 of female workforce have experienced toxic behaviour. Can new initiatives turn this around? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

This week, I listened again to all of On The Hour. For all the change in the media, it holds up incredibly well. Chris Morris's take on the modern media and tech bros would be worth a listen. A big creative absence.

GB News has taken the digital ID news well

NEW: British children watching YouTube risk losing connection to British English & culture - algorithm pushes US content. So says the BBC's children's TV boss. Familiar to any parents of kids who say "math" & "garbage" YouTube's dominance getting discussed: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

BBC, in association with AFP, the Associated Press & Reuters, has launched a short film calling on the Israeli authorities to allow international journalists access to Gaza. The film, narrated by veteran BBC journalist David Dimbleby. Pressure increasing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cVK...

NEW: Content creators have completely changed the media, but streamers with bigger audiences than many TV shows still struggle to get basic recognition for everything from studio space to mortgages. They're now getting some support in parliament. Story: www.theguardian.com/media/2025/s...

NEW: A former Meta executive who wrote an explosive exposé about the company is said to be “on the verge of bankruptcy” after publishing the book. Meta strongly denies the book’s claims - she was blocked from publicising it. Story: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Committee To Protect Journalists says preliminary investigations show at least 201 journalists/media workers were among the those killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel & Lebanon since October 2023, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.