Good morning. It’s Monday 20th May 2024.

Monday: Report and recommendations from the long-running infected blood inquiry are published

High Court looks set to rule on Julian Assange’s final attempt to appeal his extradition to the US 

Tuesday: Closing arguments in Trump’s hush money trial

England Euro 2024 preliminary squad announced

International Booker Prize winner announced

Wednesday: Paula Vennells gives evidence at Horizon Inquiry

Thursday: Quarterly migration statistics

Friday: Anti-tourist demonstration in Ibiza

Saturday: Men’s FA Cup final: Manchester City v Manchester United

Women’s Champions League final: Barcelona v Lyon

Sunday: Emmanuel Macron state visit to Germany

“What I always try to explain to academics is that essentially the intellectual task of dealing with the media is actually very, very similar to the intellectual task of writing a good journal article.”

A bonus episode of Year Of The Expert featuring the thoughts of Sir John Curtice.

LISTEN HERE

Publishers including Global, The Guardian and Tortoise write to the Culture Secretary to complain about BBC plans to run ads alongside its podcasts on third-party platforms.

“The impact of it extracting audio advertising funds from the nascent UK podcasting market would be disastrous, especially for the numerous small independent podcast producers.”

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“Well I’m surprised at you lauding a paeon to bullying, which is what that Politico piece is, dressed up as nostalgia.”

Criticism from a reader about my praise for Jack Shafer’s article on the decline in standards of journalism in the US, which led last Monday’s edition.

Fair?

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We’ve said this many times before, but the media appearances party leaders really need to prep for – and take seriously – are not Today, Sky News or Newsnight, but Loose Women, Lorraine, and Newsround…

“The risk is obvious: if you screw up, you screw up in front of more people. Sunak went on Loose Women because no one’s actually going to read an interview with him in the Telegraph. Then the big story was that someone else said something to him.”

Tom Hamilton, quoted in an Observer piece by Jim Waterson, following Keir Starmer’s appearance yesterday on Sunday Brunch.

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The Today Programme’s new recruit Emma Barnett, on the power of listening. Her first week has been well-received.

“So chilled John Humphrys will choke on his cornflakes.”

Mark Lawson’s review in the Guardian: READ MORE

And finally, it’s been kicking around for a while but re-surfaced on social media again last week and makes me smile every time I see it…

Footnotes:

CNN will host the first 2024 Presidential Debate between Biden and Trump on the 27th June.

Times Radio has appointed political heavyweights Ed Vaizey and Ayesha Hazarika to share presenting duties in its weekday lunchtime slot.

Tony Blair and his wife Cherie celebrated the birth of their fourth child, Leo, on this day in 2000.

Highs of 16 degrees in Perth today and 15 in Hull.

And one of our special guest stars returns this week. Presenting Theo with his doppelgänger buddy. (Melts your heart just a bit, doesn’t he…)

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done. We’re @insideedgemedia or just reply to this email. 

Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge