“What was celebrated was conformity. And what was frowned upon was selling yourself…which in a way is what you need to do in interviews.”

Year Of The Expert continues with Chapter 5: Roots.

What stops experts from saying yes to the media?

LISTEN HERE

Morning all – it’s Monday 5th February 2024.

Today: The new Northern Ireland executive is expected to hold its first meeting

OECD set to release an evaluation of its economic outlook

Tuesday: Liz Truss at Popular Conservatism launch event

Wednesday: Deadline for demolition of Captain Tom memorial spa

Thursday: Parliamentary elections in Pakistan

Friday: Rio Carnival

New York Fashion Week begins 

Sunday: Super Bowl. (All eyes on the mighty Taylor Swift)

Another week, another round of redundancies across a range of media publications. As reviewer and journalist Scotty Bryan said on X:

“Would love to get through just one week on here without even more news about layoffs in journalism and media.”

In the US, the Wall Street Journal took a hatchet to its Washington bureau, laying off 20 staffers in a restructuring that adds to a brutal start to 2024 for the journalism industry.

Private Eye focuses on weekly magazine the New Statesman which for some time has been criticised for its lack of female lead writers. Of six redundancies announced on the editorial side, five were of women – one of whom was reportedly let go during her maternity leave.

In a particularly eyebrow-raising line in the article, a survey reveals more cover stories over 36 editions were written by “men named Will” than women.

Excellent podcast from Politico on the inside story of GB News…

Annita McVeigh, Ben Brown, and Geeta Guru-Murthy have been appointed as chief presenters on the BBC News Channel.

READ MORE

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ITV has most nominations at the RTS Television Journalism Awards 2024 with 16, followed by the BBC on 13 and Sky News on 11.

READ MORE

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Radio listening figures are out for the quarter. BBC Local Radio is still very much in the spotlight with much criticism of shared programming with other nearby stations. This now seems to be showing in the data, with reach and listening hours both down both on the quarter and on the year.

READ MORE

Footnotes:

Two British supermarket chains stocked genetically modified tomato puree on this day in 1996 – the first GM food to be sold in this country.

Highs today of 12 degrees in Stevenage and 11 in Carlisle.

Just time for the obligatory dog photo and our special guest star series continues. Monday Media Briefing reader Jonny gives us the adorable Theo:

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 splendid week.

All at Inside Edge

Morning all – it’s Monday 29th January 2024.

Monday: Sparring resumes in the House of Lords with the second reading of the Rwanda asylum bill

Tuesday: ASLEF train drivers begin week of strike action

IMF publishes World Economic Outlook update

Wednesday: Nicola Sturgeon appears at the UK’s pandemic inquiry

Thursday: Bank of England’s latest interest rate decision and monetary policy report

Friday  Apple Vision Pro goes on sale

Sunday: GRAMMY Awards

20 years ago: Facebook founded

“Scientists are introverts, which makes the process tougher…”

Does it though? Year Of The Expert continues with Chapter 4.

Why might introverts make better interviewees than extroverts?

Memo to the Daily Mail. Any thoughts on what could possibly be the reason the UK is currently “gripped” by a measles crisis?

And an absolute classic from earlier in the month…

“I am as disappointed as anyone else that people don’t really want to pay for content online. Not enough of them, nowhere near enough of them.”

Comments from the boss of Reach PLC, which has in the words of journalist Joshi Herrmann “spent 20 years sacking journalists, pumping out clickbait and destroying the user experience.”

READ MORE

“The Telegraph now hopes to reshape the Tory party in its own image.”

Fascinating times for the Conservative’s de facto house journal.

READ MORE

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“How the government captured the BBC.”

Superb deep-dive from Alan Rusbridger in Prospect

READ MORE

10/10 cover.

Footnotes:

Dense fog – the worst for seven years – brought road, rail and air transport in many parts of England and Wales to a virtual standstill on this day in 1959.

Highs today of 13 degrees in Birmingham and 7 in Perth.

Just time for the obligatory dog photo and our special guest star series continues. Monday Media Briefing reader Louise “was Grimble’s godmother/aunty/step-mum (or whatever it is in dogworld!) for a number of years in the 90s”.

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 satisfactory week.

All at Inside Edge

Year Of The Expert continues.

In Chapter 3 we begin to get your insights. Academics from the University of Westminster give their reasons why engaging with the media matters.

Morning all – it’s Monday 22nd January 2024.

Monday: The Lords are scheduled to debate the proposed UK-Rwanda treaty

Tuesday: Oscar nominations

New Hampshire Primaries

Wednesday: Parole hearing for Gary Glitter 

Thursday:  Humza Yousaf and Alister Jack at Covid-19 inquiry 

Friday: Ofcom/CMA deadline for report on Telegraph acquisition 

Saturday: Australian Open women’s final

Sunday: Annual Bloody Sunday commemoration march

“She has ensured the Mirror remains the powerful voice it is for the decent, compassionate people of Britain because she herself is decent and compassionate.”

A source quoted in the Guardian following the news that Mirror Editor Alison Phillips is to take voluntary redundancy.

Job and budget cuts at Reach, the tabloid’s parent company are savage.

The source continues:

“…While there are some great journalists left at the Mirror, many fear that without Alison at the helm, it’s the end for the UK’s only left-leaning tabloid.”

READ MORE

The UK saw the biggest drop in trust in the media and was the least-trusted out of 28 countries surveyed for the latest Edelman Trust Barometer.

READ THE REPORT HERE

(I’ll warn you in advance that it makes for pretty depressing reading.)

Footnotes:

Tens of thousands of public sector workers took part in a day of action – the biggest mass stoppage since 1926 – in support of a claim for more pay on this day in 1979.

Highs today of 11 degrees in Canterbury and 10 in Prestatyn.

Time for the obligatory dog photo and our special guest star series continues. Monday Media Briefing reader Laura writes:

May I present Martha’s (the working cocker) brood, which arrived just before Christmas. Four boys and one girl, who we’re keeping. She’s named Malin, after the Shipping Forecast, and like her brothers is starting to act a bit cyclonic, occasionally variable, veering good. 

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 great week.

All at Inside Edge

Good morning – it’s Monday 15th January 2024.

Monday:  The Iowa caucuses

Tuesday: The Rwanda bill returns to the Commons

Senior figures from Fujitsu give evidence to the Post Office public inquiry

Davos begins in earnest

Wednesday: Axiom Mission 3 planned launch

Thursday:  Deadline for executive formation in Northern Ireland

Friday: Memorial for late German soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer 

Saturday: Ivan Toney returns to Premier League after betting ban

“The Post Office, robustly defending its position was a big reason why this story did not get away.”

Was the Horizon scandal a failure of the press? Why did it take an ITV drama for a huge miscarriage of justice to get the headlines it deserves?

This episode of the Media Show is a good listen, with voices who have pushed from the start including Ian Hislop, the BBC’s Nick Wallis and Computer Weekly’s Rebecca Thomson.

LISTEN HERE 

“It’s a very intimate medium between you and the listener. You can’t fake it.”

Annie Nightingale CBE

(1 April 1940 – 11 January 2024)

Fascinating from Yougov, this is a survey I haven’t seen before. The BBC is the most trusted UK news outlet – though note the proportion who consider it “very untrustworthy” is higher than the 16 organisations directly below it in the table.

Marmite. Twas ever thus. 

“We’re now in the 8th year of the political persecution of President Donald J. Trump. You are taking incoming everyday from the legal system, the Marxist Dims. Give us a sense of how you feel right now, and what your sense is of this country that will permit such an outrage?” 

The whole holding-power-to-account idea is lost on Lou Dobbs as he lobs pathetic questions like this at the former President.

Footnotes:

President Nixon ordered a halt to American bombing in North Vietnam following peace talks in Paris on this day in 1973.

“Highs” today of 2 degrees in Glasgow and 1 degree in Brecon.

Just time for the obligatory dog photo – a special guest star this week. This is Monday Media Briefing reader Marie’s faithful friend Rockie.

(Dogs, cats, hamsters, llamas, goldfish – send your pet pics our way please.)

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 super week.

All at Inside Edge