Good morning, it’s Monday 25th September.

The week ahead…

Monday: UCU university staff begin five-day strike action.

Tuesday: The International Energy Agency’s updated roadmap on Net Zero emissions is published. 

Ed Davey addresses Lib Dems conference.

Wednesday: The parents of a six-month-old girl take their battle to extend her life to the High Court. 

Second Republican primary debate.

Thursday: First US House committee hearing in Biden impeachment inquiry.

Friday: Ryder Cup begins.

Saturday: ASLEF train drivers strike.  

“For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change. But the time is right for me to take on different roles.”

Rupert Murdoch, announcing he is stepping down as chairman of News Corp.

“Murdoch dragged journalism and politics into the gutter where truth and basic journalistic standards were rendered irrelevant. He debased the quality of political discourse in this country.”

John McDonnell

“Rupert Murdoch is the most talented and influential world business figure Australia has produced.”

John Howard

“There was a fairly strong maxim of government which was ‘don’t upset Rupert’. Upsetting Rupert was definitely a no-go area.” 

Lord Mandelson

“Rupert Murdoch has been a bold, brilliant, visionary leader whose audacity & tenacity built a magnificently successful global media empire.”

Piers Morgan

“Rupert Murdoch, who reportedly dislikes Britain and despises America, has transformed both countries- not for the better.”

John Simpson

Your take on Murdoch’s legacy?

We’d love to include some quotes from readers in next week’s newsletter.

On the Inside Edge website – Tony’s A-Z of media training: 

R is for Regular:

The regular army – the words don’t carry the same brio as special forces do they? Regular is average, medium. Middle of the road can be a little dull. We emphatically don’t want you to overdramatise in a bid to appear a little different. But when talking about the familiar do try and think of interesting trends or what the exceptions to the familiar rule tell us. Shed light on less unremarked aspects to bring a certain newness to the subject.

On the future of BBC Local Radio…

“Their strategy is naive, their implementation egregiously bad. This most distinctive of services, filling a gap where commercial radio struggles to afford to exist – and one which is most popular outside London – is to be sacrificed.”

Respected radio lifer David Lloyd doesn’t hold back in his savage criticism of BBC Management. It’s hard to argue with much of what he says…

READ MORE

Much love directed from you to Melvyn Bragg after we reported on In Our Time reaching a mighty 1,000 episodes.

Here is he reflecting on that run with Mishal Husain on Today… 

LISTEN HERE

Footnotes:

Keri, who cheerfully proofs this newsletter every weekend was born on this day 50 years ago. (Happy birthday Keri!)

Highs of degrees in 17 today in Aberdeen and 19 degrees in Brighton.

And confusion at BBC News Online…

Finally the obligatory dog-pic photo….

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

As Quentin Letts returns to the Mail following a short-lived stay at News International, this assessment from The Times’ World Affairs Editor…

Good morning, it’s Monday 18th September.

The week ahead…

Tuesday: Court of Session: Scottish government makes its case against the Government’s decision to block Holyrood’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

The final report in the Brook House Immigration Removal Centre inquiry is published.

UN General Assembly.

Wednesday: Junior doctors and consultants hold an historic joint strike. 

King Charles and Queen Camilla begin a three-day State Visit to France.

Thursday: Watch for a possible Bank Of England interest rate rise.

British Social Attitudes Survey.

Friday:  England v Scotland in Women’s Nations League.

Sunday:  NASA mission returns asteroid sample collection to Earth.

Worth picking out a few quotes from John Ryley’s Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture. The well-liked former boss of Sky News criticised the lack of media scrutiny over the royal family, and gave this insight into TV coverage of King Charles’s coronation: 

“The royal spin doctors had the opportunity to censor any pictures from the coronation before they could be replayed on the day … And the royal spin doctors dictated which clips of the footage could be shown in future broadcasts in what they called with an Orwellian phrase: ‘a perpetuity edit’.”

Apparently WhatsApp group would allow royal courtiers to tell senior editors at the BBC, ITN, and Sky News in real time if the royal family wanted specific pieces of footage removed from circulation. 

Broadcasters are now, he said, “too supine … too incurious … too compliant…Topics such as why King Charles didn’t pay any inheritance tax on the fortune he inherited from his mother or the fact the Duchy of Cornwall doesn’t pay capital gains tax should be examined properly. The reporting needs to be far more rigorous.”

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“He delights in scheduling disparate subjects on consecutive weeks. You can almost hear the glee in his voice when at the end of an episode on the siege of Paris, he announces: “Next week, we’ll be discussing solar wind.”

An extraordinary run. In Our Time reaches 1,000 episodes this week. 

READ MORE 

It’s reported Sir Paul Marshall, the hedge fund tycoon and investor in GB News has hired an investment bank to advise him on a bid for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph ahead of a looming auction of the titles that could fetch in the region of £600m.

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Long-time BBC correspondent Chris Morris becomes the new CEO of Full Fact

READ MORE

On the Inside Edge website – Tony’s A-Z of media training: 

Q is for Quest:

Audiences can enjoy detective work as long as the investigation has distinctiveness and some nifty twists and turns. Uncovering a forgotten manuscript, gleaning a design from a formation of birds both offer fascinating colour. Avoid posing questions though. Both presenters and the people watching are looking for answers or at the very least interesting observations on the direction of travel.

READ MORE

Footnotes:

Rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix died after collapsing at a party in London on this day in 1970.

Highs of 15 degrees in today in Edinburgh and 18 degrees in Northampton.

Finally the obligatory dog-pic photo….

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

Good morning, it’s Monday 11th September.

The week ahead…

Monday: General Secretary Paul Nowak addresses TUC Congress.

Biden visits Alaska for 9/11 memorial. 

Tuesday: UK employment and earnings data published.

Wilko store closure programme begins. 

Putin scheduled to speak at the Eastern Economic Forum.

Wednesday: Commons motion to proscribe Wagner Group as terrorist organisation.

Ursula von der Leyen delivers State of the European Union address. 

Thursday:Theresa May’s The Abuse Of Power released. 

Vogue World (aka London’s Met Gala).

Friday: London Fashion Week begins. 

Saturday: Strictly starts. 

Sunday: 20mph speed limit introduced in Wales. 

It’s a Politician Special!!! Hang on, don’t unsubscribe… 

1) As you’ll no doubt have seen, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan provided timely and expletive-ridden evidence for one of the most basic of media training lessons – assume every microphone and camera is on.

This is outtake-Thick-Of-It-level incompetence…

2) Rory Stewart had a moan about a Janice Turner profile of him in The Times on his Rest Is Politics podcast;

“I think the lesson I’ve taken from it sadly is that you can’t be naive and that you have to accept that these are artificial, structured things. You’re doing it for a reason and you’ve got to approach it quite cautiously, and not think that you can completely lay back and just chat in the way that you can to a friend. It’s a stupid thing to say, but the public should be aware of this…”

Rory, that isn’t a stupid thing to say. It’s an incredibly stupid and blindingly obvious thing to say. 

I’m going to return to this saga another time as the headline (see below) was a classic example of naively accepting the premise of a very leading question, but we’ll leave that for another week. 

READ THE PROFILE

Who will replace Huw Edwards as anchor of the BBC’s Election Night coverage? Laura Kuenssberg is the favourite according to latest reports, though it isn’t a done deal.

READ MORE

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GB News break the news of the re-arrest of Daniel Khalife with a calm, collected authority and poise…

WATCH CLIP (via Twitter/X)

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According to Apple’s podcast chart, 4 of the 10 most popular shows in the country come from Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger production company. (The Rest is Politics/History/Football/Money)

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And for those following Tucker Carlson’s rapid descent to the deepest sewers of journalism, Arwa Mahdawi’s article is well worth a read

READ MORE

On the Inside Edge website – Tony’s A-Z of media training: 

P is for Prologue:

You haven’t got time for this classical device in an interview. “Where this all began” may sound a grand opening and is a favourite for some organisations who want to show the road taken. But broadcast audiences are a tough bunch. Rather than rely on past glories what are you achieving now? How relevant are you to making life better in the 2020s and beyond? Answer these questions and you will be more persuasive – and more concise.

READ MORE

Footnotes:

Georgi Markov died of blood poisoning, four days after he was stabbed with an umbrella at a London bus stop on this day in 1978.

Highs of 20 degrees in today in Aarhus, Denmark (from where I’m writing this newsletter) and 22 degrees in Abergavenny.

Finally the obligatory dog-pic photo….

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

Good morning, it’s Monday 4th September. We’re back.

The week ahead…

Monday: Interim leader General Brice Oligui Nguema due to be sworn in as president of Gabon following last week’s military coup

Tuesday: Ex Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sentenced over Jan 6 attack

National Television Awards

Wednesday: the first PMQs of the new school term

Trump associates arraigned in Georgia

Thursday: Mercury Music Prize awarded

Friday: One year ago: Queen Elizabeth II died

Rugby World Cup

Saturday: Start of the G20 summit in New Delhi

No surprise that newspaper coverage in August included warnings about the impact humans are having on this planet of ours.

Perhaps more of a surprise is that we’re actually referring to…August 1912:

As for August 2023, what have we missed?

1) To be honest, Sir Mark Thompson had quite the CV anyway…

2004 – 2012 Director General of the BBC

2012 – 2020 CEO of the New York Times Company

It’s even better now. The latest line on the resume is top dog at CNN – struggling with falling ratings and internal discontent at the editorial direction of the news channel. The months ahead will be watched closely.

READ MORE

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2) GB News decided to commission a poll asking whether people were comfortable with politicians as presenters. 60% of respondents said no, which is awkward given their schedules are stuffed to the rafters with them.

“Politicians are politicians and journalists are journalists. We should stick to doing our own knitting.” Andrew Neil

The Guardian argues Ofcom needs to get its house in order…

READ MORE

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3) Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O’Connell are now hosting Saturday and Sunday episodes of the BBC’s most listened to podcast – Newscast.

LISTEN HERE

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4) Every single national newspaper saw a year-on-year print circulation decline in July, according to the latest figures.

READ MORE

“Is it just me or has the Great Twitter Crisis etc mostly ended up not in everyone migrating to a Twitter substitute, but more people doing social media less and surprising themselves by not massively missing it?”

Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff ponders the brave new world of X. Is this your experience? (It’s certainly mine.)

Meanwhile as Storm Hilary battered California and Nevada, US researcher Will Stancil observed…

On the Inside Edge website – Tony’s A-Z of media training: 

N is for Niche:

Even if the reporter you’re briefing has some knowledge of your field or sector, in no way will they have the specialist knowledge you possess. They might want to appear on your wavelength, but don’t assume they understand the fine detail. Give context if that will help them make sense of your work. Remind them of past significant developments if that establishes the importance of what you’re doing now. It’ll help ensure that what’s printed more accurately reflects what you do.

READ MORE

Footnotes:

The Wolfenden Report suggested consenting sex between homosexual adults “in private” should no longer be a criminal offence on this day in 1957.

Highs of degrees in 33 today in Athens and 22 in Brighton.

We’re going to continue with the dog-pic-footnote until someone tells us they’ve had enough.

Over the summer the boys were joined by their best mate John…

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