Edition 511

Good morning, it’s Monday 13th October. 

Let’s kick off with Sky News announcing that the new Archbishop of Canterbury has been named, without actually naming her. 

(They do however find the space to name her husband…)

Things were corrected a few hours later…

I had some thoughts this week about tiredness, and how we can use it as a route to authenticity on air…

We’ve focused on Substack a bit over the last couple of weeks – another to look out for is Beehiiv which follows a similar model.

The Nerve is on there – written by a number of ex-Observer staff including Carole Cadwalladr. Press Gazette reports it has attracted more than 900 paying subscribers in its first week.

“We thought about the kind of journalism that we desperately need now: independent, transparent, inclusive and fearless. So we decided to launch a title that the journalists themselves will own, that will promote diverse voices, and that we hope will have a deep and genuine connection with its members.”

The Week Ahead:

All eyes on the Middle East:

Monday: Israeli hostages due to be released under Gaza ceasefire plan.
Donald Trump expected to address the Knesset during visit to Israel.


Tuesday: IMF launches World Economic Outlook.
Ed Miliband addresses Energy UK conference


Wednesday: Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch at first PMQs since conference recess. 
Full High Court hearing begins on Epping Council asylum hotel injunction request.


Thursday: UK GDP monthly estimate.


Saturday: ‘No Kings’ day of anti-Trump protests in the US.

Sunday: Presidential runoff in Bolivia.

Get Out Of My F**king Shot

Katie Porter is the Democratic frontrunner for California Governor, though not for much longer if her recent media performances are anything to go by.

First up this train wreck with a local CBS news reporter which (unsurprisingly) has gone viral…


WATCH (via X)

Then hot on the heels, the expletive-laden berating of a staffer who wanders into the background of a video Porter is recording…

WATCH 

(We’ll watch those poll numbers with interest.)

AI’s role in journalism and society

“The proportion who say they have used a standalone generative AI system such as ChatGPT jumped from 40% to 61%, and weekly usage nearly doubled from 18% to 34%”.

The Reuters Institute churns out consistently useful and timely reports. This one – the Generative AI and news report 2025 – is worth a read.

READ MORE

Footnotes: 


On this day: Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas on this day in 1995.

Mutt photo:

“These findings haven’t been peer reviewed…” writes reader Neal in the sort of correspondence I think we can all get behind, “…but by my reckoning Leo appears twice as regularly as Stan at the end of these newsletters. Are you admitting to having a favourite son?”

Not a bit of it. Sorry old-timer…

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done, please let us know.

Back next Monday. Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge

Edition 510

Good morning, it’s Monday 6th October. 

Guess what percentage of Americans say they have either “a great deal” or a “fair amount” of trust in the mass media? 


The answer – from the latest Gallup poll – is below.

But before that. When should you bring humour to an interview? Here’s a story about vegetables…

To the Gallup poll. What percentage of Americans say they have “a great deal” or a “fair amount” of trust in the mass media?

28%.

Compare that to 1972 when that number was at 68%. And in 1976, in the aftermath of Watergate, trust in the media was at a whopping 72%.

(Source: The Poynter Report)

Wednesday:

”Look at the Telegraph today… I think that’s a sign… no more… a sign that there is a way forward for this beleaguered PM.”
Former tabloid editor David Yelland.

Friday:

“UK front pages still set the agenda – they have digital superpowers.”

David Yelland

The Week Ahead:

Monday: Nobel Medicine Prize announced


Tuesday: PM expected to begin visit to India.


Memorial ceremony marks second anniversary of Hamas attack on Israel.

Nobel Physics Prize announced.


Wednesday: Kemi Badenoch delivers leader’s speech on final day of Conservative conference.

Members’ ballot opens in Labour Party deputy leadership election.


Thursday: James Comey arraigned over 2020 Russian interference testimony.

Nobel Literature Prize announced.


Friday: Nobel Peace Prize winner announced.

Funeral and procession in Manchester for Ricky Hatton;

Saturday: SNP conference begins.

Sunday: Greater Anglia train services nationalised.

Substack Delivers (Part 2)

This week’s Substack recommendation is a waspish piece of score-settling by veteran BBC reporter Nick Garnett: 

”Correspondents are just reporters who get paid more and are allowed to stay dry. Reporters hate correspondents. Correspondents don’t even know reporters exist.”

Entitled Who’s Who in Radio and TV – a Glossary, this is Nick’s rundown of what everyone does in front of and behind the microphone.

”Editors sit in meetings all day. They all wish they were still reporters but they quite like sending their children to private school and going on holiday to Tuscany.”

READ MORE

Footnotes: 


On this day: Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic resigned following allegations of vote-rigging on this day in 2000.

Media Changes: Sky News relaunches its Breakfast Programme (again) next month. Sophy Ridge and Wilfred Frost co-host. There will also be a new daily podcast – Cheat Sheet with Ridge and Frost – a 10-minute news rundown of the day’s top stories and headlines.

Mutt photo:

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done, please let us know.

Back next Monday. Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge

Edition 509

Good morning, it’s Monday 29th September.

Kicking off this week with a bizarre account by an academic interviewed for an article in the Washington Post…

 “The arrangement would gift Trump’s billionaire allies a degree of control over US media that would be vast and unprecedented.”


Trump’s plan to let TikTok continue operating in the US includes a new seven-member board of directors. The names are depressingly familiar. 


Read The Article

The Week Ahead:

Monday: Rachel Reeves speech to Labour Party conference.

Tyler Robinson in court over Charlie Kirk shooting.


Tuesday: Keir Starmer speech to Labour Party conference.

ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup begins.


Wednesday: Energy price cap changes take effect.

Deputy leadership hustings at final day of Labour conference.


Thursday: Denmark hosts European Political Community Summit.


Friday: Zack Polanski speech to Green Party conference.

Taylor Swift releases new album The Life of a Showgirl.

Sunday: Conservative Party conference opens.

First elections due in Syria since the fall of Assad.

“You just have to listen to…”


How do you find out about good podcasts?

Source: RAJAR’s MIDAS survey. Stuffed full of data on how, when and where audio content is consumed.


Read The Report

Substack Delivers


Last week I noted that Substack is having a moment. I’ve been exploring what’s out there and will share a few highlights over the coming weeks. First up: Peter Kellner on how public perceptions of issues from immigration to knife crime diverge sharply from reality.

The reasons why are fascinating, and (as usual) the media seems a cause as well as a possible solution.

Read More

“100% agree with you on mock interviews. It makes me nervous and forgetful (trying to remember what I rehearsed).”


Thanks Mo for your feedback following last week’s vid.

Last week’s poll results: 38% said it was helpful to have a mock interview. 62% said it was unhelpful.

The Liftable Quote Club

“Footage of the most powerful man on the planet wandering into a press conference, recycling anti-vax folklore and riffing like some deranged game-show host. This is the theatre we’re left with: brands helplessly messaging in a sea of noise, while memes eat them alive.”

Mark Borkowski on the Trump Tylenol diatribe

The Aftercare App

All the familiar media training aftercare features are now in one place, alongside masses of new resources.

You can use the App on your phone, or simply log in via desktop.

Footnotes:

Starmer’s Head of Comms Steph Driver has announced she is leaving Downing Street.

On this day: The United States successfully launched its first crewed space mission since the Challenger disaster on this day in 1988.

Present Day: Was at Twickenham on Saturday to see the Red Roses win the Rugby World Cup. A superb day of sport and an incredible atmosphere:

Mutts: Beach Boy…

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done, please let us know.

Back next Monday. Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge

Edition 508

Good morning, it’s Monday 22nd September.

(Stop suing newspapers you great pudding. You’re the President of the United States.)

Kicking off this week with the next 7 days of news:

The Week Ahead:

Monday: Several countries expected to recognise Palestinian statehood at UNGA summit on a two-state solution.

Ballon d’Or ceremony.

Tuesday: Ed Davey speech to Liberal Democrat conference.

Wednesday: Antonio Guterres hosts high-level Climate Summit.

Jaguar Land Rover production facilities may reopen after cyber attack.

Thursday: High Court hearing in Home Office challenge to Palestine Action appeal.

Friday: Keir Starmer and Benjamin Netanyahu speak at UNGA.

Ryder Cup begins.

Saturday: Women’s Rugby World Cup Final.

Sunday: Labour Party conference opens with protests planned by Farmers To Action and Defend Our Juries.

Peaking Too Soon?

The pros and cons of undertaking a mock interview before going on air…

The Jimmy Kimmel situation in the States is terrifying. ABC pulled his show following these comments made by broadcast regulator boss Brendan Carr:

“Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

It’s the sheer hypocrisy that is bugging most people. Not just from Trump, but Brendan Carr himself, who is also on record as saying the following:

“Should the government censor speech it doesn’t like? Of course not. The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the ‘public interest.’” 2019. 

“A newsroom’s decision about what stories to cover and how to frame them should be beyond the reach of any government official …” 2021

And my particular favourite:

“Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people in to the discussion” 2022


Source: The Poynter Report

This NYT timeline is interesting and not (atow) behind the paywall:
READ MORE

A Royal Cleaner Spills… 


Former royal cleaner Anne Simmons is everywhere at the moment. You might have read her tips and revelations in The Times. Or The Sun. Or the Daily Mail. Or the Daily Mirror. Or the New York Post…

Good on Anne. Everyone needs to make a living. There’s just one problem. Buck Palace has zero record of Simmons ever working there. And Press Gazette – a dog with a bone on this stuff – can find no trace of her actually existing.

To quote Press Gazette directly:

“These appear to be yet more examples of dubious PR content being published by journalists and editors who don’t have the time or the inclination to check whether it is fact or fiction.”

And if you’re thinking, who cares whether the “10 minute trick on polishing the royal taps” is fact or fiction, you’d be right. Except…if our Anne is being quoted unchecked and unverified, who and what else is?

Newslines that caught my eye last week:

Substack is having a moment. Monthly visits grew 49% to 123.8 million visits in August compared to a year before. And people are spending longer on the site too. More on this in future weeks.

BBC’s Reform Balancing Act

Results of last week’s poll asking whether the BBC has got its coverage of Reform right, given the party had 4 MPs (now 5) but a consistent 30% slice of the opinion polls.

262 of you voted. Thanks.

Too prominent: 59%

Not prominent enough: 19%
About right: 13%
I embraced news avoidance some time ago so have no useful opinion: 9%

The Liftable Quote Club

The Aftercare App

All the familiar media training aftercare features are now in one place, alongside masses of new resources.

You can use the App on your phone, or simply log in via desktop.

Footnotes:

On this day: Britain’s first independent television station went on air, bringing advertisements to the airwaves for the first time, on this day in 1955.

Mutts: The hairies on a walk last week. 
(Stanmer Park, for anyone who knows Brighton…)

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done, please let us know.

Back next Monday. Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge