We kick off this week with some numbers: 

News Conferences by this point in their Presidency:

Barack Obama: 66

Donald Trump: 52

Joe Biden: 33

Sit-down interviews by this point in their Presidency:

Barack Obama: 422

Donald Trump: 300

Joe Biden: 86

Source: Politico/NYT

Morning all – it’s Monday 19th February 2024.

Today: Tim Davie at select committee session on BBC Across the UK implementation

Tuesday: The final hearing in the long-running extradition case of Julian Assange is due to be heard at the High Court.

Wednesday: Bristol City council meeting on Edward Colston statue future.

Thursday: 46,000 junior doctors in England walk out for the 10th round of action in the BMA’s dispute with the UK Government.

Friday: Ofgem expected to announce the next adjustment to its energy price cap.

Saturday: The Republican primary in Nikki Haley’s home state of South Carolina.

Sunday: Early voting begins in Russia presidential election.

Parliamentary elections in Belarus.

“Stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are released like bats from a belfry.”

Year Of The Expert continues with Chapter 7 and one of the biggest reasons people turn down interview requests.

Our thoughts on nerves.

LISTEN HERE

Speaking of nerves…how about this from a Times article about In Our Time, and the words of the academic who has appeared more than any other on the programme, Professor Angie Hobbs. This was the first of her 25 editions:

Rupert Murdoch met Rishi Sunak five times over a 12-month period before he stepped down as the chair of News Corp in September last year, according to government records.

READ MORE

Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright died last week. It sounds an obvious thing to say, but he was extremely good at his job. These were his reasons why:

Footnotes:

Beginning with a footnote to last week’s story about the podcast market being dominated by white men, I spotted this on LinkedIn:

As my old BBC editor commented below the post: “Great stat – and sure some women were involved too?”

A five-mile exclusion zone was placed around an abbatoir in Essex after a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease was detected on this day in 2001.

Highs today of 11 degrees in Stranraer and 13 in Bournemouth.

Just time for the obligatory dog photo…and the boys are back. And still sleeping.

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

“They say that he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon. But, driven by vanity and unconstrained by any understanding of Russia’s history or politics, Tucker Carlson slurped up the intoxicating broth of Vladimir Putin’s falsifications in his interview with the Russian president.”

Sergey Radchenko

Morning all – it’s Monday 12th February 2024.

Today: Man goes on trial over murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky

Jon Stewart returns to The Daily Show

Tuesday: Amazon staff in Coventry begin 72-hour strike

Edward Enninful’s last edition of Vogue published

Wednesday: Presidential and legislative elections in Indonesia

Intuitive Machines IM-1 lunar lander mission launches

Thursday: By-elections take place in the Wellingborough and Kingswood constituencies

The first set of quarterly GDP statistics are released

Friday: London Fashion Week begins

Sunday: BAFTA Awards

“The challenge is being able to communicate it holistically, and make sure it’s not misinterpreted by the audience.”

But is that even possible? Or desirable?

Year Of The Expert continues with Chapter 6:

LISTEN HERE

Podcast news. Starting with this:

We’ve been conditioned for centuries to believe an “expert” is a middle-aged white man telling us what to think. And yet there are so many powerhouses out there who don’t fit this mould and who aren’t given the chance to have their voices heard. When they do experience success it is often dismissed by those at the top as not being quite the right kind of expertise.”

Podcast powerhouse Elizabeth Day launches a new Podcast Production company championing female voices.

READ MORE (paywall)

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Last week saw the launch of 2 new heavyweight podcasts:

Sky News politics pod Electoral Dysfunction will feature Beth Rigby, Ruth Davidson and Jess Phillips (dream line-up).

And from Global’s The News Agents stable comes The Sports Agents with Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman.

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And finally on podcasts a recommendation. Last week’s The Rest Is Entertainment with Marina Hyde and Richard Osman on the troubles at Channel 4 is absolutely fascinating, as well as extremely worrying.

“CNN’s New Morning Strategy: More News, Less Banter”

We’ve been following Mark Thompson’s career from the BBC to the New York Times and now CNN with interest.

What are his plans for a network struggling with poor ratings and what many perceive as a lack of identity and mission?

READ MORE

“You can’t defy audiences or tell them how they should be consuming.”

Piers Morgan to leave TalkTV show to focus on YouTube.

READ MORE

In yesterday’s Sunday Express:

Footnotes:

One of the world’s best-known paintings, The Scream by Edvard Munch, was stolen from a museum in Norway on this day in 1994.

Highs today of 9 degrees in Falmouth and 10 in London.

Just time for the obligatory dog photo and our special guest star series continues. Monday Media Briefing reader Ash writes:

“My staffie girl, Silvie, chasing the sunshine & waiting for warmer days!”

Please keep sending your photos.

And 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 good week.

All at Inside Edge

“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