Good morning from the team at Press Gazette on Monday, 9 February.
👋Will Lewis abruptly stepped down as CEO and publisher of The Washington Post on Saturday night after a tumultuous two years at the title.
Days after letting some 300 staff go, he headed for the exit himself in what looked like a surprise – rather than planned – departure.
To some extent The Washington Post woes are a sign of the times in an industry that continues the difficult transition from once lucrative print publishing to more uncertain digital models.
But as Charlotte Tobitt’s analysis of recent financial updates from big US publishers shows, it is possible for newsbrands to grow revenue even in the current tough climate. She’s taken a look at The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, News Corp, Bloomberg and People Inc to find out how they are making quality journalism pay in the digital age.
READ THE FULL STORY
⛓️💥Former Observer writer Carole Cadwalladr lost her job a year ago as her title was transferred to Tortoise Media by The Guardian.
She’s written an open letter to the axed Washington Post staffers explaining why “democracy does not have to die in darkness”.
Via her own Substack and the newsbrand she launched with other former Observer staffers (The Nerve) she said her articles now get viewed more than 200,000 times each. This compares well with a healthy performers on The Guardian website, where her work used to appear.
Both Cadwalladr’s new outlets have already recruited significant numbers of paying subscribers.
Platforms like Substack, Beehiiv and Patreon have made it easier than ever for small publishing businesses to make journalism pay without the costly overheads of a major brand. Democracy for Sale (which we profiled last week) is another great example of this.
READ THE FULL STORY
📻And we have a round up of the latest RAJAR radio audience figures that show News UK’s Talk and GB News both posting strong growth.
Meanwhile, Times Radio has lost ground, falling 10% year on year.
Radio 4’s breakfast show Today remains the biggest UK radio news brand by some distance, with weekly reach down 5% year on year to 5.5 million listeners.
Back in the summer of 2017 Today reached some 7.7 million listeners per week (boosted in part by the general election).
With so many current affairs podcasts to choose from and new digital radio competitors, speech radio is a far more competitive market today than it was a decade ago.
READ THE FULL STORY
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison amid “complete collapse of press freedom in Hong Kong and the authorities’ profound contempt for independent journalism”. (Press Gazette)
The Sun has proposed merging its features team with the Fabulous celebrity and lifestyle desk, with some jobs put at risk. (Press Gazette)
This week’s Foresight News diary includes Prime Minister Keir Starmer facing Leader of Opposition Kemi Badenoch in PMQs on Wednesday amid controversy over Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, plus highlights from the Winter Olympics. (Press Gazette)
A small number of journalists have been laid off by MLB.com, the official site of Major League Baseball. (Press Gazette)
An interview with Peter Mandelson, which appeared in The Times magazine on Saturday, went to press before the most serious Epstein allegations surfaced (too late to be pulled or re-edited).
Independent press regulator Impress has warned against misuse of privacy notices after a request from Peter Mandelson’s team for media to stop contact amid scrutiny over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (Impress)
The Labour Together thinktank paid a PR firm at least £30,000 to investigate journalists from The Sunday Times, The Guardian and other outlets that were looking into its funding. (Democracy for Sale)
The Guardian is rolling out compulsory registration and log in for its top 0.5% of users in Australia, having already done so in Ireland and New Zealand. Chief supporter revenue officer Liz Wynn said it "makes obvious business sense". (Mumbrella)
Google has released a core update in the US specifically for its Discover feed to show "more locally relevant content", "more in-depth, original, and timely content from websites with expertise in a given area" and reduce "sensational content and clickbait". (Google Search Central)
Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray has told Fox News: "We are still a large, robust newsroom with hundreds and hundreds of journalists here, some of whom are the best in the world… I think we’re well-positioned once we get past this difficult moment". (Fox News)
Substack has hired a head of partnerships in Canada as it expands beyond the US and UK, with "somewhere in southern Europe" due to be the next location to grow. (The Hollywood Reporter)
A new bill tabled in the New York state legislature would require news organisations to label AI-generated news articles and pictures and require humans to review before publication. (Nieman Lab)
In journalist Carlos Hernández de Miguel’s final (posthumous) column, he wrote that journalism “is not just another profession”.
“Society’s right to be well informed rests on our work. Freedom, equality and democracy depend on our work – albeit not exclusively." (The Guardian)
IPSO has ruled referencing someone’s stammer in a parliamentary sketch was OK because: "Such articles are generally expected to be satirical and hyperbolic and, in some circumstances, may express views which could be considered offensive". (IPSO)
McClatchy is reportedly using AI to generate listicles based on its reporters’ work, for example: “Six recent criminal sentencings in Pierce County Superior Court" – sometimes without their knowledge. Staff are negotiating a new AI clause in the union agreement. (Northwest Public Broadcasting)
Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch has said Fox News recorded its "highest second quarter advertising revenue ever" in October to December with an "incredibly robust" ad market. (Mediaite)
Journalist Jay Rayner has posted a farewell to "one of the very last if not the very last classic newsstands in a central London tube station" – in Brixton – adding that Transport for London has "put them in a financial position where they had to surrender their lease". (Instagram)
SEO leaders at Daily Mail, Telegraph and Bauer among those urging against ‘Google zero’ fatalism.
Read Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray’s email to staff in full.
Daily Star has seen a 600% price increase in ten years.
Newsletter outlet won Specialist Journalism prize at British Journalism Awards 2025.
The Wrap features more ‘personality-driven’ news with content from Tiktok and Youtube.
Media start-up Semafor reached profitability in 2025 with revenue of $40m, in the third full year after its October 2022 launch.
Co-founder and editor-in-chief Ben Smith joined Press Gazette’s UK editor Charlotte Tobitt in London to discuss how the business became an overnight success in a difficult climate for media overall.
Smith discussed Semafor’s expansion plans, why its initial bet on video didn’t work out, why it still doesn’t have a paywall, and shared his advice for other media business founders.
Listen now
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