The Daily Mail’s publisher has “strongly denied” an allegation made by a lawyer for Prince Harry that journalists’ emails and documents had been deleted.

The allegation was subject to a warning by a judge at the latest preliminary hearing in the case brought by a group of high-profile individuals including Harry, campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish.

They are suing Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) for alleged misuse of private information.

The group has accused the publisher of allegedly carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities, such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars and burglaries to order.

ANL firmly denies the allegations and is defending the legal claims, with cost budgets for both sides combined totalling more than £38m.

David Sherborne, for the individuals, said in his written submissions that “there have been deletions of some, but not all, of journalists’ emails” at ANL, and that some documents were destroyed during the Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking.

In court, Catrin Evans KC, for ANL, denied the allegation, stating it was a claim of “deliberate tampering with the documents which is of course strongly denied”.

She added: “We regard it as important to put down a marker that it is not appropriate to come to this court, there are clearly going to be further hearings in these proceedings and face allegations like that.

“It is not professionally proper to make them.”

Mr Justice Nicklin said that evidence would need to be provided for such allegations, adding: “This sort of allegation would be career-ending and possibly give rise to potential criminal proceedings, so it could not be more serious.”

Hundreds of people, including the Duke of Sussex, have previously brought legal action against other newspaper publishers over allegations of unlawful information gathering, including related to phone hacking.

Harry was previously awarded £140,600 in damages after suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) and faces a trial in January 2025 for his claim against Sun publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN).

Evans said that it would be “wrong” to treat the claims brought against ANL in the same way as cases against those publishers.

She continued: “Critically, the ‘bedrock’ of liability in the MGN and NGN cases consisted of criminal convictions of certain journalists and far-reaching admissions about the extensive use of unlawful acts … there is no similar ‘bedrock’ of matters here.”

Sherborne told the court that the individuals “were, in different ways, each the victim of numerous unlawful acts”, including “illegally intercepting voicemail messages; listening into live landline calls; (and) obtaining private information” between 1993 and 2018.

The court also heard from lawyers for ANL that Lady Lawrence was “alerted” to the potential legal claim by a text message from Prince Harry in January 2022.

Evans said in written submissions: “Litigation appears to have been contemplated by Baroness Lawrence almost immediately after the text was received by her.”

Evans also told the court that Lady Lawrence met with lawyers Harry had been working with a few days later.

However, the barrister later said she has lost “and possibly deleted” the text sent by Harry, and said in court that ANL wanted an “explanation” as “it has not been explained as to the circumstances of the discovery of it being missing”.

Sherborne said in his written submissions that some claimants, including Lady Lawrence, initially declined to provide the information about “personal watershed moments” in their claims, as the demand included “impermissible requests for evidence and privileged information”.

He said: “In general, the claimants refused to provide the information sought, on the basis that it was not reasonably necessary or proportionate to enable the defendant to prepare its case or understand the case it had to meet.”

He said that they then “voluntarily provided” the information earlier in November, and claimed in court that ANL had “accused (Lady Lawrence) of some nefarious intent in that she couldn’t find the message” from the duke.

Sherborne also said that ANL should disclose further documents, including an Excel spreadsheet detailing alleged payments to private investigators between 2005 and 2007, which Evans said was an “entirely premature demand”.

He said they wanted “clear and comprehensive answers to what documents still exist and what documents have been either destroyed or deleted”, and continued: “We have reached the point where we say there should be a clear and comprehensive picture given.”

The hearing before Mr Justice Nicklin and Judge David Cook is due to conclude on Wednesday, with a further hearing expected in May next year.

The full trial of the claims could then be held in early 2026.

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Capital Economics is an independent economic data and information service operating globally out of London, Toronto, New York and Singapore.  Founded in 1999, the company has always produced written macroeconomic analysis targeted at financial market participants and has an international client base of financial service and corporate institutions. In 2012 it won the Wolfson Economics Prize for the best proposal on how a member state could leave the Eurozone. In recent years it has developed an increasing range of proprietary data and forecasts, data APIs and applications, and opportunities for clients to interact with and commission projects with our economists.  

Capital Economics traditionally delivered the bulk of its research and analysis by email, but its customers increasingly required a digital content experience. There was a clear need to replace the existing website and back-office systems to be able to compete with new customer demands according to Ray Fawcett, Capital’s director of technology.

“Our clients were telling us they were looking for a more personalised and multimedia service.” he recalled. “We knew we had work to do to get platforms to the right place to meet this opportunity, but that the prize could be substantial.”

Capital Economics blueprint for the future

A fresh approach was clearly needed and the Capital Economics team realised a digitally led solution was essential to retain existing – and attract new – clients.

“Customer expectations had changed,” explained Fawcett. “We’d been sending people PDFs attached to emails but they were now expecting a more digital experience.”

This meant packaging up graphics, multimedia-rich content and plenty of easily digestible data in a format that could be updated quickly if the macroeconomic drivers and events changed.

Teaming up with Full Fat Things, a London-based digital agency, they put together a blueprint for a fully integrated, flexible website that could provide customers with a personalised experience.

“The goal was to get off the existing cumbersome platforms and start building new products,” said Fawcett. “A lot of cosmetic factors such as branding and email templates were also needed.”

Combining data and content

However, there were a few puzzles to solve. For example, prior to the revamp, data and content had been treated almost as separate entities, whereas readers wanted them to work in tandem.

“Over the past five years, customers have wanted more data and to integrate it into their own platforms,” said Fawcett. “While there’s a huge amount of data available, if we can get it to them quickly and easily then that’s a huge advantage.”

Another issue was how to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to providing content that was more tailored to the individual needs of subscribers.

“A chief investment officer might only log-on when they have a major decision to make, whereas an analyst could be on every day and be reading everything,” explained Fawcett. “We had to take a more granular approach when it came to who was accessing our content.”

Adapting to meet the demands of an ever-changing events cycle, particularly given the volatile economic backdrop of the last few years, was also seen as crucial.

“We needed a flexible entitlement model that allowed us to share content between different subscriptions very easily,” said Fawcett. “This includes being able to package up related articles when a particular macro event breaks in order to give readers more context. Our clients know we are the first to make sense of what matters in the global economy so the speed of our platform delivery is also important.”  

Streamlining CMS from ‘clunky’ WordPress-based system

The first step in the remodelling was updating the infrastructure, which had previously been centred around WordPress.

However, the various custom integrations that had been added over time only served to make everything clunky and unnecessarily complicated.

“We wanted to move away from too much customisation and more towards standard plug-in methodologies because this involves less maintenance,” explained Fawcett.

The route chosen was to build an entire website structure as a wraparound to the Salesforce CPQ solution, according to Stewart Robinson, founder of Full Fat Things.

“Capital wanted an end-to-end reinvention of their platform to have everything synchronised,” he explained. “The idea was to have sales, accounts and content providers all working together.”

Such an approach enables everyone to see what is being read, how customers are interacting with the site, and whether there are opportunities to upsell to them.

“We also gave Capital editorial tools via the Drupal web system that enabled them to automate manual tasks such as sending out newsletters,” said Robinson. “The team was also able to explore different ways of chopping up and repackaging content.”

Concision and clarity

Capital Economics has forged a reputation on providing concise articles in clear language, which has always been an effective approach for the most successful publishing groups.

“People don’t want to read an 80-page document to reach a conclusion, especially when a buy/sell decision is at stake with a lot of money involved,” said Fawcett. “Whoever’s first normally has a huge advantage over the competition.”

The analytics capability was also a game-changer in so much as economists realising analysis and data to the site could see whether their content was connecting with audience.

The new set-up provided solid foundations on which to build products such as CE Advance, its premium product featuring embedded videos, podcasts and audio files alongside content and data.

“It even has a Q&A function where subscribers can have questions answered by economists, which saves them having to recruit specialists in different areas,” added Fawcett.

The platform provides exclusive access to a range of proprietary data and indicators, as well as tools enabling users to create charts for presentations and analysis.

Personalised content feed for subscribers

Another area that needed attention was personalisation. With the amount of information available today, it is essential for subscribers to focus on the content they require.

“We created an interface that allowed customers to be more selective of what they wanted from the various services offered,” said Fawcett. “It enables them to drill down into areas of interest, such as inflation in China.”

Fawcett is delighted with the new-look Capital Economics site and is full of praise for the crucial role played at every stage by Full Fat Things.

“It was able to offer us everything under one roof,” he said. “The Full Fat team was great to work, very flexible and willing to give us extra resources when we needed them.”

Looking ahead, while he accepts that the fast-developing nature of content means the pressure will always be on companies such as Capital Economics to upgrade their offering.

“Our platform was due an update to meet market expectations a few years ago but now it’s overtaking the competition,” he added. “That’s a great place to be.”

The post How Capital Economics made leap to personalised multimedia publishing appeared first on Press Gazette.

The Guardian-owning Scott Trust appears to be pressing ahead with plans to sell The Observer to Tortoise Media.

The 12-person board of the Trust, which is a non-profit-making company, met on Monday 25 November to discuss a bid made by Tortoise Media to acquire The Observer.

Tortoise has funding of £20m to invest in turning the Observer into a standalone newspaper with a paywalled website.

Following yesterday’s all-day meeting of the Trust a spokesperson said: “Today the Scott Trust met to discuss the potential sale of the Observer and the proposed terms.

“Talks continue to progress and there are a few outstanding points. All parties will continue detailed discussions to ensure the proposed agreement is the best it can be for staff, readers and the future of liberal journalism.”

The Trust has said it may keep a stake in The Observer after its sale to Tortoise and the Financial Times has reported that it may also offer additional investment in the new Tortoise/Observer business.

The ongoing talks mean strike action in protest at the Observer-Tortoise deal is still set to go ahead with the first 48-hour strike from Guardian and Observer journalists set to take place on Wednesday 4 December.

The Scott Trust has been sent a series of questions about the Observer deal by a consortium of press freedom groups which has asked for written answers.

These include: “Why is the sale of The Observer being discussed only with one preferred bidder instead of through an open, transparent and fair process?”

And: “What is the Scott Trust’s responsibility if this [the Tortoise Media] plan fails?”

The 70 Observer journalists who would transfer across to Tortoise have concerns about job security and editorial independence.

Tortoise Media said yesterday: “We want to save The Observer, both for today’s readers and the generation to come. We have heard from a lot of Observer journalists who are excited about our ambition for the paper – and the people we bring with digital skills in podcasts, data journalism and newsletters, the investment that means new staff jobs, a much bigger editorial budget and a real plan for growth.

“We believe we can strengthen liberal journalism, adding to the range and reach of progressive voices; we can enable The Observer to reach new readers, as a Sunday newspaper with a digital life of its own; and we can renew the paper as a powerful voice in the world.”

The post Scott Trust says ‘talks continue to progress’ over Observer sale to Tortoise appeared first on Press Gazette.

The UK’s news landscape could fracture “irreparably” in the next five to ten years with “grim” implications, a new Parliamentary report has warned.

The Future of News report from the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee noted that although a “changing news landscape should not be conflated with its imminent demise”, many media publishers will not survive the new dynamics.

The report made recommendations for action that could help stave off some of the challenges, ranging from firmer action on AI copyright theft to the creation of news “accelerators” and tax breaks for local journalism.

Without action, and potentially with it, the committee warned there is “a realistic possibility” that the UK will see the emergence of a “two-tier media environment” in which a minority of the population is well-served by high-quality, paywalled news while the rest are left with low-quality free information.

The committee said that this “is not a hypothetical worry: the contours of this scenario are already apparent.

“If current trends continue, the gap between those consuming professional journalism and those who do not will widen at pace. There is a realistic possibility of the UK’s news environment fracturing irreparably along social, regional and economic lines within the next five to ten years.”

The committee said it did not believe any silver bullet solutions exist for these problems and that “much of the work needs to be led by industry itself”.

But the role of the Government, it found, should be “to establish the conditions that enable the sector to stand on its own feet and survive a protracted period of technological turbulence”.

Lord Communications and Digital Committee calls for urgent creation of UK AI regime that protects publisher copyright

Among its recommendations, the Lords report said the Government needs to rapidly develop an artificial intelligence regime that encourages innovation without fatally compromising publisher copyright.

Good economic and security reasons for encouraging AI training in the UK, they wrote, did not mean the Government “should pursue rules that primarily benefit foreign tech firms (who seem prepared to pay vast sums on energy, computing facilities and staff—but not on data)…

“Previous efforts to find a solution have been weak and ineffectual.”

Any new regime on AI bots scraping publisher content to power their systems, it said, “must include transparency mechanisms that enable rights holders to check whether their data has been used”, backed up with “meaningful sanctions for non-compliance”.

But it warned against adopting “a flawed opt-out regime comparable to the version operating in the EU.

“Much better means for ensuring technical viability, transparency, consent and enforcement are needed for a new text and data mining regime to work to UK advantage.”

In February the committee said it was insufficient for the (then Conservative) government to “sit on its hands” and wait for issues around copyright and AI to be solved by years of case law.

Lords suggests expansion of search and social media regulation

The peers recommended as a priority that the Competition and Markets Authority should investigate any tech firms “leveraging dominance in one domain, notably internet search, to secure anti-competitive advantages in obtaining data for generative AI training”.

News Media Association chief executive Owen Meredith described this recommendation as “very timely, as the regulator considers which firms and services to prioritise under the new regime for digital markets”.

Similarly, the committee advised the Government to give Ofcom “the necessary powers to investigate tech firm recommender algorithms and the operations of large language models”.

Sudden changes to content recommendation algorithms, for example at Facebook, have significantly disrupted traffic and revenue at publishers in recent years, and some publishers have previously expressed concern that they have been made less visible on social media or in search because of their politics.

The committee also said they had been “disappointed” that the Labour government’s proposed changes to the media plurality regime did not go further.

“The decision to exclude online intermediaries [i.e. social media and search engines] looks oddly short-sighted given the rapid advances in tech firms’ ability to produce news summaries.

“We appreciate that tech firms are not newspapers but this does not mean their evolving role in the news landscape should be overlooked…

“The previous government’s years-long timeline for implementing vital changes has been inadequate,” they added, recommending the government commit to responding to future Ofcom priority recommendations on media plurality within a year.

GB News ‘needs to comply with the spirit’ of impartiality rules while Ofcom needs to be more transparent about its standards, lords say

Other recommendations included a “Future News catalyst scheme” modelled on start-up accelerators, action against legal action used to silence journalism, and tax breaks for hiring local journalists.

The report argued that the Government should consult on allowing a wider range of news providers to carry public notices, which are worth millions in revenue each year but can currently only be published in print newspapers. However it cautioned that using local government advertising to support the media “risks becoming a market distortion”.

And it recommended that the Government’s online advertising taskforce should “review the work and impact of brand safety organisations on news publisher revenue”, which publishers such as Unherd say have unjustifiably harmed their revenue.

On impartiality in television news, the peers said GB News “needs to comply with the spirit of the rules, not stretch them to breaking point”, advising Ofcom to carry out more detailed assessments of audience views on politicians serving as presenters on news channels.

But the peers added that public service broadcasters like the BBC “should reflect on why alternative providers are finding a following and how this relates to the way underserved communities are represented in their own news coverage”.

The committee also wrote that, although Ofcom’s leaders had said the regulator’s approach to impartiality had been clear, “we struggled to reconcile this with the evidence”.

“More transparency in future would help, particularly around the thresholds at which alternative interpretations of the rules might apply.”

GB News responded that it had raised concerns about Ofcom’s unclear approach to impartiality “repeatedly.”

The broadcaster also said: “We take our responsibilities under the Ofcom Broadcasting Code extremely seriously and remain committed to operating a comprehensive compliance regime. But we also strongly believe that this regime should be modern, fit for purpose and much clearer.

“It’s vital the Government establishes conditions to support honest, accurate and informative news which enables the UK media to stand on its own feet through sector-wide structural changes that drive innovation – whilst maintaining media independence.”

The report also warned against schemes that “risk overreach” such as a Government-endorsed kitemark for trusted news.

Sky News executive chairman David Rhodes, writing in The Telegraph, described this as “among its best recommendations… it would be a mistake for our industry to invite government in as an arbiter of our credibility.”

The post Warning of imminent, ‘irreparable’ fracture of news landscape without action appeared first on Press Gazette.

The management of the UK’s third-largest regional publisher National World has hit out at a major shareholder proposing a takeover bid, accusing it of financial “irregularities”.

Media Concierge, which on Friday launched a bid for the 72.2% of National World it does not already own, rejected National World’s claims as “baseless”.

Despite the acrimony, Media Concierge revealed that “National World’s advisers have indicated that they would provide Media Concierge with access to limited and confirmatory due diligence”.

National World is the publicly-listed publisher of newsbrands including The Yorkshire Post, The Scotsman and a host of city-focused websites. It was formed by executive chairman David Montgomery in 2021 to acquire the former Johnston Press titles, assisted by investment from Media Concierge.

It is understood that Media Concierge abstained on a vote to re-elect Montgomery for National World’s leadership at its annual general meeting in May. Montgomery won regardless, and National World has since discontinued a deal that had seen Media Concierge subsidiary Mediaforce handle its national print advertising.

Media Concierge is majority-owned by founder Malcolm Denmark, who built the business providing publishing infrastructure to the news industry including newspaper inserts, leaflets, advertising and printing services.

[Read more: Battle for future of National World as shareholder launches takeover bid]

National World responds to Media Concierge takeover bid

Announcing its takeover bid last week, Media Concierge said it had not heard from National World since first proposing to buy out the remaining equity for 21 pence per share, a premium of approximately 40%, at the end of October.

National World has now “acknowledge[d] the potential merits of the possible offer”.

But the publisher claimed that on 1 October, before the takeover was first mooted, it had been “made aware of a potentially systemic pattern of historical invoicing irregularities in relation to the activities of entities affiliated with Media Concierge”.

National World went on to claim that, separately, “entities affiliated with Media Concierge are currently inappropriately withholding revenues due to [National World] totaling £4.4 million”.

The publisher said it had sought further information in order to undertake an investigation and told shareholders to “take no action at this stage”.

Media Concierge responded that the allegations are “completely baseless and are strongly denied in their entirety.

“No evidence has been provided to support them, and the timing of the emergence of these entirely unjustified allegations coincided with Media Concierge’s initial approach to National World.

“The amounts allegedly ‘withheld’ by Media Concierge are subject to Media Concierge’s substantial counter-claim, in excess of the £4.4 million amount, for a number of breaches of contract by National World.

“We have put National World on notice that Media Concierge will hold the makers of these false and misleading statements fully responsible for them.”

A spokesperson for National World told Press Gazette that it has presented “evidence” to Media Concierge subsidiary Mediaforce (London) “concerning its activities”.

“Irrespective, if Mediaforce (London) has nothing to hide then there can surely be no objection to our carrying out a forensic audit?” the publisher added.

The post National World accuses shareholder seeking takeover of financial ‘irregularities’ appeared first on Press Gazette.

The chair of the Scott Trust has offered to meet a consortium of press freedom groups which has raised concerns over the sale of The Observer.

The board of the Trust, a limited company which owns Guardian Media Group, was expected to meet on Monday 25 November, to discuss proposals to sell The Observer to Tortoise Media.

With Guardian and Observer journalists set to hold a 48-hour strike on 4 December in protest at the deal, the Trust is under pressure to make a decision.

The Scott Trust has received a letter co-signed by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the European Federation of Journalists, Index on Censorship, International Press Institute and OBC Transeuropa demanding answers to six key questions about the sale of The Observer.

Tortoise Media is believed to have funding of £20m to invest in turning The Observer into a stand-alone newspaper and paywalled website. According to the FT, The Scott Trust may also provide additional investment in the deal and the body has already said it plans to retain a stake in The Observer.

The letter sent by the press freedom groups to the Trust and Tortoise Media asks the following questions:

“The Observer is the leading liberal, progressive Sunday newspaper in the UK. Given the Scott Trust’s commitment to safeguarding freedom of the press and liberal journalism, what protections will be included in any deal to protect its editorial independence?

“What safeguards regarding future ownership will be written into the sale?”

The groups also asked a question about whether the Trust has properly vetted all the potential investors, including looking at foreign business links.

The letter says: “Individuals we spoke to described Tortoise’s business plan as ‘unconvincing’ and ‘seriously under-financed’. What is the Scott Trust’s responsibility if this plan fails? Are any safeguards being included in the deal?

“Why is the sale of The Observer being discussed only with one preferred bidder instead of through an open, transparent and fair process?

“Will you allow Observer and Guardian staff to speak out freely about the impact of the deal on press freedom and UK media plurality without fear of sanction or recrimination? At present, they report being unable to voice their opinions freely or have been warned against doing so.”

Scott Trust chair Ole Jacob Sunde has written back to the groups saying: “Thank you for your letter and the questions that you raise. We will happily respond to your points. Perhaps, in the first instance, we could arrange a call so I can better understand your concerns.

“As you will know, The Guardian has been a partner to your organisations on various vital journalistic endeavours – including the anti-SLAPPS coalition. We hope you know us to share values on many areas in the media landscape.

“We take our obligations to safeguarding the future of liberal journalism very seriously and would welcome you sharing more about where you believe there’s misalignment.”

Press Gazette understands the groups have asked for written answers and cannot offer a meeting until early December.

Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr has been told by Guardian management that her public statements about the proposed Observer deal may be in breach of her contract and has been ask to “desist” from saying anything publicly which brings Guardian News and Media “into disrepute”.

Cadwalladr was the keynote speaker on Friday 23 November at a Malta conference on media freedom run by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe during which she denounced the sale of The Observer to Tortoise as an “existential threat to our journalism”.

A spokesperson for Tortoise Media said: “We want to save The Observer, both for today’s readers and the generation to come. We have heard from a lot of Observer journalists who are excited about our ambition for the paper – and the people we bring with digital skills in podcasts, data journalism and newsletters, the investment that means new staff jobs, a much bigger editorial budget and a real plan for growth.

“We believe we can strengthen liberal journalism, adding to the range and reach of progressive voices; we can enable The Observer to reach new readers, as a Sunday newspaper with a digital life of its own; and we can renew the paper as a powerful voice in the world.”

On the subject of the letter, Tortoise said: “We have not received a letter from these bodies, but we are happy to provide assurances on editorial independence. All of our investors are fully committed to the robust principles of editorial freedom that are enshrined in our articles of association and overseen by an independent editorial board chaired by former FT editor Richard Lambert.”

The post Observer sale to Tortoise: Press freedom groups seeks answers from Scott Trust appeared first on Press Gazette.

Reach chief executive Jim Mullen has written to staff saying “I have kept my word” on job cuts at the group as parts of the business enact redundancies.

Mullen previously wrote to staff at the start of 2024 to say that, after making more than 700 job cuts in 2023, the business planned to end 2024 with “the teams that we have starting the year”.

However recent weeks have seen team restructures and consequent redundancies at titles including the Sunday Express, Scotland’s Sunday Mail and the Irish Sunday Mirror.

In each case the Sunday titles have been moved into a seven-day merged print and digital operation, with a resulting loss of jobs.

Sunday Express editor David Wooding has left Reach as part of the changes, The Guardian has reported, and Sunday Mail editor Lorna Hughes has also elected to leave according to an email seen by Hold the Front Page.

The NUJ Reach group chapel said the recent redundancies “concern more than two dozen talented journalists leaving the company”.

“Our members are mindful of Jim Mullen’s words as we entered 2024 about staff not having ‘one eye over their shoulder’ after a corrosive year of hundreds of lost journalists’ jobs.

“Yet that is exactly what is happening currently, particularly if you are in a print-facing role…

“The constant threat of cutbacks, particularly among the national titles, is a major source of demotivation and drain on morale. This group chapel calls on the company to make 2025 a redundancy-free, growth year at Reach.”

Separately on Friday, Daily Mirror editor-in-chief Caroline Waterston emailed staff saying the staff of the daily newspaper will be merged with that of celebrity magazine OK!. Waterston, who was previously editor of OK!, added the brands “will remain completely distinct” and that she did “not expect this change to result in any reduction in roles”.

Reach CEO says company will end 2024 with more staff than at conclusion of 2023 restructure

On Friday November 22 Mullen emailed staff saying “external commentary” on the company was “noisy, distracting and, to be honest, a bit lazy at times”.

His commitment for 2024, he said, “was about growth, that there would be no more large-scale cuts and that the size of the overall business was about right for the year ahead.

“I have kept my word and have not changed this commitment.

“And I’ve kept my commitment to being upfront with you all about the fact that our business will have to evolve, adapt and continue to change to better suit the changing preferences of our audiences, their chosen channels and our advertisers.”

Last month Reach announced it would be hiring 60 new editorial staff with a focus on “audience writers” and “general assignment journalists” who will cover breaking stories and trending topics. Mullen said this meant the company will conclude 2024 “with more jobs than we had at the conclusion of the 2023 restructure programme”.

“This is not to disparage or dismiss the feelings of colleagues whose roles have been impacted by changes that are part of the running of our business…

“As CEO, I understand that it is my role to make decisions that are not always popular but that I believe are right for the business. I recognise that, at times, it means I won’t win any popularity contests, but I will never shirk from being up front and honest with you.”

In its statement earlier in the week, the NUJ Reach group chapel said the 60 new roles were “of course welcomed.

“But our members cannot avoid the feeling that in some way sacrifices are being made in print – where three quarters of Reach’s revenue still comes from – to fund changes the company wants elsewhere. This is no reflection on anyone being recruited to Reach, but does lead to speculation on the wisdom of the actions being taken.”

There has been a move away from standalone Sunday editorial teams across the news industry. Last year News UK proposed a merger of the Scottish Times and Scottish Sunday Times and Mail Newspapers brought the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday “much closer together”.

Several dedicated Sunday operations continue, however, including The Sunday Times, The Observer and The Sunday Telegraph, as well as FT Weekend and i weekend.

The post Reach ends year with more redundancies but reports net increase in staff appeared first on Press Gazette.

“It was definitely targeted at me. Because I am a journalist and because I’m a woman.”

These words, spoken on a new campaign video issued today (Monday November 25) by South Yorkshire Police (SYP), will resonate with hundreds of women working in our industry who have been faced with online violence simply because of their gender and the job they do.

In this specific instance, a journalist for Reach, the UK’s largest commercial publisher, was sent unsolicited extreme pornographic content without her consent. The images, videos and gifs were paired with vile misogynistic language and appeared to have been sent with the intention of intimidation and sexual gratification. Such activities are now classed as criminal under the Online Safety Act, which came into force just over a year ago.

The Know More campaign, launched to coincide with International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women tackles the issue of Online Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), with the intent of not only educating the public around the impact and criminality of offences such as cyber stalking, threats and cyberflashing, but also with the intent to arm its officers with knowledge around application of the law through training and resources.

Earlier this year SYP approached me to ask for input from Reach into the issues faced by women working in journalism. Their campaign officers had seen the research we published in conjunction with Women in Journalism in 2023 which showed three-quarters of women had experienced some kind of threat to their safety in connection to their work as journalists and that 25 per cent had been subjected to sexual violence or harassment. Half of the respondents said they promoted their work less due to the threat of online harm and a fifth of the respondents said they had considered leaving journalism altogether.

The SYP campaign seeks to acknowledge the increased levels of online violence targeting women in public-facing roles such as journalists and politicians and they asked if we might be able to support by providing testimonies and guidance that could be shared with police officers and in the public campaign.

This push to highlight the criminal impact and potential police response to online violence of this nature should be lauded.

This year more than 100 media leaders signed a letter co-authored by Reach, Women in Journalism and Reporters Without Borders, which called for improved police response to online crimes against women in media industries and improved working relations between journalism and policing.

A month later, the Crime Reporters Association (CRA), the Society of Editors and the Media Lawyers Association issued a report and a series of recommendations setting out improvements that could be made to repair the relationship between police and journalism in the UK and improve the safety of journalists. 

That’s why the SYP campaign has to be spotlighted and celebrated.

To see South Yorkshire Police taking such an active stance on online crime that particularly impacts women, was refreshing and I intend to highlight their work as a bastion of best practice when talking to police leaders and representatives in government who are working to address violence against journalists and VAWG.

Our journalist who bravely shared her story is sadly one of many women who I know have been targeted by unjustifiable and revolting aggression and sent extreme adult content without consent. I applaud her too for highlighting the impact such actions can have and for standing up and refusing to allow such shameful and criminal abuse to stop her from doing her job.

However, what we now need to see is similar activity from other police forces and a joined-up approach to tackling the impact and potential consequences of online violence against women and girls. We also need to see investment and support for police to act upon the laws they have at their disposal and ultimately bring perpetrators of violent online crimes to justice.

Unfortunately in our reporter’s case, while police on her local force (not South Yorkshire) investigated, they were unable to gather enough evidence to identify the perpetrator due to the use of a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and because the crime was not considered to reach the threshold of threat into which further investigation was warranted.

This outcome is not unusual. Currently prosecution of anonymous online crime of this nature is low, often due to difficulties in gathering evidence.

Therefore, the important next steps have to include more collaborative work like that done by SYP. There also has to be more engagement in the issues beset by journalists and women who use online spaces for their work and there has to be greater investment in policing and resources.

Without these elements being put into place, we run the risk of the law being toothless, resulting in perpetrators continuing to escape prosecution for their crimes and potentially going on to commit more serious violence against women and girls.

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A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.

Leading the week

November 25: Sturgess inquiry hears evidence on Russian state involvement; Preliminary hearing in Birmingham council equal pay tribunal; CBI Annual Conference. 

November 26: MPs debate Tobacco and Vapes Bill; Trial begins for six accused of spying for Russia in UK; Supreme Court hears Scottish women’s challenge to gender recognition certificate guidance.

November 27: MPs debate Finance Bill; Tusk Conservation Awards; European Parliament votes on new College of Commissioners.

November 28: Statistics on migration and irregular migration; Vladimir Putin attends CSTO leaders’ summit; New Zealand Covid inquiry phase one report. 

November 29: First debate on assisted dying bill; Republic of Ireland holds parliamentary elections; Bank of England financial stability report.

November 30: Alex Salmond memorial service; Early parliamentary elections in Iceland.

December 1: Kuwait hosts Gulf Cooperation Council summit; South Africa assumes G20 presidency.

Also look out for…

November 25

Prince of Wales launches Jewel of Arabia expedition

G7 foreign ministers meet in Italy

Hearing in Menendez brothers case

Joe Biden pardons Thanksgiving turkeys 

November 26

European Parliament debates support for Ukraine 

Ofwat chief at EFRA committee meeting

UEFA Champions League

November 27

David Lammy grilled by Foreign Affairs Committee

ECJ ruling in Nord Stream 2 case

Sweden hosts summit of Nordic and Baltic leaders

General election in Namibia

November 28

Sixth form college teachers strike

VLV Autumn Conference

New Zealand’s Covid-19 inquiry publishes first report

England v New Zealand first test

November 29

Black Friday

Emmanuel Macron visits Notre Dame Cathedral ahead of re-opening

Moana 2 released

Five years ago: Fishmonger Hall terror attack

November 30

150 years ago: Winston Churchill was born

December 1

Parliamentary elections in Romania

Ursula von der Leyen begins second term as European Commission President

Premier League: Liverpool v Manchester City

Qatar Grand Prix

Key statistics, reports and results:

November 25

UNODC report on femicides

RSPCA stats on animal abandonment

Nigeria Q3 GDP

Results from: Kingfisher

November 26

BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index

Ofsted stats on school inspections

Annual figures on births in Scotland

NHS Scotland waiting time stats

Results from: CrowdStrike, HP, Co-operative Bank, Compass Group

November 27

Figures on domestic abuse in England and Wales

Working and workless households

Quarterly figures on crime in Scotland

US Q3 GDP

Results from: Nationwide Building Society, easyJet

November 28

ILO Global Wage Report

NHS workforce and GP appointment statistics

ORR statistics on rail finances

Statutory homelessness figures

Housing supply 2021/22

Annual figures on road casualties

November 29

Moody’s sovereign review of the UK

Canada, India and Turkey Q3 GDP

Euro area inflation

November 30

China manufacturing PMI

The news diary is provided in association with Foresight News.

The post News diary 25 November – 1 December: Parliament debates assisted dying and tobacco and vapes bill appeared first on Press Gazette.

New Statesman editor-in-chief Jason Cowley has announced he will step down at the end of December after 16 years at the title.

Cowley will continue to write for the New Statesman as a columnist and essayist.

He became editor after the acquisition of the New Statesman by Datamonitor founder Mike Danson in 2008 and has led its transformation from a weekly political and cultural magazine to a multimedia brand.

The New Statesman today has a paywalled website and a raft of award-winning podcasts, newsletters and video journalism strands in addition to the flagship weekly magazine.

New Statesman Ltd managing director Will Crocker said: “I would like to thank Jason for his tremendous work over the last 16 years.

“He took the New Statesman to a 40-year high in circulation, he is a multiple winner of the British Society of Magazine Editors’ editor of the year award (politics and current affairs), and he has always championed good writing and independent journalism.

“Above all else, he has been a brilliant talent-spotter: a new generation of political journalists and writers rose to prominence under his leadership. We will be very sorry to see him step down but are delighted he will continue to contribute to the New Statesman through his elegant and intelligent writing.”

Journalists recruited by Cowley who have gone on to success elsewhere in the media have included: Helen Lewis, Mehdi Hasan, Stephen Bush, Laurie Penny, Patrick Maguire, Sophie Elmhirst, Rafael Behr, Johanna Thomas-Corr and Will Lloyd.

‘Home-grown’ writers still with the NS who were recruited by Cowley include senior editor (politics) George Eaton, Britain editor Anoosh Chakelian and senior commissioning editor Anna Leszkiewicz.

Cowley told Press Gazette: “I’ve loved editing the New Statesman for so long, it’s been hard work but also great fun.

“Most rewarding has been helping to develop and nurture a new generation of talented political and cultural writers, bringing them on to the team and giving them an opportunity to write and broadcast and it is fantastic to see them flourish and go on to have big careers in the media.

“As well as having significant writers on the team, the New Statesman should be nurturing new writers and encouraging new talent. I think that’s the thing the Statesman does best and should continue to do.

“I’ve also been proud of the New Statesman having sceptical politics, trying to keep an open mind and championing what I would call a kind of independent liberalism whilst also growing the brand and making it the multi-platform digital title that it is today.

“I’m also delighted that I will continue to have a relationship with the magazine and write for it.

“I’d like to thank all my colleagues for their dedication, support and hard work and I expect the title to go from strength to strength.”

The Christmas special will be Cowley’s last as editor.

He said: “I became editor during the last days of a Labour government, and it now feels appropriate, after all these years, to move on with Labour in power once more.”

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