The New York Post “recorded a significant victory for all media” after Twitter reversed a ban on the newspaper’s account, News Corp’s chief executive said as he revealed the outlet recently made its “first profit in modern times”.

Twitter put a freeze on the Post’s account in October in the aftermath of a controversial report on Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, that was widely shared on the platform in the run-up to the US election.

On 14 October, Twitter said it was limiting the spread of the article, believing it had breached the social media site’s “hacked materials policy”. The Post’s account was unfrozen on 30 October.

Robert Thomson, the CEO of New York Post owner News Corp, described the reversal as “a significant victory for all media, for the freedom of the press”. He praised the Post for “standing resolute and principled against censorship imposed by Twitter”.

In a call with analysts to report on News Corp’s latest results on Thursday, he added: “Ultimately, Twitter realised that it had made an egregious mistake and thankfully reversed its decision.

“Our journalists are not lapdogs with laptops. Our journalists are not stenographers. Our journalists are not stenographers. Our journalists are not woke. Our journalists are awake to their profound responsibilities.”

Thomson also revealed that the Post recently became a profitable part of the News Corp business.

“History was made when the New York Post reported a profit for the quarter and for the year to date,” he said. “That is the first profit in modern times, at the very least, for what was a chronic, loss-making masthead founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton.”

News Corp as a whole reported $2.41bn of revenues in the three months to December 2020, down 3% on the same quarter in 2019. The decline was primarily due to the sale of News America Marketing. It was new News Corp’s most profitable quarter since it was formed in 2013.

The Wall Street Journal, one of News Corp’s largest stand-alone brands, reported a record 3.22m subscriptions at the end of the quarter. Some 2.46m of these were digital-only subscriptions.

Earlier on Thursday, the rival New York Times Company reported that it now has 7.5m subscriptions, 6.7m of which are digital-only.

Photo credit: Reuters/ Jonathan Ernst

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After four years of unrelenting verbal abuse from Donald Trump, the US news media is hoping today’s inauguration of President  Joe Biden will mark the resumption of a “respectful” relationship between the White House and the press.

News industry bosses spoken to by Press Gazette also expect the Biden regime to crack down on Google and Facebook, which are blamed both for the spread of misinformation and for the financial troubles of media organisations.

The two companies – known as the “duopoly” because of their dominance over the online advertising market – are facing several legal battles in the US relating to competition, or antitrust, concerns.

There have also been growing calls in Washington for the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which could make social media sites responsible and liable for posts on their platforms.

Google and Facebook are currently embroiled in a battle in Australia to stop authorities forcing them to pay news organisations to use their content. There may be a risk for the duopoly that if these rules work in Australia, similar legislation could be introduced in other countries like the US.

How will Biden take on big tech issues?

David Chavern, the chief executive and president of the News Media Alliance – a trade body that represents around 2,000 news organisations across the US – said that Biden representatives “have been pretty ambiguous so far” on their plans for tackling issues relating to Google and Facebook.

“But events have already pushed the conversation well beyond ‘should we or shouldn’t we’ when it comes to addressing Big Tech,” he added.

“Our society is being torn apart by misinformation and the major tech companies stand astride huge segments of our economy. The issues can’t be ignored anymore.  

“For that reason, I expect the Biden administration to aggressively pursue antitrust actions, and address the role of the tech platforms in our information ecosystem.  

“That would include supporting systems for the proper compensation of professional journalism.”

Jason Kint, the chief executive of Digital Content Next – a trade body representing online news publishers – told Press Gazette: “There is no more important work on the agenda of the government relevant to our industry than the bipartisan antitrust lawsuits filed last month against Google and Facebook.

“All other policy discussions, whether consumer privacy or liability under [Section 230], are downstream from two companies sucking the oxygen out of the future of digital content.”

An end to ‘dangerous anti-press rhetoric’

The other main, and more immediate, change the news media can expect from President Biden is a change of tone in White House media relations.

“Democracy thrives on a free and plural press at tension with government but it also requires a mutual respect for our institutions,” said Kint.

“We’re looking forward to all parts of the American government reasserting this critical role and working over time to once again be an example for the world.”

Chavern said: “I think that, first and foremost, the biggest change will be an administration that will be much more respectful of the constitutional role of the press.  

“The dangerous anti-press rhetoric will go away and we will return to more regular order in terms of briefings and press availabilities.  

“But I wouldn’t mistake respect for friendliness. The natural role of the press is to challenge those in power, and reporters are certainly going to be aggressively challenging the Biden administration.”

Picture credit: Shutterstock/ Ron Adar

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“Get the f*** out of here!”

These words, spat at an Associated Press photographer last week as he was shoved over a ledge outside the US Capitol building, illustrate the level of contempt felt towards journalists by sections of the American public today.

“He could have been badly hurt from a fall like that,” Associated Press CEO Gary Pruitt tells Press Gazette. “Fortunately, he was not. But it was a scary video.”

It was an AP photographer on this occasion, but the victim of this attack could easily have been a different journalist from a different news outlet.

“From what I could tell, it appeared to be a general attack on the media,” says Pruitt. “I don’t think they were specifically targeting AP. I think it was the media generally. We happened to be available.”

In addition to attacking one of his journalists, rioters also “smashed and destroyed” thousands of dollars worth of AP video equipment (apparently while chanting “CNN sucks”).

Pruitt, who left regional press giant McClatchy to become president and chief executive of the AP in 2012, is troubled not just by behaviour of the protestors, but also by the cause of their actions.

“This attack on the Capitol was inspired by people who believe the election was stolen,” he says. “Even though there’s no evidence that the election was stolen.

“That shows you how dangerous and deadly it can be when there are alternative views of the facts of important events like elections.”

Pruitt and his journalists receiving ‘quite vile’ threats

Pruitt originally spoke to Press Gazette in mid-December for this interview, which was to reflect on 2020, Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House and the future under Joe Biden as president. But he agreed to speak again this week after pro-Trump protestors stormed the US Capitol.

In our original discussion, Pruitt spoke of how we as a society “we seem to be losing a common sense of reality, of facts”. This feeling appears to have been vindicated by the attacks on the US Capitol.

He also spoke of how his journalists have been on the receiving end of “ugly” threats.

Asked this week whether the level of threats has intensified over the past month – a period in which many Trump supporters have refused to accept the result of November’s election – Pruitt said: “It has. In the past week, there have been numerous threats on social media and emails threatening AP staff. Some quite vile.

“We’re not intimidated by it. We’ll continue to report the truth. But we do care greatly about journalistic safety and we’re taking all the necessary steps to protect our journalists.”

Is Pruitt himself ever the target of these threats? “It’s mainly the journalists. But it certainly includes others. Including me. But it’s mainly the journalists because they’re more conspicuous or higher profile with their bylines or on video or their voices. So they’re the ones who get more than anyone else.”

In spite of these threats, and the dangers presented to his journalists in Washington, Pruitt speaks proudly of AP’s coverage of the protests.

“We will take all steps to keep our journalists safe, but we’re not going to be intimidated by this,” Pruitt says. “Nor will we be provoked to enter the fray and take positions in this fraught time. Rather, we’ll just continue to report the news.”

He adds: “It was definitely risky for our journalists but important coverage to get. And if anything I thought it was a reminder that our mission and our role is even more important in times like these. And more important to be fact-based, non-partisan and to have our customers and readers, viewers, rely on us for the facts.”

2020 a ‘stressful’ year for AP

Gary Pruitt (credit: Associated Press)

Founded in 1846 by five New York City newspapers, AP is a not-for-profit cooperative news agency that produces around 2,000 stories a day, as well as an estimated 70,000 videos and one million photos every year.

The group, which employs thousands of journalists across around 250 bureaux in 100 countries, today has several businesses in addition to its news-gathering operation, including a photo archive, video archive, production businesses and a news production system called ENPS.

In total, AP has an estimated 10,000 customers – around two-thirds of whom are in the US – in the media, government, technology and other sectors. It last year generated revenues of approximately $500m.

At the heart of its business, AP has around 1,200 news organisation ‘members’ who receive content and also share their content with other members through AP distribution platforms. AP’s newspaper members appoint the group’s board of directors, which is currently chaired by Hearst president and chief executive Steven R Swartz.

As a global news agency with thousands of customers across the world, AP is well used to being at the heart of major news events. But Pruitt admits that 2020 proved especially “stressful” when reflecting on it during our first interview in December.

An “intense news year” comprising coronavirus, Black Lives Matter protests and the US election was “made all the more challenging by being remote”. “I feel good about AP and how we performed [in 2020],” he adds. “But I don’t want to necessarily relive it.”

‘We seem to be losing a common sense of reality’

Press Gazette last week asked a host of the most influential news leaders to identify the biggest challenges for journalism in 2021.

Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron said the “biggest challenge for journalism is that facts aren’t accepted as facts any longer”, while Insider editor-in-chief Nicholas Carlson said: “The truth is not dead but it’s been beaten to a pulp by politicians, media personalities, and grifters – all for mere power and profit.”

Pruitt, during our interview in December, identified approximately the same issue.

“We seem to have lost, at least to a certain degree, a common understanding of some underlying facts,” he says. “Different people have different views on reality. And that is more challenging for all media, but especially for an organisation like AP because it is fact-based journalism.

“So we will be attacked by people who say something isn’t factual. There are so many conspiracy theories and false information out in the media world, not just on social media but other media outlets. We will be attacked or criticised if it doesn’t comply with somebody’s world view.

“And we’ve seen a greater degree of that, up to and including threats that can be ugly. It’s a challenging time, and I think that the most troubling piece is that we, as a society, not just in the United States but globally, we need to have a common base of facts.

“People can disagree about policy approaches or how to handle something. That’s fine. But we seem to be losing a common sense of reality, of facts. And that can be a very troubling thing. And that’s why we feel our role is more important than ever. But it is more difficult than ever.”

Pruitt suggests the solution to this problem is for news organisations to continue reporting facts without “being intimidated by external forces – governments or otherwise. But also not being provoked to be… part of that partisan fight, but to provide the facts and context for society. And ultimately that’s our most powerful weapon, and we plan to assert it.”

Will it work? “I think the jury is out,” says Pruitt. “I think we can play a constructive role, but technological innovations have led to a splintering of media outlets so various audiences can hear just one message that may not always be accurate. And so I think that it will be a continuing problem. I remain optimistic that ultimately facts will prevail. But it can be a turbulent time getting to that conclusion.”

What does the end of President Trump mean for AP?

In our December conversation, when asked what the change of US president would mean for AP, Pruitt suggested that it would be simpler for his journalists to cover a leader who does not make major announcements on Twitter.

“It’s not just reporting what the tweet says, but reporting the context of the tweet and even fact-checking the tweet,” he says of the Trump White House era. “And that became part of the very process of AP.”

He adds: “I think Biden has said he’s not going to do policy announcements by tweet, or words akin to that.

“And so I think we can expect there will be some more predictability to it. And that might make it less stressful than knowing there could be a substantial tweet at 2.30 in the morning that you have to do reporting on, to get it out and put it in context.

“So there’s a non-stop nature to that. And while we’re a 24-7 news service, that was different in terms of a presidential administration for sure.”

Since Pruitt’s first conversation with Press Gazette in December, it has become more apparent that Trump intends to remain in the limelight after he leaves the White House (albeit possibly without a Twitter account).

How will AP cover Trump stories after he formally vacates the White House?  By the time of our second conversation this week, Pruitt still isn’t quite sure.

“It remains to be seen how relevant Donald Trump will be,” he says. “To the extent that he remains an important political actor, it will be incumbent on AP to cover him.

“We don’t know what that will be exactly. Everybody has their guesses and their predictions, but we’re not in that business.

“We will just cover him to the extent that it is newsworthy, that it is important and relevant to the news of the day and the policy of the country. But we don’t know what that will be exactly.

“He may be an important force or he may not be. We’re not sure.”

Picture: Alex Gakos/ Shutterstock

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For alternative right-wing US news outlets, November 2020 could prove to be a flash in the pan – the high point of their popularity, fuelled by pro-Trump, often conspiratorial, coverage of the US election.

Or it could be the beginning of a new era in which they are considered true competitors to the mainstream media.

As Press Gazette recently reported, Newsmax and the Gateway Pundit became two of the 50 largest English-language news websites in the world in November, jumping ahead of the likes of Cosmopolitan, the LA Times and the UK’s Metro.

Newsmax’s TV channel and One America News, meanwhile, made a dent in the cable ratings of established giants, in part thanks to supportive tweets from Donald Trump.

The big question now for these outlets, and for their mainstream rivals, is whether they can retain current levels of viewership and readership.

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Right-wing media challengers emerge

The early signs for Newsmax in particular are promising (although it is worth noting that the drama of the presidential election is still far from over for viewers and readers that believe Joe Biden somehow “stole” the election from Donald Trump).

According to Nielsen television-viewing figures shared with Press Gazette by Newsmax, its total audience reach grew from 9m in July 2020 to 24.3m during election month. In addition to these figures, Newsmax said it recorded 115m online streams on its free over-the-top (OTT) channel in November – a 511% increase on the previous month.

Newsmax said that December was its highest-rated month ever, and that the first week of January – a period that included the 6 January pro-Trump protests-turned-riots in Washington – set new prime-time records, although it did not provide specific figures.

The news group also says its app, Newsmax TV, has been downloaded 4.3m times since election day.

According to online analytics firm SimilarWeb, Newsmax.com attracted 63m visits in November – up from 15m in October. In December, it fell only slightly to 62m.

It was a similar story for Thegatewaypundit.com, which saw its traffic jump from 29m to 57m between October and November before dropping slightly to 56m in December.

One America News Network’s website traffic jumped from 6.5m in October to 18.4m in November and fell slightly to 17.6m last month.

These figures appear all the more impressive when compared to those of established right-wing media outlets.

Traffic at Foxnews.com jumped from 430m to 607m between October and November, but fell to 333m in December. The website of the New York Post – which was America’s only major newspaper to endorse Trump before the election – attracted 134m hits in October (a month in which it ran a controversial investigation into Joe Biden’s son, Hunter), 128.5m in November and 125m in December.

The chart above tracks the combined growth of the websites of Newsmax, the Gateway Pundit and One America News.

The change recorded by SimilarWeb over six months is stark.

In July 2020, Newsmax, the Gateway Pundit and OAN attracted a combined 39m website visits – less than 10% of Fox News’ 399m and less than a third of the Post’s 137m.

By December, the three challenger websites attracted 136m visits between them – 41% of Fox News’ total traffic and more than the total visits (125m) attracted by the New York Post.

‘I think we’ll be number one’

Clearly, Fox News in particular remains a dominant force that is unlikely to be toppled by Newsmax any time soon. Nielsen figures reported on by Reuters in December showed that it averaged 3.6m viewers during prime-time hours in 2020 as it hit new all-time high viewership levels. The same report said that Newsmax prime-time ratings hit 495,000 in November.

But how big can Newsmax be? What are its ambitions?

“I think we’ll be number one,” says Christopher Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax and a personal friend of Trump, in a Zoom interview with Press Gazette. When he says “number one”, Ruddy appears to be suggesting that Newsmax can one day overtake Fox News to become America’s largest cable news channel. 

Not long ago, this would have been a laughable ambition. 

But last month, CNN reported how, for the first time ever, Newsmax TV scored a ratings win over the Fox News Channel as ‘Greg Kelly Reports’ claimed an average 229,000 viewers ahead of the 203,000 who tuned in for ‘The Story with Martha MacCallum’ on Fox.

Ruddy, a former New York Post reporter who founded Newsmax in 1998, believes his channel can eat into Fox News’ ratings because the rival channel has been “very inconsistent” in its coverage of Trump. The president himself was highly critical of Fox’s coverage of the election.

“He’s not happy with Fox News coverage, and this has gone on for a long time,” says Ruddy. “I think he blames his loss on Fox. He even said in one of his tweets that the only difference between the ’20 election and the ’16 election was Fox News coverage.”

Does Ruddy know whether Trump has confronted Fox News executive chairman Rupert Murdoch about his concerns? “He told me that Rupert, when they chat, is very supportive and always has been,” says Ruddy. “But he questioned whether that was true or not. I don’t know.

“I’ve always liked and admired Rupert Murdoch. I just wonder how much he’s involved in the news product at Fox News, or any of his news properties, these days.”

Rupert Murdoch. Picture: Reuters/Mike Segar

More importantly from a ratings perspective, Ruddy believes Trump’s supporters have noticed a difference in coverage.

“Newsmax is a known brand among a lot of people, especially in the heartland, that don’t trust the mainstream media,” he says. “And I think also they have been inconsistent on their coverage of President Trump. And a lot of people are not happy with the inconsistencies of that coverage.

“Newsmax has a long history of, I think, covering the president very fairly, where we have given his side of the story. We’ve also included some criticisms of him. But it has been very consistent. I think Fox is all over the map.”

‘I do believe that Biden is the legitimate president of the United States’

The elephant in the room here is that when Ruddy says Fox News has been “inconsistent” in its coverage of Trump, many would translate this to mean: Fox News has held the president accountable and reported accurately on the results of the election, which he lost.

Media commentators believe that one of the main reasons for the success of Newsmax, the Gateway Pundit and others has been their coverage of election conspiracy theories and their late (or in some cases non-existent) acceptance of Biden as winner of the election.

Newsmax, for example, began acknowledging Biden as president-elect on 14 December – a move that Ruddy said made the president “a little bit angry” – well over a month after Fox News and established media outlets.

Still last week Newsmax host Greg Kelly said on his programme: “Sometimes, sometimes, the bank robber gets away with it. Joe Biden stole this election. You know it. I know it. Tens of millions of Americans agree with us. He, he did it. Donald Trump should not concede because he didn’t lose.”

Does Ruddy himself concede that Biden won the election fair and square?

“I accept the result of it,” he says, before going on to list his concerns about mail-in ballots and “anecdotal evidence”. But he adds: “I do believe Biden is the legitimate president of the United States, and Newsmax will respect him as the president of the United States even though we may disagree on political things.”

‘I think the media is becoming increasingly authoritarian’

Like it or not, given their current trajectory, the US media industry is likely going to have to start taking outlets like Newsmax seriously (as business competition if not journalistic competition).

Ruddy also has ambitions to expand Newsmax internationally, including “doing something bigger in Britain”.

“We’d like to do more on the digital side first,” he adds. “We also want to enhance our London bureau. We have hired a respected journalist in Britain to handle our London bureau. I’m not sure if he’s officially signed yet – I can’t announce it yet – but we are hiring somebody to run our London bureau. And we think it’s going to be a hub of a lot of international news and reporting.”

One of the main factors behind Newsmax’s recent success appears to be that many Americans distrust or dislike traditional media outlets.

Why does Ruddy think this is?

“I think the media is becoming increasingly authoritarian and less open and less liberal than true to their principles of free speech and free discussion,” he says. For example, Ruddy takes issue with the media describing Trump’s unproven and unsubstantiated claims of election fraud as “baseless”.

“So when they don’t report the full facts, or what people think is a fair report about what actually happened in the election, people get angry. And it really incites people.”

‘I do not see him starting Trump TV’

One challenge for Newsmax and the pro-Trump media challengers could come from the president himself. Reports have suggested that, on leaving the White House, the former Apprentice star might set his sights on launching his own Trump TV.

Ruddy isn’t worried.

“I think he’s going to leave the White House – everything will be okay on that front. And I think he’s going to be a media and political force for some time to come.

“I do not see him starting Trump TV. I do not see him starting any media organisation. He’s [74], he’s an international statesman, a global media force – I think he’s better served by being part of a lot of media. We’d love to have him contribute to Newsmax. I’ve said that publicly. I think he’s going to be a voice.”

And will Newsmax be broadcasting Trump’s first interview after he leaves the White House?

“I’m not expecting it,” says Ruddy. “We certainly would be happy if he was open to it, but I haven’t asked him for it.”

Picture credit: Shutterstock/ Evan El-Amin

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