More than 55 foreign correspondents have issued a plea for access to Gaza through Israel and Egypt, saying it would help them bolster the efforts of local journalists whose safety is at risk.

Update on 1 March: A second open letter has been published with signatures from leaders at more than 30 international news organisations affirming solidarity with journalists in Gaza. Scroll down for that letter.

The 55 correspondents represent all the main broadcasters with bases in the UK including BBC News, Sky News, ITV News, Channel 4 News, CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC.

Scroll down for the full letter and list of signatories

They collectively signed an open letter sent on 28 February both to the Israeli and Egyptian embassies in London urging “free and unfettered access to Gaza for all foreign media”.

They added that it is “vital that local journalists’ safety is respected and that their efforts are bolstered by the journalism of members of the international media” and noted that their media organisations have decades of experience in dealing with the risks of conflict reporting.

Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford said that like many other journalists, she and her crew have “spent the bulk of the past nearly five months busting a gut to get into Gaza” but they had never managed to get past the Rafah border crossing from Egypt.

In an article for Sky News she highlighted the fact that around 90 journalists are believed to have been killed since the war began on 7 October – 20 killed per month or one every other day. “Can you take that in? Because I am finding that hard to.”

She said that usually media organisations usually rotate staff in and out of a warzone “to allow for recharging, recovering and allowing fresh eyes and minds on events which are physically and mentally exhausting and debilitating” but local journalists in Gaza have been stuck inside and only a few have been able to leave.

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward, who has signed the letter, is believed to have been the only journalist who had not been residing in Gaza who has been able to gain access without being embedded with the IDF since 7 October, after travelling with a UAE medical team.

Ward said the trip “provided a window into the war zone, but only a small one”.

Crawford wrote that embedding with the IDF “offers only limited insight” as the army “chooses the route, area to head to, how long you are in situ and basically what the journalist gets access to and who they talk to or if they can talk to anyone at all”. Journalists on these trips have not been able to talk to any Palestinians.

The journalists’ full Gaza access letter says:

“Almost five months into the war in Gaza, foreign reporters are still being denied access to the territory, outside of the rare and escorted trips with the Israeli military.

“We urge the Governments of Israel and Egypt to allow free and unfettered access to Gaza for all foreign media. We call on the government of Israel to openly state its permission for international journalists to operate in Gaza and for the Egyptian authorities to allow international journalists access to the Rafah Crossing.

“There is intense global interest in the events in Gaza and for now the only reporting has come from journalists who were already based there.

“It’s vital that local journalists’ safety is respected and that their efforts are bolstered by the journalism of members of the international media. The need for comprehensive on the ground reporting of the conflict is imperative.

“The risks of conflict reporting are well understood by our organisations who have decades of experience of reporting in warzones around the world and in previous wars in Gaza.”

Full list of journalist signatories:

1. Alex Crawford, Sky News
2. Alex Rossi, Sky News
3. Alex Thomson, Channel 4
4. Alistair Bunkall, Sky News
5. Anna Botting, Sky News
6. Charlie D’Agata, CBS
7. Chris Livesay, CBS
8. Christiane Amanpour, CNN
9. Clarissa Ward, CNN
10. Clive Myrie, BBC
11. Cordelia Lynch, Sky News
12. Debora Patta, CBS
13. Deborah Haynes, Sky News
14. Diana Magnay, Sky News
15. Dominic Waghorn, Sky News
16. Emma Murphy, ITN
17. Fergal Keane, BBC
18. Fiona Bruce, BBC
19. Hala Gorani, NBC
20. Holly Williams, CBS
21. Ian Lee, CBS
22. Ian Pannell, ABC
23. Imtiaz Tyab, CBS
24. James Longman, ABC
25. Jeremy Bowen, BBC
26. John Irvine, ITN
27. John Ray, ITN
28. John Sparks, Sky News
29. Julie Etchingham, ITN
30. Katya Adler, BBC
31. Kirsty Wark, BBC
32. Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Channel 4
33. Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4
34. Lyse Doucet, BBC
35. Mark Stone, Sky News
36. Martha Kearney, BBC
37. Matt Frei, Channel 4
38. Mishal Husain, BBC
39. Molly Hunter, NBC
40. Nawal al-Maghafi, BBC
41. Nick Robinson, BBC
42. Orla Guerin, BBC
43. Paraic O’Brien, Channel 4
44. Quentin Sommerville, BBC
45. Ramy Inocencio, CBS
46. Reeta Chakrabarti, BBC
47. Richard Engel, NBC
48. Rohit Kachroo, ITN
49. Sarah Montague, BBC
50. Secunder Kermani, Channel 4
51. Stuart Ramsay, Sky News
52. Tom Bateman, BBC
53. Tom Bradby, ITN
54. Yalda Hakim, Sky News
55. Yousra Elbagir, Sky News

Open letter from news organisations sharing solidarity

Days after the letter from foreign correspondents was sent to the embassies, an open letter co-ordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists was published with signatures from leaders at more than 30 news organisations.

They said they stand united with journalists reporting from Gaza and called for anyone targeting them to be held accountable.

The full letter said:

“We, the undersigned, stand united with Palestinian journalists in their call for safety, protection, and the freedom to report.

“For nearly five months, journalists and media workers in Gaza – overwhelmingly, the sole source of on-the-ground reporting from within the Palestinian territory – have been working in unprecedented conditions: at least 89 have been killed in the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more journalists than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.

“These journalists – on whom the international news media and the international community rely for information about the situation inside Gaza – continue to report despite grave personal risk. They continue despite the loss of family, friends, and colleagues, the destruction of homes and offices, constant displacement, communications blackouts, and shortages of food and fuel.

“Journalists are civilians and Israeli authorities must protect journalists as noncombatants according to international law. Those responsible for any violations of that longstanding protection should be held accountable. Attacks on journalists are also attacks on truth. We commit to championing the safety of journalists in Gaza, which is fundamental for the protection of press freedom everywhere.”

Full list of news leader signatories:

1. Kim Godwin, President, ABC NEWS
2. Phil Chetwynd, Global News Director, Agence France-Presse
3. Hossam Kanafani, Editor in Chief, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed
4. Shiro Nakamura, President, The Asahi Shimbun, Japan
5. Julie Pace, Executive Editor, Associated Press
6. Simon Spanswick, Chief Executive, Association for International Broadcasters
7. Deborah Turness, CEO, BBC News
8. Mark Thompson, Chairman and CEO, CNN Worldwide
9. Daoud Kuttab, Director General, Community Media Network, Jordan
10. Branko Brkic, Editor in Chief, Daily Maverick, South Africa
11. Alia Ibrahim, Co-founder / CEO, Daraj, Lebanon
12. Roula Khalaf, Editor, Financial Times
13. Katharine Viner, Editor in Chief, The Guardian
14. Aluf Benn, Editor in Chief, Haaretz
15. Geordie Grieg, Editor in Chief, The Independent
16. Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, Chairperson, Inquirer Group of Companies, The Philippines
17. Deirdre Veldon, Managing Director, former Deputy Editor, The Irish Times, Ireland
18. Rachel Corp, Chief Executive, ITN UK
19. Andrew Dagnell, Editor, ITV News UK
20. Terry Tang, Interim Executive Editor, Los Angeles Times
21. Rameeza Nizami, Managing Director, Nawaiwaqt Group, Pakistan
22. Pamella Sittoni, Group Managing Editor, Nation Media Group, Kenya
23. Rebecca Blumenstein, President, Editorial, NBC News
24. David Remnick, Editor, The New Yorker
25. AG Sulzberger, Publisher, The New York Times
26. Martha Ramos, President, World Editors Forum / Chief Editorial Officer, Organización
    Editorial Mexicana, Mexico
27. Hans Väre, Editor in Chief, Postimees Grupp, Estonia
28. Alan Rusbridger, Editor, Prospect magazine, UK
29. Ritu Kapur, CEO, The Quint, India
30. Maria Ressa, CEO and Co-Founder, Rappler Inc.
31. Alessandra Galloni, Editor in Chief, Reuters
32. Nwabisa Makunga, Editor in Chief, The Sowetan, South Africa
33. Dirk Kurbjuweit, Editor in Chief, Der Spiegel
34. Wolfgang Krach, Editor in Chief, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany
35. Sally Buzbee, Executive Editor, The Washington Post
36. Vincent Peyrègne, CEO, World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)

The post ‘Let us into Gaza’: 55 UK and US foreign reporters urge Israel and Egypt to lift news blockade appeared first on Press Gazette.

Pay transparency remains unusual in UK media, but in parts of the US, it’s a legal requirement.

Since November, employers based in New York City – which includes much of the American media – have been required to disclose minimum and maximum pay in advertisements for jobs in the city. The same rule has applied in Colorado since 2019 and in California since the start of this year.

Prompted by Insider‘s decision to reveal to UK staff how much it pays for different editorial roles, Press Gazette has captured a snapshot of who in US media is hiring journalists – and how much they’re offering to pay them.

The analysis of 12 news organisations’ job postings (principally in NYC and California) finds the average advertised pay ranges at some news organisations are four times larger than at others – and that a non-American outlet is one of the best-paying publishers in the country.

[Read more: Revealed – Insider discloses UK newsroom salaries to staff]

US journalist salaries at Insider

Press Gazette reported on Monday that salaries in Insider’s UK newsroom start at £35,000 for a junior reporter and rise to a base of £60,000 for a senior editor.

The publisher had few roles advertised in New York at the time of Press Gazette’s analysis, but the figures available illustrate how much more, in nominal figures, US media workers get paid than their British counterparts. (Differing living costs mean that in real terms the salaries are not as different as they appear at first sight, however.)

[Read more: Why pay transparency could help with journalism’s class and nepotism problem]

The New York Times' advertised salary ranges

The New York Times was advertising for more than 20 roles at time of Press Gazette's analysis, ranging from an "associate writer, games" who would be paid $74,816 to a media editor (replacing Semafor's Ben Smith whose former role has remained vacant for more than a year) who might draw a salary as large as $185,000.

In common with most organisations, the NYT was advertising narrow pay ranges for more junior staff and far wider ones for those with more experience. A columnist assistant at the Times could expect to be remunerated between $74,816 and $75,000 a year, according to nytco.com/careers; an economic correspondent, meanwhile, might earn anywhere from $115,507 to $170,000.

Fox Corporation

The half of Rupert Murdoch's US media empire that publishes Fox News and Fox Business, Fox Corporation was advertising for more than 20 jobs, both in reporting roles and those focused on supporting its entertainment side. The best-rewarded role listed was managing editor of politics, which will earn the successful applicant between $180,000 and $240,500; lowest-paid were four associate roles, each drawing a maximum salary of $74,500.

The New York Post

In the other half of the Murdoch domain, pay ranges look notably wider. At Fox Corporation, the average gap between minimum and maximum salary was $23,667, similar to the $26,328 figure at The New York Times. But at News Corp tabloid the New York Post, that gap averages at $94,325:

On 9 February, there were three pay bands for journalism roles on newscorp.com/careers. Between $31,200 and $125,000 was being offered for nine different roles, ranging from photo editor to city hall reporter; between $75,000 and $145,000 was available for roles including digital editor and SEO manager; and a deputy editor for news features might make between $75,000 and $170,000. A journalist earning the lowest amount offered at the Post would make just above New York's yearly minimum wage, according to one calculation on minimum-wage.org.

The Wall Street Journal

The average range is even wider at the upmarket Wall Street Journal, where the gap between the lowest and highest possible salary for the same job was $128,139.

The worst-paid jobs at the Journal, currently including video journalists and audio producers, can earn as little as $40,000 or as much as $160,000. At the top end, a standards editor for The Wall Street Journal could be paid less than the audio producer, at $100,000, or more than The New York Times' media editor, at $250,000.

Barron's

Barron's, a division of News Corp also focused on finance, records a similarly broad range of pay offers. A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the News Corp division which publishes the WSJ and Barron's, declined to comment for this article.

CNN

News Corp is not the only business offering potentially very different salaries for similar roles: a CNN Business "US economy writer" might make $78,000 while an "economy and investing explainer writer" earns $144,000. The average gap between minimum and maximum earnings at a single role at CNN was $83,156.

CBS News

Elsewhere among the broadcasters CBS News was advertising a medley of roles earning very different sums. A broadcast associate at CBS Evening News could not expect to earn more than $45,000, while a digital content writer and producer at CBSNews.com would garner no less than $75,000.

ABC News

At Disney-owned ABC News the company was advertising for the two best-compensated roles Press Gazette saw in its analysis: an executive producer for special events (meaning major emergent news stories, for example, a hurricane) and an executive producer for race, culture & inclusion. Each role is set to earn $258,100 at minimum and $354,860 at maximum.

NBCUniversal

Meanwhile, NBCUniversal, publisher of NBC News, CNBC, MSNBC and Telemundo, advertised likely the best-remunerated beat reporting role found in this analysis: one lucky unionised local TV reporter with NBC Los Angeles can expect remuneration between $125,000 and $300,000.

Guardian US

The US edition of The Guardian boasts the highest average minimum salary of any publisher in this analysis, with over half the open positions earning at least six figures. The best-paid job, managing editor, will earn its holder no less than $250,000 a year.

Reach - Express US

Reach has begun to hire for its forthcoming bid for the US market – but at time of Press Gazette's analysis, only two roles, both at the Express US, were being advertised.

[Read more: Reach to launch US operations for Mirror, Express and Irish Star]

Comparison of salary ranges between the news organisations

Averaging minimum and maximum advertised salaries at each news organisation hiring for more than ten roles, it becomes clear how wide the ranges are at CNN, the WSJ and New York Post.

The post $185k for a media editor? New York and California journalist salaries charted appeared first on Press Gazette.

Many of the leading UK and US news publishers are rapidly increasing their followings on Tiktok, according to a Press Gazette analysis.

Since May of last year, BBC News has dramatically upped its follower count from 35,200 to reach 784,200 in January 2023 – an increase of over 2000%.

The Evening Standard has increased its number of followers from 31,700 to 239,400 (up 655%). US-based medical news and information site, Healthline, meanwhile,  has upped its followers from a smaller starting point of 1,722 to 11,100 (an increase of 545%). 

Sky News - which recently reported that it was one of the fastest-growing news brands on Tiktok in the 12 months to November 2022 as well as the UK news broadcaster with the biggest following on the platform - increased its follower count by 200% since May to reach 3.3 million.

While news providers that joined the app early in many cases will have already amassed large follower counts of more than a million and will naturally have seen their relative growth slow down compared to brands that joined the app later, an analysis of the absolute numbers of followers added shows how early adopters are helping contribute to Tiktok’s growing reach for news.

Among the sites that we looked at for growth, Ladbible added the highest number of followers since May (2.7 million), followed by Sky News (2.2 million), US broadcaster ABC News (1.5 million) and Vice World News (1.4 million).

Since Tiktok does not make follower growth public on the platform, Press Gazette used Social Blade, a third party social media analytics tool to look at how much the following of the biggest newsbrands has grown in recent months.

The chart below includes the follower growth of the biggest sites in Press Gazette’s UK and US top 50 news rankings which Social Blade tracks. Since not every newsbrand is tracked, the below analysis is meant to be illustrative rather than a comprehensive list of the fastest-growing brands on Tiktok. We tracked newsbrands’ growth from May 2022 since most of the accounts in our analysis have been tracked by Social Blade from at least that month. 

If you believe that your newsbrand should feature in the list, please email aisha.majid@ns-mediagroup.com with your historic Tiktok follower count.

Since launching in the UK 2018, Tiktok has emerged as a major force on social media. Initially, most news organisations had a marginal presence on the app or, in the case of some such as BBC News, shunned it altogether. 2022, however, marked a major change in newsbrands’ popularity on and use of Tiktok. 

According to an Ofcom report published last year, Tiktok is the fastest-growing news source for UK adults.

A survey of 300 news leaders around the world from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism earlier this week found that Tiktok is the platform where newsrooms plan to step up their efforts most in 2023 to help engage young audiences. Another Reuters Institute report dedicated to Tiktok last year revealed that almost half (49%) of the leading publishers across dozens of countries are now active on Tiktok. 

Among the factors helping newsbrands increase their reach on Tiktok has been the busy news cycle of 2022.

Sky News gained 230,000 new followers on the day of the Queen’s funeral alone, according to figures shared with Press Gazette by the broadcaster. Sky News also gained 600,000 new followers during the first five days of the war in Ukraine. Vice World News’ account similarly exploded in popularity during the war, gaining 900,000 new followers in the first three weeks following the invasion.

Who are the biggest news publishers on Tiktok?

To identify the biggest news publishers on Tiktok we took our latest UK and US top 50 news sites rankings and looked at the current follower count (as of 11 January) for those that have a presence on Tiktok. Where brands had more than one account - for example in different languages -  we looked at the main account.  

Of these sites, youth-focused publisher Ladbible had the biggest following at 11.4 million people. It was followed by ABC News (4.7 million). The Daily Mail, in third-place with 4.3 million followers was the best-ranked newspaper brand. Its most-viewed video of last year was watched 9.6 million times, the publisher told Press Gazette.

The DMGT-owned brand has invested heavily in its social media presence, including on newer networks such as Snapchat where its employs a 35-strong team.

Fellow British brand Sky News was the fifth-biggest news provider on Tiktok with 3.3 million followers, behind NBC (4 million). 

The desire to access audiences are driving UK publishers to embrace Tiktok.

"UK publishers are really worried about access and audiences and that's the imperative both from public broadcasters whose audiences are no longer coming to television, but also subscription publishers who are really looking for the next generation of subscribers," Nic Newman of the Reuters Institute told Press Gazette last year. 

Yet while large followings are helpful, unlike on other platforms they are not the only way to be successful. Tiktok’s algorithm means that content creators with relatively smaller followings can still garner large numbers of views. The same Reuters Institute Tiktok report of last year showed how some publishers such as The Sun punch above their weight on the app. The UK tabloid had times as many video views as Sky News, despite having a third of the broadcaster's followers.

Changes to the platform have helped make Tiktok more appealing to news publishers. The length of video that can be uploaded on the platform gradually increased from 30 seconds to ten minutes allowing for more explanatory and in-depth content. 

Revenue opportunities on the platform are, however, still limited. There’s no direct way to monetise content on Tiktok through a share of ad revenues on videos, although some kind of advertising which will result in shared revenue is expected to be introduced on Tiktok this year. 

Concerns over monetisation means that while some publishers see Tiktok as an opportunity to connect with Gen Z audiences and experiment with vertical video, others such as the New York Times are still largely opting to stay away.

"Publishers are very ambivalent about Tiktok," Newman told Press Gazette's Future of Media podcast this week. "[Our report on Tiktok in December] showed that half were on Tiktok and half weren't on Tiktok and many of the ones who weren't on Tiktok weren't planning to go on Tiktok because they were worried about the fact there's no revenue.

"But if you just look at it from the audience point of view, obviously it's growing very fast. It's where young people are and that's why we see publishers in [our news leaders survey] saying that they're going to put a lot more effort into it this year."

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Around half of the leading news publishers in over 40 countries now regularly publish content to Tiktok, according to a new report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ).

The report found that the platform is particularly popular among news publishers in western Europe, the US and Asia. Most leading publishers in Australia (89%), Spain (86%), France (86%), the UK (81%) and the US (77%) are now actively using Tiktok, it said.

Across the 44 countries studied, social-first publisher Now This topped the list for most followers (5.5 million), followed by Spanish start-up Ac2ality (3.9 million).

Mail Online was the most-followed publisher in Europe and the fourth-most followed worldwide (4.3 million). Other legacy names with large followings include Sky News (3 million), ABC News (4.6 million) and NBC News (3.9 million).

While news organisations from countries with large populations such as the US, Indonesia, and Brazil dominated the list of most-followed accounts, the research found that mainstream publishers from countries such as the UK where access to audiences is a key concern also did well.

Report author Nic Newman of RISJ told Press Gazette: "UK publishers are really worried about access and audiences and that's the imperative both from public broadcasters whose audiences are no longer coming to television, but also subscription publishers who are really looking for the next generation of subscribers."

When it came to average view counts per post, NBC News led the list with over one million views per post. Vice World News (671,320 views), Yahoo! News (653,480) and the Sun (616,249) also performed well.

Unlike other platforms, Tiktok’s algorithm means that very large follower bases are not necessarily needed to be successful. The Sun has 1.1 million followers but three times as many views per video as Sky News which has three million followers.

The Chinese-owned platform is one of the fastest-growing social networks worldwide but has until the past year or so been less used by journalists and newsrooms.

The war in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, as well as the option to now make longer videos, have all made the platform more appealing to news publishers. Facebook’s drive away from news publishers and uncertainty over Twitter’s future direction under new owner Elon Musk may lead more publishers to turn to Tiktok as as a way of replacing that engagement, said the RISJ report. 

The research, which draws on interviews with more than 20 newsrooms including the Washington Post, Sky News, the Guardian and Le Monde, is one of the first attempts to track news publishers’ use of Tiktok across multiple markets.

The report identified two main ways that publishers approach news content on Tiktok. Some brands such as the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have adopted personality-driven "creator-first strategies", led by younger content creators and hosts.

[Read more: A guide to Tiktok for publishers (featuring ‘Washington Post TikTok guy’)]

Others such as the Economist and Sky News, which received 16 million views for a live broadcast of the Queen’s funeral and tens of millions of views for correspondent Stuart Ramsey’s video from Ukraine, have taken a brand-led approach and view Tiktok as another distribution channel for their main content.

Alan Strange, head of on-demand content at Sky News, told RISJ: “I was very keen that we didn’t fall down the trap that a lot of publishers do, which is to try to be something they’re not. We do journalism. And we put our journalism on multiple screens. Tiktok is another of those screens.” The platform, said Strange, is one of Sky News’ most important off-site channels.

Sky News recently reported that it is one of the fastest growing newsbrands on Tiktok, having grown its follower base from 22,000 to three million in 12 months.

While publishers differ in approach, the report said “grabbing attention early, using simple language, having a light touch, and being open to a conversation are key ingredients for a successful Tiktok account”.

Some publishers remain cautious about the platform, concerned about the implications of its Chinese ownership on the potential censorship of sensitive topics. Others cited the platform’s potential trivialisation of news.

Newman said: "Video length is getting longer so there are more options to do more in-depth journalism but most of the audience is not after serious formal news there - they are looking to have fun and learn a bit and that context is really important to remember. But maybe Tiktok can be a starting point, alerting people to a story that they then investigate in more detail."

Some publishers such as the New York Times have stayed away possibly due to limited prospects for monetisation, said the report.

While previous RISJ research has found that influencers, activists and ordinary people are responsible for most news content on TikTok, publishers are increasingly interested in the opportunity to tap into the platform’s fast-growing young user base, experiment with vertical video and counter misinformation on the platform with reliable news.

Yet, while most traditional publishers were not found to be looking to monetise the platform at this stage, there is, said Newman, a likely limit on how long some publishers will persist with a platform that currently does not pay.

"There's a certain amount of impatience from publishers," says Newman.

"Some publishers are very realistic and some are looking for new income streams, or at least some way in which they can get some benefit. I think what's happening at the moment is you've got publishers really looking at experimentation and just trying things out on the platform, but not committing 100% because they recognise that if they do, there's currently no business model that is going to bring recompense.

"We've been down this road before where publishers are expected to put in resources with no business model so people are wary but in many ways the current Tiktok offer is worse because there is not even the option to link back to a website for monetisation and you have to create bespoke content - a real extra cost in most cases. Broadcasters like Sky have it a bit easier because it is quite marginal cost to create content for this format."

On whether publishers need to be on Tiktok currently or not, Newman said it is a decision for each publisher.

"As with any platform you need to be very deliberate and strategic about which network you want to use and why. If you care about young audiences and want to engage them, this is where they spend much of their time. It's also worth joining if you want to experiment with new storytelling and vertical video formats. This is a much wider trend that may be worth investing in anyway.

"But if your main business is selling subscriptions to older people - or if you are looking for new revenue streams - Tiktok may not be the platform for you."

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Sky and NBC News are teaming up under joint owner Comcast to launch an international news service with a base in the UK, senior executives have revealed.

The English-speaking channel will be called NBC Sky World News and is set to go live this summer, creating a rival to the BBC World Service and CNN in terms of global news coverage.

The move comes almost 18 months after US cable giant Comcast, which has wholly owned NBC Universal since 2013, spent more than £40bn taking over Sky, including its Sky News division.

Variety reported that the main newsroom for the network will be at Sky’s Osterley campus in west London but that ten new international bureaux will also open in places the company feels news is “under-reported”.

NBC News International president Deborah Turness  told Variety: “We see an opportunity to begin an approach that isn’t filtered through a US perspective or a British perspective or any national perspective.

“We can bring our journalism to the wide world, but also invest heavily in global journalism so we can add to the story and really create an approach and product that can deliver the global perspective we believe the world wants right now.”

She suggested the channel would “cover the great issues impacting all humanity today” and would make use of NBC News’ international teams.

But she acknowledged the channel would “take a beat to get started and to build”.

NBC News chairman Andy Lack told the Financial Times the channel would draw on a combined workforce of 3,500 and eventually hire 100 to 200 dedicated staff.

Lack said NBC has “longed for an international channel” for more than 20 years, lamenting that “if you weren’t in the 24-hour news business globally, you weren’t really in the news business”.

A Sky spokesperson declined to comment as the initiative is being led by NBC, but promised more information as the plans develop.

Picture: Reuters/Mike Blake

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Russert, who also fronted a weekly programme, Meet The Press, was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine this year.

The post Veteran US newsreader Tim Russert dies appeared first on Press Gazette.

Winfrey, who sold her fledgling cable TV business Oxygen Media to NBC last October, has teamed up with Discovery to launch The Oprah Winfrey Network, which is due to appear on screens late next year.

The post Oprah Winfrey to launch ‘mindful’ cable TV channel appeared first on Press Gazette.