Press Gazette is honoured to announce the finalists for the British Journalism Awards 2024.

This year’s British Journalism Awards attracted 750 entries encompassing every major news organisation in the UK.

The finalists are announced today following a three-week process involving 80 independent judges and two days of jury-style meetings.

In order to make the shortlists work has to be revelatory, show journalistic skill and rigour and serve the public interest.

The winners will be announced on 12 December at a dinner in London hosted by Radio 2 presenter and journalist Jeremy Vine.

Details here about how to book tickets.

The shortlist for News Provider of the Year will be announced following a second round of judging. The winners of Journalist of the Year, the Marie Colvin Award and the Public Service prize will be announced on the night.

Chairman of judges and Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford said: “Without journalism, Boris Johnson would still be prime minister, wronged postmasters would not have a voice and victims of the infected blood scandal would not have a chance of compensation.

“The 2024 British Journalism Awards shortlists celebrate the stories which would not be told without journalists willing to shine a light on uncomfortable truths and publications brave enough to back them up.

“Congratulations to all our finalists and thank you to everyone who took the time to enter the British Journalism Awards.

“In a media world which is increasingly controlled by a few parasitic technology platforms it is more important than ever to celebrate the publishers willing to invest in and support quality journalism that makes a difference for the better in our world.”

British Journalism Awards 2024 shortlist in full:

Social Affairs, Diversity & Inclusion Journalism

Natasha Cox, Ahmed El Shamy, Rosie Garthwaite — BBC Eye Investigations

• Perfume’s Dark Secret

Jessica Hill — Schools Week

• Missing from mainstream: Excluded children with nowhere to go
• ‘Out of sight, out of mind’: The rise of unregistered alternative provision
• Hospital schools: On the mental health crisis frontline

Sasha Baker, Valeria Rocca — The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

• The parents group at the centre of a rollback of trans rights
• ‘One day they may thank us for that “abuse”’: Inside the Bayswater Support Group

Rianna Croxford, Ruth Evans, Cate Brown, Ed McGown, Tom Stone, Ed Campbell, Karen Wightman — BBC Panorama

• The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool

Daniel Hewitt, Imogen Barrer, Mariah Cooper, Reshma Rumsey — ITV News

• Nowhere to go: Britain’s homeless emergency

Louise Tickle — Tortoise Media

• Taking the stand: Grace’s story
• Taking the stand: Emma’s story

Abi Kay — Farmers Weekly

• Level the Field
• Is there a problem with young farmer culture?
• Editor’s view: Facing hard truths about young farmer culture

Joshua Nelken-Zitser, Ida Reihani, Kit Gillet — Business Insider

• Iran will pay for gender-transition surgery, but it comes at a cost — your dignity

Features Journalism

Sophie Elmhirst — 1843 magazine, The Economist and The Guardian

• The last stand of the call-centre worker
• Chortle chortle, scribble scribble: inside the Old Bailey with Britain’s last court reporters
• Last love: a romance in a care home

Jenny Kleeman — The Guardian

• America’s premier pronatalists on having ‘tons of kids’ to save the world: ‘There are going to be countries of old people starving to death’
• She was accused of faking an incriminating video of teenage cheerleaders. She was arrested, outcast and condemned. The problem? Nothing was fake after all
• ‘I know someone who played noughts and crosses on one’: meet the top surgeon who burned his initials on a patient’s liver

Sirin Kale — The Guardian

• ‘My child was drowning’: life and death on an English maternity ward
• The life and tragic death of John Balson: how a true crime producer documented his own rising horror
• The Russell murders: is Michael Stone in prison for a brutal crime he didn’t commit?

Zoe Beaty — The Independent

• How Nigel Farage took over my hometown – and why Keir Starmer should be worried
• My battle to bring a predatory Met Police officer from the same unit as Wayne Couzens to justice
• ‘A court packed with those who know their way around already, and jails are too full to take them’

Inderdeep Bains — Daily Mail

• My doctors insist it’s time I died – but I will fight them: Extraordinary case of 19-year-old woman suffering from Charlie Gard condition battling medics’ attempts to ‘condemn her to death’
• Sudiksha: ‘Condemned to Die in Secret’ – The Shocking Story of the 19-year-old’s fight to live

David James Smith — The Independent

• How did so many miss the sinister warning signs about James Bulger’s killer for so long?
• Is Lucy Letby innocent? I’m a miscarriage of justice investigator – and here’s what I think…
• The wife of this Murdoch executive has been missing since the Sixties – will her body now be found?

Fiona Hamilton — The Times

• Nottingham attacks: ‘We have no faith in the police. We want justice’
• ‘A horrible way to die … and no doctors can help you’
• Realising Sarah Everard got into a sex offender’s car was horrific

Barbara McMahon — Daily Mail

• Ghislaine Maxwell ‘was tortured in prison – now she’s ready for a comeback’: Jeffrey Epstein’s socialite pimp runs half marathons at low-security Florida lock-up and is now ‘focused and motivated’ for her appeal next week, her brother reveals
• ‘I shook Epstein’s hand and asked him what my daughter would be doing’: Virginia Roberts’s father describes dropping her off at paedophile’s mansion, meeting ‘despicable’ Ghislaine… and blasts Prince Andrew for showing ‘no remorse’
• Black Widow who ‘relished killing and had no regard for human life, even for children’: Griselda Blanco shot a child in the head when she was 11 and rose to be Miami’s drug kingpin. As she’s immortalised on Netflix, her son recalls his ‘fearsome’ mother

Local Journalism

Abi Whistance, Joshi Herrmann, Kate Knowles, Mollie Simpson, Jothi Gupta — Mill Media

• Special investigation: The collapsing world of Liverpool’s charity kingpin
• Investigation: The spectacular rise and sudden fall of Gurpaal Judge
• Exclusive: How did a semi in Harpurhey sell for £1.8m?

Richard Newman, Jennifer O’Leary, Gwyneth Jones, Chris Thornton — BBC Spotlight

• Katie: Coerced and Killed

Sam McBride — Belfast Telegraph

• Lough Neagh has become a scene of Biblical disaster, and Stormont was central to its destruction
• Killing Edgar podcast

Chris Burn — The Yorkshire Post

• Building societies scandal: Yorkshire victims reveal shocking stories – and plead for action to be taken
• Philips Trust: FCA got ‘Ponzi scheme’ warning on firm at heart of £138m building society scandal – 18 months before collapse
• Leeds, Newcastle and Nottingham Building Societies to pay tens of millions to Philips Trust victims

Jane Haynes — Birmingham Mail and Birmingham Mail/Post

• Teacher’s ‘life blown apart’ in onslaught of hate as false racism claim goes viral
• The truth exposed about ‘secretive’ council meeting on equal pay crisis in Birmingham
• ‘Like a prison’ – the tower block for homeless families that has 8pm curfew and no visitors allowed

Wendy Robertson — The Bridge

• The Bridge newsletter

Health & Life Sciences Journalism

Rebecca Thomas — The Independent

• Mental health patients ‘raped and sexually assaulted’ as NHS abuse scandal revealed
• Nicholas’s story: ‘I’ve been locked up for 10 years because I’m autistic. Is a chance at life too much to ask?’
• Revealed: NHS regulator’s ‘culture of fear’ that leaves rogue nurses free to abuse patients

Fin Johnston — The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

• Science for sale: Philip Morris’s web of payments to fund tobacco research
• Inside the strategy doc Philip Morris never meant you to see
• Tobacco state: why Japan was the perfect testing ground for Philip Morris

Hannah Barnes — The New Statesman

• The trauma ward
• The Cass Review into children’s gender care should shame us all
• Hundreds of doctors are challenging the BMA’s stance on puberty blockers

Robbie Boyd, Eamonn Matthews, Steve Grandison, Ian Bendelow, Sophie Borland, Katie O’Toole, Islay Stacey, Ali Watt, Frances Peters — Quicksilver Media for Channel 4 Dispatches

• Undercover A&E: NHS in Crisis

Ellie Pitt, Cree Haughton, Justina Simpson, Ellie Swinton, Patrick Russell, Liam Ayers — ITV News

• The Dark Side of Cosmetic Surgery

Martin Bagot — Daily Mirror

• Day in the life of a dentist – and why it’s nothing like you imagine as NHS nears collapse
• Britain’s dental health crisis exposed as hundreds of children in hospital with bad teeth
• Urgent warning amid fears cosmetic fillers could cause immune system problems

Hanna Geissler — Daily Express

• ‘I’m terminally ill – assisted dying must be legalised so my daughter won’t see me suffer’
• Assisted dying ‘allowed me to mostly forget’ fears, says Aussie man hit by brain tumour
• Dame Esther’s assisted dying petition delivered to Prime Minister’s doorstep

Crime & Legal Affairs Journalism

Sue Mitchell, Rob Lawrie, Joel Moors, Winifred Robinson, Dan Clarke, Philip Sellars, Tom Brignell, Mom Tudie — BBC

• To Catch a Scorpion
• How we found Europe’s most wanted migrant-smuggler
• Why the BBC could track down a people-smuggling kingpin before the police

Gabriel Pogrund, Katie Tarrant — The Sunday Times

• Millionaire’s ‘sex worker immigration scandal’
• Hamish Ogston: millionaire accused of exploiting women ‘set up charity to help win knighthood’
• Hamish Ogston: tycoon asked Met to arrest woman who accused him of sex trafficking

Mike Sullivan, Jerome Starkey, Mike Ridley — The Sun

• ‘Distraught’ Holly Willoughby under police guard after man is arrested over terrifying ‘kidnap plot’
• Police chief faces ‘Walter Mitty’ probe after being pictured wearing Falklands medal despite being 15 at time of war

Hannah Summers — The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

• Family Court Files: mother ‘devastated’ after rapist father granted contact with child
• Family Court Files: Psychologist’s evidence used to ‘ramp up’ allegations of parental alienation
• Kristoffer White: TBIJ wins court battle to publish name of sex offender

Rianna Croxford, Ruth Evans — BBC Panorama and BBC News

• Abercrombie & Fitch ex-CEO accused of exploiting men for sex
• Lawsuit accuses Abercrombie & Fitch of funding sex-trafficking operation
• FBI investigate after ex-Abercrombie boss sex claims

Isobel Yeung, Alex Nott, Esme Ash, Nick Parnes, Alistair Jackson, Matt Bardo, Sarah Wilson — Channel 4 Dispatches

• Britain’s Unsolved Crimewave: Dispatches

Comment Journalism

Daniel Finkelstein — The Times

• Israelis and Palestinians must start to listen
• Wes Streeting’s lessons from Richard Nixon and China
• Here’s the Keir Starmer I’ve known for decades

Matthew Syed — The Sunday Times

• When I was at school a teacher could call me the P-word. We’ve come so far
• The storm is gathering, and Europe is still dithering on defending itself
• Locked in by language, we are freed by music, poetry, painting … and love

Will Hayward — WalesOnline/The Will Hayward Newsletter

• The most pointless job in Wales
• The worst political leader in the UK
• Bluster, fluster and ‘word salad’ nonsense: Vaughan Gething ducks and weaves like a boxer at the Welsh Covid Inquiry

Kitty Donaldson — i

• Part political update, part group therapy: inside Starmer’s Cabinet meeting
• Grenfell is a tragic reminder to the Tories that regulation is not a dirty word
• The winter fuel row is a painful wake up call for new Labour MPs

Frances Ryan — The Guardian

• A summer defined by men killing women and girls. This can’t go on
• Think of this: a plan to ‘warehouse’ disabled people. What kind of nation is Britain becoming?
• Cropped out, banned, airbrushed: the school photos that show the ugly face of Britain today

Duncan Robinson — The Economist

• Why the next Westminster scandal is already here
• The narcissism of minor differences, Labour Party edition
• British boomers are losing out for the first time

Specialist Journalism

Peter Blackburn — The Doctor (by the British Medical Association)

• Nowhere left to turn
• Fears for patient care due to shortages of chronic alcohol misuse treatment Pabrinex
• Not the only failing

Lucinda Rouse, Emily Burt, Ollie Peart, Louise Hill, David Robinson, Rebecca Cooney, Andy Ricketts, Nav Pal, Til Owen — Third Sector

• The End of Charity podcast

Lucie Heath — i

• Revealed: Water firms dumped sewage 5,500 times in a year ‘illegally’
• Revealed: The hidden sewage spills damaging our national parks and beauty spots
• Toxic water, debt and sewage dumping: How Britain’s rivers got so bad

Deborah Cohen, Margaret McCartney — BMJ/Pharmaceutical Journal

• Inclisiran: the ‘extremely unusual’ political influence behind the novel drug’s approval
• Galleri promises to detect multiple cancers—but new evidence casts doubt on this much hyped blood test
• Inclisiran: Government’s strategy to promote cholesterol lowering drug after Brexit was “spectacular failure,” says insider

Lee Mottershead — Racing Post

• Revealed: the racehorse owner fronting an illegal bookmaker with more than 1,000 customers
• ‘People don’t want to provide bank statements. We’ve got so many people betting with us’

Jessica Hill — Schools Week

• The rise of the parent activist
• AI’s allure is proving hard to resist for the UK’s learners
• ‘Out of sight, out of mind’: The rise of unregistered alternative provision

Emily Townsend — Health Service Journal

• Over 30 sepsis deaths linked to ‘systemic’ failings, investigation reveals
• Revealed: Doubling of average waits for critical stroke treatments
• Midwives call women in labour ‘Asian princesses’ amid ‘hostile’ environment fears

Roya Nikkhah — The Sunday Times

• Prince Harry at 40: ‘All he does is spend time looking back’
• The hospital heart-to-hearts that brought Kate and King even closer
• Prince William to build houses for homeless on his land in Cornwall

Foreign Affairs Journalism

Christina Lamb — The Sunday Times

• Gun in hand, the Israeli settler tells the Palestinian: I will kill you
• First Hamas fighters raped her. Then they shot her in the head
• ‘Who will protect us?’: Christina Lamb on the Yazidis’ dangerous journey home

Alex Crawford — Sky News

• Libya floods: Child’s voice heard under rubble as rescue teams search desperately in Derna for survivors
• Warning of Islamic State’s growing resurgence – as Sky News gets rare access to terrorists’ families
• Report from Lebanon

Kim Sengupta — The Independent

• Bombs, betrayal and burying loved ones: Plight of one Ukraine village illustrates toll of Russia’s invasion
• ‘I have buried more than 50 friends’: My life as a British soldier fighting on Ukraine’s bloody front line
• The families of hostages taken by Hamas are desperate – but can Israel get them back?

Vanessa Bowles, Jaber Badwan — Channel 4 Dispatches

• Kill Zone: Inside Gaza

Louise Callaghan — The Sunday Times

• The secret city of tunnels where hundreds live below Vegas glitz
• Claudia Sheinbaum: Meet the woman ready to be Mexico’s first presidenta
• Stand-off at Eagle Pass: welcome to the epicentre of the US border crisis

Secunder Kermani — Channel 4 News

• Palestinian detainees allege torture and sexual abuse by Israeli captors
• Myanmar military forces victims to fight in brutal civil war

Gesbeen Mohammad, Brad Manning, Nechirvan Mando, Ghoncheh Habibiazad, Esella Hawkey, Tom Giles, Hafez — ITV

• Inside Iran: The Fight for Freedom

Stuart Ramsay, Dominique van Heerden, Toby Nash — Sky News

• Haiti gang boss will take part in talks if invited – but warns foreign forces will be treated as ‘invaders’
• Aboard ‘The Beast’: What do migrants face travelling through Mexico on way to US?
• Shocking scenes in Gaza hospital as IDF moves into Khan Younis | Israel-Hamas war

Arkady Ostrovsky — 1843 magazine, The Economist

• Life and death in Putin’s gulag
• Death and destruction in a Russian city
• Life and fate (podcast)

Technology Journalism, sponsored by Amazon

Alexander Martin — The Record from Recorded Future News

• Ransomware attacks hit record level in UK, according to neglected official data
• UK government urged to get on ‘forward foot’ with ransomware instead of ‘absorbing the punches’
• Exclusive: UK to propose mandatory reporting for ransomware attacks and licensing regime for all payments

Marianna Spring — BBC News

• The real story of the news website accused of fuelling riots
• Trump supporters target black voters with faked AI images
• X takes action on deepfake network smearing UK politicians after BBC investigation

Joe Tidy — BBC World Service

• ‘Pig butchering’ scammers target BBC reporter
• Sextortion warning: In six hours, my son was dead
• Stolen test data and NHS numbers published by hospital hackers

Amanda Chicago Lewis — 1843 magazine, The Economist

• Secrets of a ransomware negotiator

Cathy Newman, Job Rabkin, Emily Roe, Sophie Braybrook, Guy Basnett, Ed Howker — Channel 4 News

• Deepfake Porn

Helen Lewis — BBC Radio 4/BBC Sounds

• Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat

Energy & Environment Journalism, sponsored by Renewable UK

Sam McBride — Belfast Telegraph

• Apocalypse Neagh: The source of 40% of NI’s water is ‘dying’
• Watch: Sam McBride’s in-depth look at Lough Neagh’s blue-green algae crisis

Josephine Moulds — The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

• Backroom deals, mystery companies and a ‘killer lake’: inside DRC’s gas and oil auction
• HSBC helped oil and gas industry raise $47bn despite net-zero pledge
• Barclays’ billions of ‘sustainable’ finance for fossil fuel industry is greenwash, says investor

Esme Stallard, Becky Dale, Sophie Woodcock, Jonah Fisher, Libby Rogers — BBC News

• Water firms illegally spilled sewage on dry days – data suggests
• BBC uncovers 6,000 possible illegal sewage spills in one year

Rachel Salvidge, Leana Hosea — The Guardian/Watershed

• The Watershed Pollution Map
• Landfills across England could be leaking harmful toxic ooze, warn experts
• ‘It’s a poison and it’s killing us’: the hidden dangers of old UK landfills

Guy Grandjean, Patrick Fee, Gwyneth Jones, Chris Thornton — BBC Spotlight Northern Ireland

• Spotlight – The Lough Neagh Monster
• Hundreds of environmental breaches by Moy Park

Sofia Quaglia — The Guardian

• ‘If we can’t fish any more, we’re going to die’: the volunteer sea patrols protecting precious Philippine waters
• From sea to plate … to sea! Hong Kong puts oyster shells to new use
• ‘It smells so bad’: glut of wild salmon creates stink in Norway and Finland

Jess Staufenberg — SourceMaterial

• Trojan Horsepower – Formula 1 and the Saudi oil lobby
• F1 lobbies for Saudi against EU green rules

Arts & Entertainment Journalism

Mark Daly, Mona McAlinden, Shelley Jofre, Jax Sinclair, Karen Wightman, Hayley Hassall — BBC Panorama

• The Dark Side of Ballet Schools

Jonathan Dean — The Times and The Sunday Times

• Oasis reunion and Wembley gigs next year … is that definitely, maybe?
• Ridley Scott: I didn’t need historians to make my Napoleon epic
• Olly Alexander on Eurovision: ‘I was trying not to have a breakdown’

Rachael Healy — The Guardian and Observer

• ‘At the start you get molested and by 45 you’re too old to work’ – the secret misery of women working in TV
• Fresh crisis at ‘toxic’ Strictly as ex-staff claim they faced sexualised comments and cruelty
• ‘The outrageousness of what Louis CK did is totally lost’: the film about the backlash faced by his accusers

Tom Bryant — Daily Mirror

• BBC’s Huw Edwards scandal teen breaks silence in first interview – ‘I felt groomed’
• Huw Edwards scandal teen: Why I first tried to protect BBC star but now feel shame
• Paul O’Grady’s beloved dog nuzzled star’s shoulder as devoted husband battled to save him

Lucy Osborne, Stephanie Kirchgaessner — The Guardian and Observer

• ‘I honest to God believe I was drugged’: magician David Copperfield’s alleged victims speak out
• The FBI investigated David Copperfield for two years. The claim that he was ‘exonerated’ was widely embraced. Was he?
• ‘Magic David called’: David Copperfield repeatedly contacted Jeffrey Epstein

Clemmie Moodie, Hannah Hope, Scarlet Howes — The Sun

• Strictly pro Giovanni Pernice probed over serious complaints by 3 ‘traumatised’ contestants as BBC ‘gathers evidence’
• Strictly Come Dancing bosses make huge changes to show after Giovanni Pernice quits
• Strictly bombshell as Amanda Abbington demands backstage footage of her and Giovanni as she is diagnosed with PTSD

Carolyn Atkinson, Olivia Skinner — BBC Radio 4 Front Row

• The British Museum’s missing gems
• Painting stolen in art heist more than 30 years ago returned to Glasgow museum

Rosamund Urwin, Charlotte Wace — The Times and The Sunday Times

• Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse
• How The Times and The Sunday Times investigated Russell Brand
• ‘I felt used and abused’ on Arthur: alleged Russell Brand victim speaks

New Journalist of the Year

Rafe Uddin — Financial Times

• Labour loses Muslim support over stance on Israel-Hamas ceasefire
• Reform UK’s unusual structure with Nigel Farage in the middle
• How Post Office lawyers pushed boundaries in UK sub-postmasters scandal

Sammy Gecsoyler — The Guardian

• ‘We’re going to see people dying on the streets’: homeless refugee crisis grips Liverpool
• ‘Rat bites and chronic asthma’: schools on frontline of UK housing crisis
• Met police agree six-figure payout to student hit by baton at protest

Kaf Okpattah — ITV News, ITV News London

• Whistleblower reveals corruption and collusion inside Wandsworth Prison
• The fraud scammers putting people out of pocket by cloning phone numbers

Simar Bajaj — The Guardian, New Scientist

• Everyone is on their phones. But is it really phone addiction we’re experiencing?
• The surprising mental health and brain benefits of weight-loss drugs
• He was shot in the throat. Now he saves gun victims as a trauma surgeon in Baltimore

Nimra Shahid — The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

• Santander arranged billion-dollar oil bond after making green pledge
• Santander weakened fossil fuel policy after raising billions for gas projects

Venetia Menzies — The Sunday Times

• Anxiety drug pregabalin killed my son — and hundreds more are dying from it
• The company taking refugees out of Gaza — and ‘making millions’
• After the earthquake: how Morocco is rebuilding

Oliver Marsden — The Sunday Times/Al Jazeera

• Hero taxi driver who saved scores from Hamas faces hatred from both sides
• Dodging Israeli rockets with Ghana’s UN peacekeepers
• Israeli strikes on Lebanon: Attacks are causing wildfires across south

Yasmin Rufo — BBC News

• London mayor election: Bots, misleading URLs cause voter confusion
• Ulez expansion: Contested claims examined
• Ulez: More than 300 cameras damaged or stolen in four months

Sports Journalism

Jacob Whitehead — The Athletic

• Special report: Newcastle United sponsor Noon and shocking allegations of worker mistreatment
• Saudi Arabia investigates worker mistreatment allegations after The Athletic report on Newcastle sponsor Noon
• Special report: ‘Disturbing’ safety issues at Hillsborough 35 years after disaster

Oliver Brown — The Telegraph

• Angela Carini was sent unforgivably into harm’s way by gutless IOC cowards
• After my grandfather hugged Jesse Owens, the Nazis told him: ‘Never embrace a black man again’
• Michael Vaughan: If I had gone through this racism ordeal at 80, I would have wanted to be shot

Simon Lock, Rob Davies, Jacob Steinberg — The Bureau of Investigative Journalism / The Guardian

• Abramovich’s hidden football deals during Chelsea’s time at the top (TBIJ) and Chelsea FC face new questions over how Roman Abramovich funded success (Guardian)
• ‘I worked for Abramovich?’: footballers were owned by oligarch via offshore deals (TBIJ) and Revealed: Abramovich, the super-agent and the footballers owned as ‘commodities’ (Guardian)
• Leaked documents reveal Abramovich is still connected to Vitesse (TBIJ) and Abramovich loans fund owner of Dutch football club, leaked documents suggest (Guardian)

Jacob Judah — 1843 magazine, The Economist

• The strange case of the disappearing football team

Riath Al-Samarrai — Daily Mail

• Drifting through life without gold medals, tortured by his past, and now claims of bankruptcy… How did petulant Wiggins fall so spectacularly from his golden bike?
• Seb Coe explains why he’s HAPPY to break 128 years of Olympic tradition by handing out cash for gold… and reveals Roman Abramovich’s unlikely role in athletics
• The curious case of Jade Jones’ drugs test and why the Chinese might be quick to ask questions, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI

Ian Herbert — Daily Mail

• Looting and rioting, setting fire to police officers and hunting down English fans… fearful European clubs are turning a blind eye to shadowy leaders of their untouchable ultras
• Thirty-five years after horror of the Hillsborough tragedy, Mail Sport can reveal that incredibly the stadium is still not fit for purpose with poor stewarding, inadequate turnstiles and a problem tunnel
• Grubby, classless, the five-year legal battle over plane crash victim Emiliano Sala takes us into football’s sewers… where players are pawns and chronically inept clubs desperately try to save cash

Matt Lawton — The Times

• Man City launch unprecedented legal action against Premier League
• ‘The horror is everywhere’ – inside Lord Coe’s secret trip to Ukraine
• Russian athletes should be allowed at Olympics, says government

Um-E-Aymen Babar — Sky Sports

• How does endometriosis affect women in sport?
• USA cricket teen on tackling social media trolls, South Asian heritage and 2028 Olympic goals
• Um-E-Aymen Babar ok Tiktok

Campaign of the Year

Caroline Wheeler —The Sunday Times: Bloody Disgrace

• Thousands dead, 40 years of cover-up: time for justice for infected blood victims
• At last: promise of £10bn payout for infected blood victims
• Jeremy Hunt: I promised a dying friend I’d end infected blood scandal

Patrick Butler, Josh Halliday, John Domokos — The Guardian: Unpaid Carers

• Carers threatened with prosecution over minor breaches of UK benefit rules
• ‘Injustice’: 92-year-old with dementia told by DWP to repay £7k in disability allowance
• I’m under attack and fighting back: the scandal trapping carers

Computer Weekly editorial team — Computer Weekly: Post Office Scandal

• Post Office Horizon scandal explained: Everything you need to know
• Fujitsu staff instructed how to bid for government contracts during self-imposed ban
• Post Office Horizon replacement project labelled ‘unachievable’ as taxpayer bill reaches £1bn

David Cohen — Evening Standard: Show Respect

• Boys, porn and the alarming way they talk about girls – a special investigation
• School pupils tell how they are victims of sexual harassment every day
• Show some respect: Standard launches campaign with £500k to tackle sexist abuse in schools

Lucie Heath — i: Save Britain’s Rivers

• Save Britain’s Rivers: i challenges all parties to commit to election manifesto
• Revealed: The hidden sewage spills damaging our national parks and beauty spots
• National Trust signs up to i’s Save Britain’s Rivers manifesto

Hanna Geissler, Giles Sheldrick — Daily Express: Give Us Our Last Rights

• My assisted dying petition proves Brits are compassionate – now Rishi Sunak must act
• ‘I’m terminally ill – assisted dying must be legalised so my daughter won’t see me suffer’
• Assisted dying debate must move on to how law will change, MND campaigner says

Amy Clare Martin — The Independent: IPP Jail Sentences

• Revealed: 16 years in prison for stealing a bike and no hope of release – as 7 trapped in jail kill themselves
• ‘He looked like a starving dog on the floor’: Prisoner trapped on indefinite jail term driven to hunger strike
• Father imprisoned for 12 years for stealing mobile phone under ‘cruel’ indefinite jail term reunited with son

Martin Bagot, Jason Beattie — Daily Mirror: Save NHS Dentistry

• Dentists warn ‘rescue plan’ will fail to end crisis as 60,000 people sign our petition
• Day in the life of a dentist – and why it’s nothing like you imagine as NHS nears collapse
• Britain’s dental health crisis exposed as hundreds of children in hospital with bad teeth

Photojournalism

Thomas Dworzak — 1843 magazine, The Economist

André Luís Alves — 1843 magazine, The Economist

Giles Clarke — CNN Digital

Nichole Sobecki — 1843 magazine, The Economist

Dimitris Legakis — Athena Picture Agency

Stefan Rousseau — PA Media

Hannah McKay — Reuters

Interviewer of the Year

Alice Thomson — The Times

• Ed Davey: ‘Being a carer is harder than being a politician’
• Peter Kyle: It was 5am. A woman said, ‘Your partner is dead ’
• Emma Barnett: ‘The pain was so bad, I was losing the will to live’

Christina Lamb — The Sunday Times

• ICC prosecutor: UK didn’t blitz the IRA — Israel needs that restraint
• The president’s daughter (and Instagram star) wanted by Interpol
• David Cameron: ‘Why did I take the job? Rishi Sunak asked!’

Laura Kuenssberg — Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, BBC News

• Baroness Mone and the PPE Scandal
• How Can We Protect Our Children Online?
• Inside No 11 with Chancellor Rachel Reeves

Charlotte Edwardes — The Guardian

• ‘You asked me questions I’ve never asked myself’: Keir Starmer’s most personal interview yet
• ‘Dismissing global warming? That was a joke’: Jeremy Clarkson on fury, farming and why he’s a changed man
• ‘The levels of attack are extraordinary’: Gary Lineker on punditry, podcasts – and why he won’t stop speaking his mind

Nick Ferrari — LBC

• Labour leader Keir Starmer joins Nick Ferrari to take your calls
• Champagne and caviar: Esther Rantzen reveals plans for final moments as she pushes for assisted dying law change
• Nigel Farage joins Nick Ferrari

Samantha Poling — BBC

• How I confronted Emma Caldwell’s killer
• Catching a Killer: The Murder of Emma Caldwell
• Who Killed Emma?

Piers Morgan — Piers Morgan Uncensored

• “Richard Gadd is PSYCHOTIC” Baby Reindeer’s ‘Real’ Martha Fiona Harvey
• Kevin Spacey Breaks Down As He Faces Debt Of MILLIONS
• Piers Morgan vs Rishi Sunak Round 2 | Prime Minister Discusses Israel-Hamas War, NHS, Rwanda & More

Paul Brand — ITV News

• Interview with Rishi Sunak
• Interview with Ed Davey
• Interview with Keir Starmer

(View all three interviews here)

Politics Journalism

Jim Pickard, Anna Gross — Financial Times

• Keir Starmer accepted £76,000 of freebies including tickets to over 20 football games
• Keir Starmer faces backlash over early failure to disclose £16,200 in donor-funded clothing
• Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves declared clothing donations as office support

Pippa Crerar — The Guardian

• Kemi Badenoch accused of ‘bullying and traumatising’ staff
• Rishi Sunak aide placed bet on election date days before announcement
• Tories putting party reputation before sexual assault claim, says alleged victim

Rowena Mason, Henry Dyer, Matthew Weaver — The Guardian

• Biggest Tory donor said looking at Diane Abbott makes you ‘want to hate all black women’
• ‘No room for the Indians?’: Tory donor Frank Hester suggested staff climb on train roof
• Revealed: Sunak flown to Leeds for private tour of Frank Hester’s office weeks after £5m donation

Job Rabkin, Darshna Soni, Ed Gove, Saif Aledros, Georgina Lee, Lee Sorrell — Channel 4 News

• Undercover Inside Reform’s Campaign

Beth Rigby — Sky News

• Election exit poll
• The Battle for Number 10: A Sky News Leaders’ Special
• How Reform fares on Thursday will also determine the Conservatives fate

Caroline Wheeler — The Sunday Times

• Commons worker arrested after allegedly spying for China
• My MP husband Andrew Bridgen was captured by antivax ‘cult’
• At last: promise of £10bn payout for infected blood victims

Jane Merrick — i

• Thousands of disabled people died after ‘Covid treatment withheld’, inquiry to probe
• ‘My daughter was allowed to die of Covid because she had Down’s syndrome’
• Labour manifesto missing pensioners’ winter fuel and bus pass pledges

Steven Swinford — The Times

• Britain and US launch airstrikes on Houthi targets
• Jeremy Hunt looks for £9bn to balance his budget
• Teachers and nurses should get above-inflation pay rise, ministers told

Business, Finance and Economics Journalism, sponsored by Starling Bank

Simon Murphy — Daily Mirror & Sunday Mirror

• Fujitsu boss lives on ‘blood money’ with £2m mansion as we suffer, says Post Office victim
• Provider boasting of ‘compassion’ threatens daughter with court action over £50k care bill for her 93-year-old amputee mother with dementia
• Mirror tracks down former Post Office IT chief that Horizon inquiry insisted couldn’t be found

Ed Conway — Sky News

• Surge in sale of UK-made cars to Russia’s neighbours shows how it’s beating sanctions
• British firms’ exports are almost certainly bolstering Russia’s war machine in Ukraine, Sky data analysis finds
• How British financial services aid sale of Russian gas on European market | Ukraine War

Tom Bergin — Reuters

• Online-gambling giants conquer U.S. with tactics deemed too tough for Britain

Gill Plimmer, Robert Smith — Financial Times

• Chinese state banks are lenders to Thames Water’s parent company
• Thames Water owners pile group with debt
• Thames Water shareholders backed away over regulator’s debt demands

Siddharth Philip, Benedikt Kammel, Anthony Palazzo, Katharine Gemmell, Sabah Meddings — Bloomberg News

• Bogus Supplier of Jet-Engine Parts May Have Faked Employees Too
• Ghost in the Machine: How Fake Parts Infiltrated Airline Fleets
• UK Fraud Cops Make Arrest in Fake Airplane Parts Scandal

Anna Isaac, Alex Lawson — The Guardian

• Sellafield apologises after guilty plea over string of cybersecurity failings
• Nuclear Narnia: why is Sellafield Europe’s most dangerous industrial site?
• Sellafield nuclear site hacked by groups linked to Russia and China

Danny Fortson — The Sunday Times

• Mike Lynch: Flown to the US in chains, now he is free … and talking
• Inside Mike Lynch’s last stand as $11bn fraud trial looms
• The app that promised an NHS ‘revolution’ then went down in flames

Online Video Journalism

Alex Rothwell, Alastair Good, Yasmin Butt, Pauline Den Hartog Jager, Jack Feeney, Federica De Caria, Kasia Sobocinska, Stephanie Bosset — The Times and The Sunday Times

• Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse | Investigation
• Undercover in a British prison: security flaws exposed | Times Investigation
• ‘Illegal’ conspiracy theory school exposed | Times Investigation

Andrew Harding — BBC News

• BBC tracks down smuggler behind Channel crossing which killed Sara, 7

Mohamed Ibrahim, Owen Pinnel, Mouna Ba, Wael El-Saadi, Feras Al Ajrami — BBC Eye Investigations

• Gaza 101: Emergency Rescue

Tom Pettifor, Matthew Young, Daniel Dove — Daily Mirror

• Has the man who killed Jill Dando finally been found?
• Jill Dando murder: Man wanted for questioning matches features of Serbian assassin
• Jill Dando murder: Key witness identifies Serbian assassin

Lucinda Herbert, Iain Lynn — National World Video

• Lured To Her Death: The Murder of Sasha Marsden

Reem Makhoul, Robert Leslie, Clancy Morgan, Amelia Kosciulek, Matilda Hay, Liz Kraker, Dorian Barranco, Barbara Corbellini Duarte, Erica Berenstein, Yasser Abu Wazna — Business Insider

• 4 Gazans show how war devastated their coastline

Piers Morgan — Piers Morgan Uncensored

• “Richard Gadd is PSYCHOTIC” Baby Reindeer’s ‘Real’ Martha Fiona Harvey

Ben Marino, Joe Sinclair, Veronica Kan-Dapaah, Petros Gioumpasis, Greg Bobillot — Financial Times

• Chinese brokers launder hundreds of millions for global crime groups | FT Film

Investigation of the Year

Scarlet Howes, Mike Hamilton, Alex West — The Sun

• Ex-BBC presenter Huw Edwards charged with making 37 indecent images of children, ‘shared on WhatsApp’
• Huw Edwards used position of power to groom young people for 6 years even sending pictures from BBC desk to impress them
• We’re still suffering, say parents at centre of Huw Edwards scandal as they slam BBC for lack of answers after he quits

Rosamund Urwin, Charlotte Wace, Paul Morgan-Bentley, Esella Hawkey, Imogen Wynell Mayow, Alice McShane, Florence Kennard, Ian Bendelow, Victoria Noble, Alistair Jackson, Sarah Wilson, Geraldine McKelvie — The Sunday Times, The Times, Hardcash Productions, Channel Four Dispatches Investigations Unit

• Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse
• How The Times and The Sunday Times investigated Russell Brand
• Russell Brand: In Plain Sight

Alex Thomson, Nanette van der Laan — Channel 4 News

• Post Office Scandal

Paul Morgan-Bentley — The Times

• I worked undercover in one of UK’s most dangerous jails — without checks
• My son died in HMP Bedford. I never felt he was safe there
• Undercover in a British prison: security flaws exposed | Times Investigation

Ruth Evans, Oliver Newlan, Leo Telling, Sasha Hinde, Hayley Clarke, Karen Wightman — BBC Panorama

• Undercover School: Cruelty in the Classroom

Job Rabkin, Darshna Soni, Ed Gove, Saif Aledros, Georgina Lee, Lee Sorrell — Channel 4 News

• Undercover Inside Reform’s Campaign

Holly Bancroft, May Bulman, Monica C. Camacho, Fahim Abed — The Independent and Lighthouse Reports

• At last! Afghan special forces heroes set for sanctuary in UK after government U-turn
• MoD accused of burying admission that UK special forces had power over Afghan sanctuary claims
• Murdered, tortured or in hiding from the Taliban: The special forces abandoned by Britain

Daniel Hewitt, Imogen Barrer, Isabel Alderson-Blench, John Ray — ITV News: The Post Office Tapes

• New secret tape reveals top Post Office lawyer was warned of ‘wrongful’ convictions decade ago
• Secret tape shows Paula Vennells was told about problems with Horizon and warned not to cover it up
• Paula Vennells’ ‘smoking gun’ email reveals Post Office ‘cover-up’

Rowena Mason, Henry Dyer, Matthew Weaver — The Guardian

• Biggest Tory donor said looking at Diane Abbott makes you ‘want to hate all black women’
• No yawning or fingerprints on doors: the strict rules at Tory donor’s firm
• Revealed: Sunak flown to Leeds for private tour of Frank Hester’s office weeks after £5m donation

Samantha Poling, Eamon T. O Connor, Anton Ferrie, Shelley Jofre — BBC Disclosure

• Catching a Killer: The Murder of Emma Caldwell

Scoop of the Year

Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse — The Sunday Times, The Times, Hardcash Productions and Channel 4 Dispatches

Huw Edwards Huw Edwards charged with making 37 indecent images of children, ‘shared on WhatsApp’ — The Sun

Naked photos sent in WhatsApp ‘phishing’ attacks on UK MPs and staff— Politico

No 10 pass for Labour donor who gave £500,000 — The Sunday Times

Labour will add 20% VAT to private school fees within first year of winning power — i

The Nottingham Attacks: A Search for Answers — BBC Panorama

Innovation

Harry Lewis-Irlam, Stephen Matthews, Darren Boyle, Rhodri Morgan — Mail Online: Deep Dive

• Anatomy of a loveless landslide: How Labour won on apathy and division
• Hour by hour, how D-Day unfolded…
• How China could seize Taiwan and spark WW3

Laura Dunn, Katie Lilley-Harris, Ellie Senior, Sherree Younger, Scott Nicholson, Jamie Mckerrow Maxwell — KL Magazine

• Rocky Bottoms
• Johnny Cave’s Asparagus
• Archangel Distilleries

Niels de Hoog, Antonio Voce, Elena Morresi, Manisha Ganguly, Ashley Kirk — The Guardian

• How war destroyed Gaza’s neighbourhoods – visual investigation

Alison Killing, Chris Miller, Peter Andringa, Chris Campbell, Sam Learner, Sam Joiner — Financial Times

• FT investigation finds Ukrainian children on Russian adoption sites

David Dubas-Fisher, Cullen Willis, Paul Gallagher, Richard Ault — Reach Data Unit

• DWP Cold Weather Payment postcode checker – map shows where households are due £25, £50 or £75 boost
• Enter postcodes in this map to see average house prices in your area
• Cheapest places in Greater Manchester to buy petrol as RAC issues fuel price warning

Gabriel Pogrund, Emanuele Midolo, Venetia Menzies, Darren Burchett, Narottam Medhora, Cecilia Tombesi — The Sunday Times

• The dead teenager, the lying suspect and the black box that proves it

The post British Journalism Awards 2024: Full list of this year’s finalists appeared first on Press Gazette.

“Appalling harassment and abuse” against journalists covering far-right riots and counter-protests over the past week has been condemned.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show after this story was first published, Liverpool Echo editor Maria Breslin said a member of her team was “attacked” in Southport on the first night of violence (on Tuesday 30 July) after the vigil for the three girls who were stabbed at a dance class.

She said they “had quite expensive equipment stolen, glasses broken, left with cuts and bruises. I know of people from other teams who were spat at, someone had to take shelter in a local home”.

Breslin suggested that “whoever these disaffected people are, they certainly see us as part of the problem possibly, or certainly reporting on what’s going on. So it’s really challenging, and it makes me really angry because we should be safe in doing our job. Even back in the office we’ve had quite a few unpleasant phone calls this week.”

Asked the nature of the phone calls, she said: “There have been a lot of phone calls that have been quite extreme in their nature, in terms of racist language et cetera. It’s really difficult, but I’m really proud of the professionalism shown by our team in being determined to report on what’s happening in, essentially, our community.”

Latest: BBC journalist received ‘defamatory and highly personal attacks’ over ‘out of context’ riot clip

On Monday journalists for LBC and Sky News were forced to leave the areas they were reporting from in Birmingham where members of the Muslim community had gathered in response to rumours of a planned far-right protest in the area.

LBC reporter Fraser Knight posted on X: “As a reporter, I’ve just been chased out of an area of east Birmingham by groups of Asian men who had come out to ‘protect their community’ against a planned far-right demonstration.

“The security guard with me decided immediately it wasn’t safe for us – it was clear we weren’t welcome – but there wasn’t a safe place for us to go for miles. Cars followed us, we had abuse shouted at us and at one point a group of around six men ran after us down a road with what looked like a weapon.

“We were forced to run… We were warned that we’d regret it if we hung around. We’re safe now.”

Meanwhile Sky News communities correspondent Becky Johnson was surrounded by masked men who told the team to leave while she was attempting to report live.

“Becky will have security there,” anchor Mark Austin told viewers. Johnson later thanked her security officer as well as the cameraman and producer.

As the team began to drive away a balaclava-clad man then attempted to slash a tyre on their broadcast van using a knife. No damage was done and they were able to leave.

Appearing on Times Radio on Wednesday, Conservative MP Robert Jenrick accused Home Office minister Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, of appearing to “explain away or justify intimidation against a female journalist [by] sectarian gangs on the streets of her own city in Birmingham”.

Phillips had written on X in response to a post by Reform UK MP Richard Tice: “These people came to this location because it has been spread that racists were coming to attack them. This misinformation was spread entirely to create this content.”

On Sunday Sky News North of England correspondent Charlotte Leeming was also forced to stop live coverage after being intimidated while on-air by masked men with weapons in Middlesbrough.

Her colleague in the studio said: “I’m sure your producer is watching your back, if you need to go Charlotte, please feel free. We know it’s a volatile situation there.”

Sky’s North of England producer Hope Yeomans also reported seeing other journalists targeted. She wrote: “We have seen other journalists targeted by rioters – telling us that we are all working for the government and are preventing the truth. We have had colleagues who have had their camera equipment smashed and stolen.”

And a day earlier, amid a brawl between far-right and counter-protesters in Bristol, Sky News correspondent Tom Cheshire and his cameraman Chris “both took beer bottles to our helmets”. Leeming had also been wearing a helmet for protection.

On Monday Sky News executive chairman David Rhodes told staff: “In the past week, Sky News colleagues on four continents described to me some form of difficulty they’ve faced delivering our eyewitness journalism.

“Events in these opening days of August will have been tough to process, and I’d encourage colleagues to seek the support they might need from their managers and from our company in continuing to respond.

“Let’s remember that in febrile times like these, people depend on Sky News more than ever– it’s fundamentally our promise of ‘the full story, first.’ We all have a job to do.”

Sky advised staff across the business to work from home or leave its West London headquarters early today (Wednesday) ahead of a planned protest at an immigration centre in nearby Brentford.

“While we don’t expect the protest to directly affect the Sky Osterley campus, there will be additional security on-site tomorrow as a precaution,” a message from Sky Group security to staff said. It also included travel advice and locations to avoid for anyone who has to travel home in the evening, adding: “Please prioritise your personal safety at all times.”

Also in Middlesbrough on Sunday a national press photographer, whose name was not reported, told The Guardian he had been chased by a far-right mob.

“A guy with a balaclava said: ‘Oi camera, give it here,’” he said. “There are situations where it’s fight or flight, and neither of those were an option because there were about 150 of them in a confined area of a terraced street.”

He managed to get away with people shouting “Get him!” and “Stop him!” behind him, it was reported.

Another photographer told The Guardian he was in Bolton on Sunday and was punched on the arm while taking a photo at a counter-protest.

He said: “Quickly, it looks [as if] he goes for another punch, but misses and says: ‘Stop taking fucking photos. We don’t need any photos, get the fuck away’,” adding that a brick was thrown at him and missed. He planned to miss the next riot, fearing he would be recognised, but said he couldn’t stay away too long as “I have to go out to pay the bills”.

Freelance journalist Amanda Ferguson was called a “traitor” while covering riots in Belfast on Saturday and had her phone “smacked” out of her hand. The incident was reported to police.

Séamus Dooley, Irish Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: “This sort of behaviour cannot be tolerated. Filming journalists doing their work is intended to intimidate. Amanda is a diligent and committed journalist and it is shocking to see her subjected to this type of attack.”

Also in Belfast, on Tuesday, Belfast Telegraph visuals editor Kevin Scott had his car “attacked by a crowd of masked males who damaged the car and tried to gain entry” while attending a series of incidents.

In Rotherham on Sunday a rock was thrown towards journalists, narrowly missing a cameraman.

On the first night of clashes in Southport last Tuesday (30 July), an ITV News crew were forced to move away from one area “as the crowd are not happy to be filmed, to put it lightly”, UK editor Paul Brand said.

A video taken by a member of the public, and posted by Brand, shows men walking behind him and his crew with one shouting “all your f**king fault, media”. Brand wrote that “media are not welcome… It isn’t possible to engage with the people involved.”

On the same night a journalist for The Publica, which describes itself as a “space for free-thinkers and mischief-makers”, was punched, knocking out part of a tooth. He also had his phone charger stolen.

Jack Hadfield told Fox News: “I am recovering well after the attack, if still being a bit shaken. It certainly has not deterred me from continuing to cover on the ground events, and I’m taking the broken tooth to be a battle scar.”

He said he was attacked by a man who had identified him as a journalist at about 10.40pm.

“I was set upon by one man, who proceeded to hit me repeatedly in the head, face and body. I started running further down the road… where a far larger crowd of approximately a couple of hundred people or so were still gathered.

“At that point, I was surrounded by 10 to 15 men, who I attempted to explain to that I wasn’t part of the mainstream media. They demanded that I delete images and videos off of my phone, which I did,” although he was able to recover them from his “recently deleted” folder. He said he was then struck again and pushed to the ground before running away to the police line.

Safety of journalists and news crews ‘must be paramount’ amid riots

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said on Monday that journalists are “increasingly being targeted by these mobs” and that “it is vital that employers are conducting full risk assessments, providing appropriate safety equipment and ideally deploying staff in pairs or teams”.

On Wednesday she added: “These are some of the worst and most widespread public order disturbances in modern times that appear designed to terrify some of the UK’s most vulnerable communities. Journalists covering these events have also been subjected to wholly unacceptable violence and intimidation.

“Police and employers must do all in their power to ensure that journalists can work safely. Access to appropriate equipment and the ability to work in pairs, or with other backup is paramount, for freelancers as well as staff.”

Bectu, the union that represents many camera crews and others who work behind the scenes, said the safety of news crews “must be paramount”.

Head of Bectu Philippa Childs said on Wednesday: “We know this is a particularly difficult and unsettling time for Bectu members, many of whom are directly impacted as they work to bring the nation coverage of these events or are facing venue or event closures as a result of the unrest.

“They have our full support and we are speaking with broadcasters to ensure appropriate procedures are in place to protect staff, as well as freelance crew.”

Childs added: “No one should face violence, threats, intimidation or racism simply while carrying out their job. We condemn the appalling harassment and abuse of some media professionals that has occurred during the recent unrest.

“A free press and being able to report without intimidation or fear is an essential part of our democracy. The safety of news crews and other media workers must be absolutely paramount.”

Tim Dawson, IFJ deputy general secretary said: “At a time when untrue information is rife, the work of journalists is all the more crucial, and is dependent on the ability of reporters and photographers to do their work.

“Those who attack journalists are attacking democracy, and undermining everyone’s right to know. They must be protected and safeguarded – just as should be the vulnerable communities who are targeted.”

The post Journalists facing ‘appalling harassment and abuse’ amid riots appeared first on Press Gazette.

GB News Radio has overtaken Times Radio’s weekly reach for the first time according to the latest RAJAR radio listening figures for Q2 2024.

GB News Radio, which launched as a simulcast to the TV station in January 2022, reached 518,000 people per week on average in the three months ending 23 June.

It reported year-on-year growth of 63% and was up quarter-on-quarter by 14%. However its total listening hours were up by a smaller 3% compared to Q1, to 3.3 million.

The growth saw it overtake closest rival, News Broadcasting’s Times Radio, which itself launched in June 2020.

Scroll down for RAJAR Q2 2024 talk breakfast figures

GB News commercial director Nicole O’Shea said: “These figures underline the strong continued growth of GB News Radio across the United Kingdom. To do this in the space of just three years is a great achievement and we’re now reaching more listeners than ever all over the UK.

“Overtaking Times Radio is a milestone moment for GB News but our aim is to build on this success and to reach out and connect with an even larger audience.”

Times Radio reported a RAJAR weekly reach of 478,000 for the second quarter of 2024, down 9% year-on-year and 5% quarter-on-quarter.

However News Broadcasting said Times Radio’s 8.9 hours per listener per week – higher than 6.4 hours for GB News Radio and 6.8 hours for Talkradio – and 4.2 million total listening hours showed “these hard-to-reach affluent listeners are highly engaged”.

Talkradio, which had higher listening hours of 4.7 million, changed strategy in the quarter with its sister television version TalkTV ending life as a linear channel in April.

The company said: “Returning to the 17th floor studios at The News Building, Talk’s updated editorial focus is supercharging the brand’s successes, with its Youtube channel recently hitting the one million subscriber mark.”

However Talkradio’s weekly radio reach was down 5% year-on-year and 9% quarter-on-quarter to 689,000.

LBC’s various national and London brands almost entirely saw growth, with the exception of the nationwide LBC News which was down 1% to 981,000 on a quarterly basis. LBC London saw the joint-biggest growth alongside GB News Radio, up 14% to 1.5 million.

Two stations with a strong sports presence saw good growth in the period that saw the Euro Championships as well as other major footballing moments.

BBC Radio 5 Live saw growth of 6% year-on-year and 10% quarter-on-quarter to a weekly reach of 5.4 million while Talksport was up 9% and 1% respectively to 3.7 million.

After several difficult quarters for BBC Local Radio in England, likely as a result to cuts that meant more programme sharing between regions, it was up 2% quarter-on-quarter – although down 12% compared to the same period last year – to 4.9 million.

Conversely BBC World Service saw year-on-year growth of 11% to 1.2 million although it was down 3% compared to Q1.

RAJAR Q2 2024 news/current affairs breakfast show data

GB News Radio's breakfast show presented by Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster also saw the biggest quarter-on-quarter growth, up 13% to an average weekly listenership of 214,000 in their 6am to 9.30am slot

However Times Radio still beats GB News Radio in the mornings, with Stig Abell and Aasmah Mir reporting a weekly reach of 252,000 - although this was down 9% compared to Q1.

Possibly due to the football-heavy period, Talksport's breakfast show (weekly reach of 1.33 million) moved above Nick Ferrari on LBC (1.3 million) in our ranking of news/talk-based stations.

And narrowly behind GB News for biggest growth was again BBC Radio 5 Live, whose breakfast show hosted by Rachel Burden and Rick Edwards grew by 12% quarter-on-quarter to 1.4 million.

BBC Radio 4's flagship Today programme was down 3% to 5.5 million.

The post RAJARs Q2 2024: GB News Radio weekly reach overtakes Times Radio appeared first on Press Gazette.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accepted £76,000 worth of freebies over the last five years – but hardly any of that came from the media sector.

Foreign secretary David Lammy is the leading Labour minister who has declared the most income from the media sector, banking more than £163,000 from Global since 2021 through the weekly show he previously hosted on Sunday mornings for LBC.

All MPs are required to disclose financial payments, and payments in kind, via the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Ministerial meetings with media figures are monitored and published by the Cabinet Office.

The Labour shadow cabinet has previously published details of meetings with media executives but does not appear to have done so for around a decade.

Press Gazette has looked through the Register of Members’ Financial Interests going back to the start of 2021 to see what sort of financial relationships, if any, top ministers have with media companies.

This research focuses on the two DCMS ministers (Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and Minister of State Chris Bryant), the holders of the four Great Offices of State (Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper) and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.

Keir Starmer: £18,000 News Corp book advance returned

Keir Starmer had the second fewest payments or freebies from media companies of any of the seven ministers assessed after Yvette Cooper, who had none at all.

In 2022 and 2023, he accepted four tickets from Global for Capital FM’s Jingle Bell Ball, a concert hosted in the O2.

In 2022 Starmer received an advance payment of £18,450 to write a book for Harper Collins, the book imprint owned by News Corp, but he returned the sum at the start of 2024.

Angela Rayner

The deputy prime minister has not taken any freebies from media companies, but has been paid for a few media appearances. She was paid £600 and £1,000 for two LBC guest hosting slots in 2022 and 2023 respectively, and in October 2022 she received £1,000 for an appearance on the Channel 4's online comedy Rosie Jones' Dine Hard. That fee was allocated to Rayner's campaign fund.

Rachel Reeves

Rachel Reeves, the new chancellor, has also guest presented a show on LBC, earning £600 for the slot in 2022. Her two other entries are both freebies from the BBC: last year the corporation gave her two tickets for the first night of the Proms as well as two tickets for the last.

David Lammy

Because of his former show on LBC Foreign Secretary David Lammy has earned by far the most money from media companies of any of the ministers checked: since the start of 2021, he has declared £163,172.50 in income from Global. He was also paid £350 for contributing to coronation coverage on the BBC last year, but he donated the fee to charity.

Lammy has not declared any gifts from publishers.

As well as being the best-paid minister on this list, previous Press Gazette analysis found that between October 2021 and September 2022 Lammy made the most money of any MP for his media work, earning £47,532.

Lammy left the show in April ahead of the election, to be replaced by Lewis Goodall.

Lisa Nandy

New Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy was paid a £2,500 advance in 2021 for signing a book contract with News Corp's Harper Collins and a further £5,000 in royalties in 2022.

Most recently, she was gifted two tickets to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest when it was hosted in Liverpool last year.

Chris Bryant

Finally, the other DCMS minister, Chris Bryant, has registered the most diverse set of media earnings of any of the ministers on this list - totalling £23,000 since the start of 2021.

Like Rayner, Reeves and Lammy, Bryant has received hosting fees from Global. He has also regularly written articles and book reviews for magazines and newspapers ranging from the Daily Express to The Guardian.

His most recent media fee, recorded in April, was £1,500 to record a podcast based on his book. A month earlier he received £2,871.17 for the radio recording of his book with the BBC.

Away from fees, Bryant has registered two freebies since the start of 2021: in 2022 Channel 4 gifted him two tickets to an awards dinner run by PACT, a trade body representing independent production and distribution companies. In February he again received two tickets from Channel 4, this time to attend the BAFTAs. (In opposition, Bryant's brief was as Shadow Minister for Creative Industries and Digital.)

The post Media payments and freebies for Labour ministers: David Lammy tops the table appeared first on Press Gazette.

In recent years large social and video networks, offering powerful creator tools and free global distribution, have provided a platform for an increasingly wide range of voices and perspectives. Most of this content has nothing to do with news. Much of it generates very little attention, but some accounts and individuals have become increasingly influential around politics, and a range of other subjects  

In previous research we have shown how in newer networks such as TikTok and Instagram as well as in long standing video platforms like YouTube, mainstream media are significantly challenged by a range so called creators, influencers, and assorted personalities, as well as smaller, alternative news outlets. This contrasts with networks such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) where mainstream media and journalists still tend to lead the conversation when it comes to news.

Who are the biggest ‘news influencers’ in the UK, US and France?

In this year’s Digital News Report, we wanted to understand more about who these news influencers are, what type of ‘news’ they discuss, and what this means for wider society. 

We did this by asking a random selection of people who use a range of popular networks including Facebook, X, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok to name up to three mainstream and/or alternative accounts they followed most closely that related to news.

We then counted the most popular individuals and news brands from the combined data. We did this in around 20 countries around the world, but in this article, we explore findings in just three – the United Kingdom, the United States and France. 

United Kingdom: High representation of 'mainstream' journalists

Traditional UK news brands established an early and strong presence in social media networks such as Twitter (now X) and Facebook, but have been slower to adapt to newer networks.

Despite this, across all networks studied we find that the majority (57%) of all mentions were for mainstream news brands and their journalists and 43% for other individuals and alternative media.

Big broadcasters such as the BBC and Sky do best, along with The Guardian, but these brands are more challenged in YouTube and TikTok by a range of youth orientated outlets such as Politics Joe, LADbible, and TLDR News – and also by more partisan political outlets such as Novara Media and individual creators.

[Read more: Video brand TLDR finds way to make money providing news for the young]

When it comes to our list of top ten individual accounts, we also find a high representation of journalists from mainstream media brands.

Topping the list is LBC’s James O’Brien who has been particularly effective on YouTube and TikTok with smartly packaged video clips from his radio show regularly going viral. ITV’s political correspondent Robert Peston, an early adopter of social media, is in second place.

Also represented is former CNN, ITV, and TalkTV host Piers Morgan who recently took his eponymous Uncensored show online-only to get round what he calls the "unnecessary straitjacket" of TV schedules.

There is a clear absence of women in the most-mentioned list. Partisan perspectives are provided, on the left, by columnist and author Owen Jones and on the right by TV hosts from GB News. These include Nigel Farage, now leader of Reform UK, and Neil Oliver, whose controversial views on lockdowns and vaccinations have led to complaints to the broadcast regulator Ofcom. 

 
Comedian Russell Brand attracts an eclectic crowd for his outspoken, libertarian and anti-mainstream media views expressed manly via YouTube (and Rumble).

Sports journalists David Ornstein and Fabrizio Romano, both with a reputation for transfer scoops, are widely followed, as are others with specialist knowledge such as Dan Neidle, a former high-profile lawyer who breaks stories about dodgy tax affairs of the rich and famous. 

Influencer Dylan Page operates what he claims is the biggest English language news account on TikTok (10.6 million followers).

Celebrities, such as BBC football presenter and podcast entrepreneur Gary Lineker (nine million followers on X) tweet from time to time about politics and refugees and Elon Musk’s tweets (150 million followers) are also widely followed in the UK. 

United States: Much higher use of YouTube for news

We see a very different picture in the United States with much higher use of use of YouTube for news compared with the UK and a higher proportion of those users paying attention to alternative news sources.

X (formerly Twitter) is another important network for alternative voices in the US, where creators have been encouraged in recent years by owner Elon Musk. The network has recently refocused its strategy on video and is supporting commentators like Tucker Carlson, who was dismissed by Fox News, and has subsequently built a significant audience there.

Our list of the most mentioned individuals is headed by Carlson along with Joe Rogan who runs a successful daily show on YouTube (as well as Spotify).

It is striking that all of the most mentioned (top ten) individual names are known for political commentary or chat - rather than original newsgathering. Most of the content is partisan – with little or no attempt to put the other side, and the entire top ten list is made up of men.

Many of these names can hardly be called ‘alternative’, as they often come with decades of experience from legacy media, having previously been fixtures for years on traditional cable or talk radio networks.  

Some of these US individuals are attached to wider online networks, such as the Daily Wire and Blaze TV (conservative) and Young Turks and Medias Touch (progressive) that contain multiple creators within a wider brand. 

But whatever the politics, the look is remarkably consistent – somewhere between a podcast and a TV broadcast – with mostly male hosts armed with oversized microphones talking to mostly male guests.

Alternative voices received more citations in total from our US sample than traditional media, but mainstream media brands and their journalists still accounted for 42% of mentions with CNN and Fox News heading the list.  

On TikTok, however, alternative news approaches are also prominent, such as @underthedesknews, an account which features creator V Spehar presenting news updates from a lying down position to contrast with the formulaic ‘over the desk’ approach on mainstream TV. The account has over three million subscribers with content aimed at explaining current events and news for younger audiences. 

Elon Musk regularly posts content on subjects such as free speech, AI, and the failings of mainstream media. Donald Trump was also frequently mentioned and has 65 million followers on X and 6.5 million on Truth Social. 

France: Young news influencers lead the way

In France, we find mainstream media challenged on social and video platforms by a range of alternative media including a number of young news influencers.

Head and shoulders above others we find YouTuber and podcaster Hugo Travers, 27, known online as Hugo Décrypte, (literally Hugo Deciphers … the news). With 2.6 million subscribers on his main channel on YouTube and 5.7 million on TikTok, he has become a leading news source for young French people.  

In our survey data, Décrypte received more mentions than Le Monde, Le Figaro and Liberation combined. His followers had an average age of 27, around 20 years younger than many other news brands according to our data. Travers regularly interviews top politicians and global figures such as Bill Gates. The social media generation “won’t start reading a newspaper or watching the news on TV at 30,” he says.

Youth focused news brands such as Brut and Konbini have also built large audiences via social and video distribution. This level of engagement highlights the weakness of many traditional French news brands, which still primarily cater for older elites and have been slow to innovate through social platforms.

Protecting the environment has become an important theme for alternative voices with Hugo Clément (32) and Salomé Saqué (28) two prominent voices, who have built their ecological reputations through social media.

Meanwhile many older, male, right learning commentators, such as Pascal Praud and former presidential candidate Éric Zemmour, are extending their influence through like-minded and mostly older communities on X and Facebook.

Far right politicians such as Marine Le Pen (one million followers on TikTok) and her 28 year old protégé  Jordan Bardella (1.6 million) were also mentioned in our data as the National Rally leader successfully targeted the youth vote ahead of the European elections. 

Implications for mainstream media from news influencer findings

Looking across our three selected countries we find that news related accounts of any kind are cited more often in the United States than they are in the UK or France.

In the United States we also find a greater number of alternative news or individual accounts mentioned as opposed to mainstream news brands and journalists, suggesting that the trend towards news influencers is far more developed here.

In the United Kingdom, by contrast mainstream media brands and journalists are both active and widely followed leaving less of a gap for independent operators. 

Digging further into the content itself, we find that many of the most cited accounts belong to partisan political commentators (from left and right), some of whom have been criticised for factual inaccuracies and for spreading conspiracies or misleading narratives, even as they are highly trusted by those who share their political views.

Many of the commentators now committed to online distribution emphasise their ability to speak freely (e.g. Tucker Carlson Unfiltered, Piers Morgan Uncensored), setting themselves up as an alternative to a mainstream media that they say ‘suppresses the truth’ or is driven by ‘elite and corporate interests’. But any increase in the range of views is not matched by diversity, with the most popular accounts mostly white and male in the three countries included here. 

A second important trend is the popularity of news creators and influencers that speak to younger audiences, mostly using video formats. In France Hugo Décrypte is blazing a trail in trying to make news more accessible and entertaining. Elsewhere brands such as Brut, Politics Joe, and TLDR News are engaging a large number of under 35s using younger hosts, as well as an agenda that includes more content about climate, social justice and mental health.

The vitality of alternative voices in social and video networks in some ways highlights perceived weaknesses of news organisations on such issues as trust, diversity, and digital storytelling – at least with some people. All this means that traditional media still has much to learn on how to better engage audiences in this increasingly complex and competitive space while staying true to its mission and values.

You can read more detail about news consumption across countries and about wider audience trends at www.digitalnewsreport.org/2024.

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The decline in listening hours to BBC local radio in England has continued at 10% for a second quarter after cutbacks to local content, according to RAJAR figures for Q1 2024.

The RAJAR figures show the BBC’s local radio stations in England collectively had a weekly reach of 4.8 million people in Q1 2024, down 10% year on year and 2% quarter on quarter.

The network’s total listening hours were 30.4 million, down 10% for the second quarter in a row. It also saw fewer average hours per listener, on 6.4 compared to 6.9 in Q4 2023.

In the past year dozens of long-serving BBC local radio presenters in England have left their roles as programme sharing began in some time slots, although the plans were scaled back slightly from their original scale.

Talkradio saw a similar 9% drop in total listening hours, to five million, but most other stations in our quarterly selection (which we judge to have a large news and current affairs focus) saw growth by this metric. In March News UK announced it was pulling the plug on sister station TalkTV as a linear channel although it continues on radio and Youtube.

BBC World Service saw the biggest growth in total listening hours, up 42% to 7.1 million in the UK. It also saw strong growth in its weekly reach, up 13% year-on-year and 14% quarter-on-quarter to 1.2 million.

GB News Radio, still relatively new after its January 2022 launch, saw the biggest year-on-year growth in weekly reach of 43% to 455,000, albeit with smaller quarterly growth of 6%.

As a result the RAJAR Q1 2024 release saw GB News Radio lift off the bottom of the table for weekly reach in our quarterly ranking, overtaking LBC News in London for the first time.

Rivals LBC News, Talkradio and Times Radio meanwhile all saw year-on-year declines of 9%, 10% and 9% respectively.

LBC News, which launched in October 2019, had a weekly reach in the UK of 990,000, Talkradio of 757,000 and Times Radio, which launched in June 2020, of 503,000.

The average hours per listener were up quarter-on-quarter at several stations, most notably BBC World Service (4.6 to 5.8), Times Radio (8 to 8.8), GB News Radio (6.5 to 7.1) and BBC Radio 2 (from 10.2 to 10.6).

RAJARs Q1 2024 for speech radio breakfast shows

Among breakfast shows, Nick Ferrari on LBC saw the biggest quarterly RAJAR growth of 8% or 100,000 people to 1.4 million.

BBC 5 Live was down 14% on the previous quarter while Talkradio's breakfast show was down 3.4% to an average weekly reach of 317,000 people and GB News Radio's breakfast show was down 2.6% to 189,000. Radio 4's flagship Today was flat quarter on quarter with 6.6m listeners per week.

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LBC has confirmed the departure of its weekend presenter Sangita Myska after speculation about her “disappearance” from the station.

The radio station said she was leaving at the end of her contract after almost two years amid a shake-up of its weekend schedule.

LBC senior managing editor Tom Cheal said: “We’d like to thank Sangita for her fantastic contribution to LBC and we wish her every success in the future.”

Myska has hosted the 1pm to 4pm slot on Saturdays and Sundays since September 2022 and she was named radio presenter of the year at the Asian Media Awards in October.

A petition launched on 22 April, which has almost met its target of 25,000 signatures, urges LBC to “reinstate” her after her “sudden and unexplained removal” from the air. Her final show featured an interview with Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman, which remains available to watch on the LBC Youtube channel:

Myska’s only public comment has been to say “I miss you all too” on 25 April in response to a tweet saying “Hope your [sic] OK Sangita – you’re missed”.

LBC announced that Vanessa Feltz is joining the station to host a new programme from 3pm to 6pm on Saturdays.

Feltz just quit TalkTV, where she hosted the drivetime slot, as News UK took it off linear TV to focus on streaming.

She said: “After a long and passionate courtship, I’ve finally succumbed to the allure of LBC. Actually I was powerless to resist. Global’s dynamism is mesmerising and it is THE high octane station from which to broadcast, in this riveting election year.”

Former Conservative Party parliamentary candidate and commentator Ali Miraj, who has been covering Myska’s slot, will have two permanent weekend shows.

Carol Vorderman, who began presenting a Sunday programme in January from 4pm to 7pm, will move to 3pm to 6pm ahead of Rachel Johnson who will now present 6pm to 9pm.

Earlier this week LBC announced Lewis Goodall would host a new flagship Sunday politics show, replacing Labour MP David Lammy who was stepping down from presenting ahead of the upcoming general election.

On Fridays Iain Dale is extending his show for a fifth day – he currently presents 7pm to 10pm Mondays to Thursdays – while Tom Swarbrick is extending his 4pm to 6pm show by an hour.

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Labour MP David Lammy is stepping down from hosting his weekend show on LBC as the UK general election approaches.

Lammy will be replaced on Sundays between 10am and 12pm by Lewis Goodall, the former Newsnight policy editor who is now a regular host on The News Agents podcast from LBC’s owner Global.

LBC said Goodall would present a flagship politics show for the station, with news, interviews and analysis going up against Sunday morning politics programmes by the likes of the BBC, Sky News, GB News and Times Radio.

Goodall is moving from his current Friday evening slot on LBC to the “key” slot. He said: “2024 is a huge year in British politics and globally too. With an election looming here, in the US and more beyond, I couldn’t be more excited to launch a new flagship Sunday show on LBC.

“We want it to be the go to destination to get your political news at the weekend and set the agenda for the week to come, with top interviews and analysis, on the ground reporting and some fun along the way. With so many elections to come, how could it be otherwise? I can’t wait.”

LBC senior managing editor Tom Cheal described Goodall as “one of the brightest and savviest journalists in British broadcasting” with “unmatched insight and analysis”.

Why David Lammy is stepping down from LBC

Lammy has hosted on LBC, initially on Saturdays, since September 2020. He said: “It has been a total joy to present on LBC. But, as the election gets closer, it’s time this good thing comes to an end. I’ll miss the show, my LBC colleagues and most of all the chance to listen to so many callers from up and down the country.”

Appearing with breakfast presenter Nick Ferrari on Monday morning, Lammy also said: “I’ve enjoyed it hugely… everyone thinks it’s about talking and a significant, more than half the job’s about listening. And I’ve learned a lot about myself – I like listening to people up and down the country.”

Press Gazette analysis previously showed that between October 2021 and September 2022 he was the highest-earning MP from a regular media gig, netting £47,532.

Lammy’s departure comes days after broadcast regulator Ofcom put broadcasters “on notice” to maintain due impartiality in their use of politicians as presenters ahead of the upcoming election, for which a date has still not been set although it must be held by January.

Candidates in elections are forbidden from acting as news presenters, interviewers or presenters of any type of programme during the election period, meaning Lammy would have had to step down during that time at minimum.

The Ofcom statement opened the way for the likes of Nigel Farage to continue presenting on GB News unless he decides to stand himself, even though he is the honorary president of Reform UK which will have candidates in the election.

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Broadcast regulator Ofcom will take no further action against TalkTV over an interview by host Julia Hartley-Brewer with a Palestinian MP that prompted more than 17,000 complaints.

The regulator said it was instead issuing “strong guidance” to the broadcaster that “potentially offensive comments” must be “justified and put into proper context”.

In the 3 January broadcast, Hartley-Brewer accused interviewee Dr Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, of interrupting her, saying: “Maybe you’re not used to women talking, I don’t know, but I’d like to finish the sentence!”

She added at the end of the interview: “Sorry to have been a woman speaking to you but there you are.”

The exchange prompted 17,340 complaints, with critics accusing the presenter of using Islamophobic or racist stereotypes.

Ofcom says Julia Hartley-Brewer comments ‘had potential to be highly offensive’

On Monday morning Ofcom said it had made a “finely balanced decision”, accepting that many complainants understood Hartley-Brewer’s comments to be “motivated by Dr Barghouti’s religion or ethnicity”.

It said the comments therefore “had the potential to be highly offensive to viewers”.

However it decided not to formally investigate because of factors “including the brevity of the remarks and audience expectations of this presenter and programme”.

Instead the regulator said it was warning TalkTV “to take greater care to ensure that potentially highly offensive comments are justified by the context in order to comply with the Broadcasting Code”.

News UK said last month it plans to take TalkTV off linear TV and go online-only, ditching the broadcast channel it launched less than two years ago.

It is unclear whether the outlet will continue to submit to Ofcom regulation after it goes fully digital. Whereas radio and television broadcast outlets in the UK must adhere to the Broadcasting Code by law, at present no such restriction applies to online outfits.

Ofcom investigating David Lammy LBC broadcast on impartiality

On Monday Ofcom also announced it has launched an investigation into Labour MP David Lammy’s LBC programme on 29 March.

Lammy had read out the breaking news that DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson had resigned, prompting 51 complaints in relation to Broadcasting Code rules on politicians acting as news presenters.

Last month Ofcom ruled that TalkTV rival and fellow opinion-led channel GB News broke impartiality rules five times in May and June 2023 with broadcasts in which Conservative MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther Davies and Philip Davies read out news on their programmes.

Guido Fawkes highlighted Lammy’s comments on Donaldson’s resignation on X/Twitter asking Ofcom whether it would hold LBC to the same standards.

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Radio and podcast company Global was “outraged and really surprised” by the BBC’s proposal to carry advertising on some of its podcasts in the UK.

The BBC is looking at whether it could run adverts in podcasts on third-party platforms like Apple and Spotify, rolling them out from late 2024.

Podcasts would remain ad-free on its own platform BBC Sounds and news and current affairs would not be affected.

Other high-profile brands like The Archers, In Our Time or Desert Island Discs would not be included in the initial rollout but could come later.

A BBC spokesperson said: “Listeners will continue to hear BBC audio without ads on BBC Sounds, but as many of our podcasts are available on commercial platforms like Apple and Spotify where adverts are the norm, we look to carry them in some of our content to generate more revenue to support the BBC, licence fee payers, our suppliers and rightsholders.”

Global warns of ‘market distortion’ from BBC podcast adverts plan

Commercial rival Global, which owns LBC and podcasts including The News Agents and My Therapist Ghosted Me which go out through third-party platforms and its proprietary Global Player, has become one of a number of industry voices to oppose the idea.

Global chief strategy officer Sebastian Enser-Wight told the Lords Communications Committee last week for its future of news inquiry that the company was “outraged and really surprised” to hear the plan.

He said it would be a “market distortion” to use “licence-fee payers’ money to generate content that is then supported by advertising”.

Referring to the public service division of the BBC versus BBC Studios, Global chief strategy officer Sebastian Enser-Wight cautioned against the BBC duplicating content which is available in the commercial sector and distorting the advertising market.

He said the BBC “has some truly unique and distinctive content and it’s a shame that we see that being under-invested in and in fact having its funding cut at the same time as other elements of the BBC are looking to mirror our output.”

Global and others ‘will certainly suffer’ from BBC podcast adverts plan

Enser-Wight said: “This is the first time we will have ever seen the BBC carrying advertising on its content that is also available through BBC platforms. So this is analogous to BBC One putting all of its content on Youtube and telling the viewers they can either watch it on Youtube and it will be ad-supported or they can watch it on iPlayer.

“So we are surprised to hear the BBC think this is something that will be approved and we would very much hope that Ofcom or indeed Government will intervene.

“I think our concerns about it are really the simple economics. If the market is suddenly flooded with an influx of new inventory, ultimately the prices will go down…

“…it is a matter of deep concern for us and I know not just for the radio industry but television broadcasters as well because I think they can see clearly that if adverts are allowed on one content form then the logical progression is that advertising will be carried on all BBC formats.”

Owen Meredith, chief executive of the News Media Association which represents all the major newspaper brands many of whom have expanded into podcasting, also opposed the idea: “The news that the BBC is apparently set to muscle into the UK advertising marketplace by competing with commercial players for advertising around audio output is very alarming. Such an intervention will profoundly distort competition, wreaking havoc on commercial players right across the media and advertising sector.”

Global ‘not actively pursuing’ BBC Sounds deal

Enser-Wight was also asked about the commercial sector’s negotiations with the BBC for it to host some of their content on BBC Sounds but he said Global was no longer “actively pursuing” this.

He said: “In past negotiations with the BBC we actually saw similar issues about access to data, transparency that we see with tech giants so I think our fear was certainly that even if, and we hadn’t made a decision whether it would or wouldn’t be the right thing to be carried on their platform, I don’t think the economics would have worked. It’s certainly not something we’re actively pursuing… We have a long wishlist when it comes to the BBC but that’s not at the top of it.”

He also noted that users often see a BBC app at the top of results when they have searched specifically for LBC because the BBC has purchased that result (see image at the bottom of this story for example showing BBC Sport appearing above LBC).

Enser-Wight said: “That to us is the thin end of the wedge and raises two questions: one is, is there a risk that in the future all results will be paid for, so not just the first one but could we be in a world where in order to appear in the search results we have to pay the platforms?” He added that he hoped the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will give the Digital Markets Unit powers to act if this ever happens.

He added: “And I guess the slightly secondary concern for us is should the BBC really be trying to misdirect customers exclusively searching for LBC towards their own apps?”

Radio ‘very fortunate’ to have strong advertising market

Enser-Wight also said that despite difficulties in the advertising market for other media businesses radio has seen “successive growth” aside from the two Covid-hit years of 2020 and 2021. He said 2022 recorded £740m in advertising revenue for the radio sector, the highest ever, and 2023 was likely to have been another record year.

Although there are no segmented figures showing the health of news radio specifically, Enser-Wight said LBC is seeing a “similar trajectory” although “it is tougher” because of advertisers’ concerns that placing their ads alongside hard news could negatively impact their brands.

“Luckily, more recently we’ve seen advertisers realise actually this isn’t the case and they actually have a very engaged audience listening to a news channel – perhaps more so than a music channel.”

This means that LBC has also seen an “uptick year-on-year in revenues,” he said.

Tom Cheal, managing editor at LBC, told the committee that more than 70% of 15 to 24-year-olds tune into radio each week, citing RAJAR figures. “I think that is a cause for some optimism, that’s not to say we don’t face challenges but we’re intent on focusing our products and our core station brands in the right areas to appeal to those audiences and continue to engage them,” he said.

However in news radio, across commercial stations and the BBC, the “only real area of growth” over the last decade has been among 55-and-overs “so in some ways there is a challenge there to try and entice audiences into the world of live radio.

Cheal said people aged between 25 and 44 are however “very heavy users” of news podcasts as “they often go in search of a product which provides more analysis and in-depth context of what’s going on in the world”.

He cited The News Agents for which there is a “huge appetite… precisely because people want to turn to trusted voices to help them make sense of wider issues and challenges be it in politics or other broader trends”.

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