Chair Paul Kanareck says newspaper’s losses – £84.5m in the past six years – not sustainable
London’s Evening Standard has announced plans to shut its daily newspaper and replace it with a weekly outlet, bringing an end to almost 200 years of publication in the capital.
The newspaper said it has been hit hard by the introduction of wifi on the London underground, a shortage of commuters owing to the growth of working from home and changing consumer habits.
Continue reading...RedBird IMI deal effectively killed by new legislation blocking foreign states from owning UK newspapers
The former CNN executive who fronted a failed bid for the Telegraph newspaper by a UAE-backed consortium has suggested the government was not willing to listen to assurances about editorial neutrality.
Jeff Zucker said there were figures in the UK who were “scared” of the £600m deal, which would have seen the Abu Dhabi-backed consortium, RedBird IMI, take control of the Telegraph and Spectator.
Continue reading...Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin face at least two years’ jail on ‘extremism’ charges, which they deny, amid continuing crackdown on dissent
Two Russian journalists have been arrested on “extremism” charges and ordered by courts there to remain in custody pending investigation and trial on accusations of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin both denied the charges for which they will be detained for a minimum of two months before any trials begin. Each faces a minimum of two years in prison and a maximum of six years for alleged “participation in an extremist organisation”, according to Russian courts.
Continue reading...Rights groups condemn arrest of Macmillan Mhone, who was charged with ‘publication of news likely to cause fear and alarm’
Human rights watchdogs have condemned the arrest of a journalist in Malawi in connection with an article accusing a wealthy businessman of corruption.
Police in Blantyre detained Macmillan Mhone on Monday over a story that was published online last August on the Malawi 24 news site.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Russian bot attempt to stir up Islamophobia also part of course on misinformation and disinformation
Fabricated stories in the Sun blaming Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough stadium disaster are among examples that will be used in a parliamentary initiative to teach MPs to recognise misinformation and disinformation.
Other examples include a Russian bot campaign on Twitter, now X, that tried to use a photograph taken in the aftermath of the Westminster Bridge attack to stir up Islamophobic hatred.
Continue reading...The Princess of Wales’s video was intended to calm the fevered speculation about her but may just spark yet more incessant coverage
When she met Prince William, the heir to the British throne, more than 20 years ago at St Andrews University, Catherine, the Princess of Wales had her first taste of the appetite for news about her life and her budding romantic involvement with the young prince.
Since their marriage in 2011, the desire for news, any news, about Catherine has only grown. Her every movement has been tracked, every outfit remarked upon, every decision – around her work, her children, the way she spends her free time, the way she moves – has been endlessly analysed, assessed, lauded or judged.
Continue reading...Proposed law bans foreign states and government officials from holding direct stakes in UK newspapers
The UAE-backed bid for the Telegraph group appears to be dead in the water after the UK published proposed laws that ban foreign states or government officials from holding any direct stakes in newspaper assets.
Foreign states and government officials will be banned from holding any direct stakes in newspaper assets – effectively dealing a death blow to the £600m bid for the Telegraph group from RedBird IMI, a consortium backed by the United Arab Emirates.
The head of a foreign state.
A foreign government.
Authorities responsible for administering the affairs of an area within a foreign country.
Governing political parties.
Officers of governing political parties.
Continue reading...High court papers filed by prince and others allege media mogul was aware of unlawful news gathering at newspapers from 2009
Rupert Murdoch “turned a blind eye” to an extensive cover-up of wrongdoing at his newspapers, Prince Harry’s lawyers have alleged at the high court in London.
The direct allegations against the 93-year-old billionaire about activity at his publications are the latest stage in Harry’s war against the tabloid media, with lawyers for the Duke of Sussex and others accusing the media mogul of overseeing a “culture of impunity” at News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the Sun and the now defunct News of the World.
Continue reading...Guildford Dragon will be able to benefit from tax breaks after becoming UK’s first charitable public interest news provider
A local news website conceived over a pint and named after a mythical creature has become the first in the UK to be given charitable status, providing a “glimmer of hope” to the future of local journalism.
The Guildford Dragon has become the UK’s first charitable public interest news provider after a six-month application process that experts hope will provide a lifeline to the decimated local news industry.
Continue reading...New legislation could thwart planned £600m purchase of media group by UAE-backed consortium
The UK government plans to introduce legislation that would prevent foreign governments owning UK newspapers and news magazines in a significant move that could scupper the planned £600m sale of the Telegraph to a United Arab Emirates-backed consortium.
RedBird IMI – a partnership between a fund backed by the UAE’s vice-president, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and a privately owned US investment firm – is seeking to acquire one of the UK’s most influential newspaper groups.
Continue reading...Marchers on Saturday came from wide range of backgrounds as rightwing press characterises city as ‘no-go zone for Jews’
As on previous Saturdays in the past six months, there were two marches taking place in London yesterday. The first, a gathering of tens of thousands of full-throated, flag-waving supporters of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza gathered at Hyde Park Corner at noon, and shuffled peaceably and patiently in the sunshine in the direction of the American embassy at Vauxhall, over the river.
The second march was taking place mostly in the imaginations of right-wing commentators and politicians who increasingly choose to see these displays of solidarity with the Palestinian cause only as a provocation and a threat. Following the prime minister’s Downing Street address on 1 March which represented these gatherings as representative of “forces trying to tear apart” our democracy, the latest figure to loud-hailer that version of reality was the government-appointed commissioner for countering extremism, Robin Simcox, who argued on Friday the marches were “a permissive environment for radicalisation”, leading to a hysterical Daily Telegraph front-page headline that read: “London is now a no-go zone for Jews”.
Continue reading...Australian Chinese former fashion blogger, whose appointment in 2021 was met with controversy, announces she is leaving the magazine
Three years after becoming the youngest person to hold an editor title at Vogue, Margaret Zhang is leaving her position as editorial director of Vogue China.
The Australian Chinese creative director announced her exit on Instagram on Monday, writing: “As we kick off a transformative Year of the Dragon, I’m excited to announce that I have decided to wrap up with Vogue and jump into the next chapter of my career.”
Continue reading...Antoine Galindo is accused of conspiring with rebels, but press freedom groups say no evidence has been found and call for his immediate release
Ethiopian authorities have detained a visiting French journalist for being part of a “conspiracy to create chaos” in the east African country.
Antoine Galindo, a reporter for the Paris-based Africa Intelligence (AI) news website, was arrested by plainclothes security officers at the Ethiopian Skylight Hotel on Thursday, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Continue reading...Memo sent by Bruce Dixon, the Vice Media chief, talks of transition to ‘studio model’ as employees term move ‘very upsetting’
Vice plans to lay off hundreds of employees next week and stop publishing on Vice.com, according to a memo sent to staffers by Bruce Dixon, the Vice Media chief.
On Friday, Dixon confirmed that “several hundred” staffers would be laid off and that the brand “will no longer publish content on vice.com”. He said the company is transitioning to a “studio model”.
Continue reading...Russian president suggests detained Wall Street reporter could be freed in prisoner exchange
Vladimir Putin has said he believes “an agreement can be reached” to free the imprisoned US journalist Evan Gershkovich, hinting he would trade him for a Russian killer serving a life sentence in Germany.
Speaking on Thursday to Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, Putin said he did not rule out the possibility of Gershkovich returning “to his motherland”.
Continue reading...Last year, 10,000 sham papers had to be retracted by academic journals, but experts think this is just the tip of the iceberg
Tens of thousands of bogus research papers are being published in journals in an international scandal that is worsening every year, scientists have warned. Medical research is being compromised, drug development hindered and promising academic research jeopardised thanks to a global wave of sham science that is sweeping laboratories and universities.
Last year the annual number of papers retracted by research journals topped 10,000 for the first time. Most analysts believe the figure is only the tip of an iceberg of scientific fraud.
Continue reading...Employees blindsided by news that company blew through $50m investment, will offer no severance and will cut off healthcare
The Messenger, a news startup launched last year with a $50m investment and a nonpartisan perspective, is shutting down, according to multiple news reports.
In a staff email, the publication’s founder, Jimmy Finkelstein, wrote that the company had pursued all options “over the past few weeks, literally until last night” but made the “painful” decision to shut down the site effective immediately after failing to raise “sufficient capital to reach profitability”.
Continue reading...Regulators’ reports on public interest risk now due on 11 March after late change in consortium’s structure prompts further review
A second investigation has been launched into the Barclay family’s deal to transfer control of the Telegraph newspaper group, pushing the deadline for regulators’ reports on the public interest threat it poses by more than six weeks.
The UK government moved swiftly to order the second watchdog inquiry after the Barclays’ UAE-backed consortium partner revealed a last-minute corporate structure change.
Continue reading...Amid the paper’s own crises, the intent seems clear: a new leader to lower taxes and crack down on immigration
The Daily Telegraph has long been known as the Conservatives’ de facto house journal. But, with its central role in recent manoeuvrings to undermine Rishi Sunak, it seems the paper is taking this a step further, and hopes to reshape the party in its ideological image.
In the past 10 days, the Telegraph – itself experiencing flux with a takeover looming – has published not just a withering comment piece from a Tory MP calling for Sunak to go, but detailed polling seeking to explain why it would be better for the party if he did.
Continue reading...A 5,000-word opinion piece has been branded as ‘inappropriate’ and ‘invasive’ for suggesting the singer was sending coded queer messages in her music
The New York Times is under fire for publishing a piece speculating on Taylor Swift’s sexuality.
In a 5,000-word opinion piece titled Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do, editor Anna Marks listed references to the LGBTQ+ community overt or perceived in Swift’s music and theorized that the singer was sending coded messages that she was secretly a member of the community.
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