Category Archives: Media

UK to abolish law requiring press to pay legal costs when sued

Posted on by

Government to roll back section 40 legislation, recommended by Leveson, as part of media bill

Ministers will push ahead with plans to abolish a key piece of press regulation law, unpicking one of the main recommendations of the Leveson inquiry into the culture of the British newspaper industry.

The government said they would roll back a rule that could require news outlets to pay the costs of the people who sue them unless the news outlet is signed up to a state-backed press regulator. Labour indicated that opposition MPs will not object to the plan, meaning it is likely to sail through the House of Commons.

Continue reading...

US court reinstates Adnan Syed murder conviction in Serial podcast case

Posted on by

Maryland court orders conviction reinstated and new hearing held but ruling suggests Syed, 41, will not remain convicted for long

A court in Maryland has reinstated the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, the Baltimore man whose alleged involvement in the 1999 murder of 17-year-old Hae Min Lee was the subject of the hit podcast Serial.

Syed, 41, was convicted of murdering Lee in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison, though he always maintained his innocence. In September last year, state prosecutors revealed they had uncovered new evidence they said undermined Syed’s conviction and pointed to two alternative suspects.

Continue reading...

BBC accused of ‘hiding’ Oxbridge bias on University Challenge in deepening elitism row

Posted on by

Corporation rejects freedom of information request from campaigner who claims show is ‘rigged’

The BBC has been accused of “hiding” the extent of its Oxbridge bias on University Challenge in a deepening row about alleged elitism on the show.

The Guardian revealed that Frank Coffield, a Durham-based emeritus professor of education at University College London, is campaigning for fairer entry rules for the show for what he says is a rigged contest.

Continue reading...

Elon Musk memo suggests Twitter worth less than half of what he paid for it

Posted on by

Calculation based on leaked offer to staff that implies firm valued at $20bn compared with $44bn he bought it for

Twitter is worth less than half of what Elon Musk paid for it six months ago having lost more than $20bn (£16.4bn) in value, according to calculations based on a leaked memo from the billionaire.

Musk suggested in memo to the social media company’s staff that it is now valued at less than $20bn. This compares with the $44bn he paid for it in October 2022.

Continue reading...

Guardian Australia wins Quill award for investigation into concussion and the AFL

Posted on by

Judges commended the ‘exemplary’ work of the journalists who ‘helped to trigger further inquiries and an apology’ from the league

Three Guardian Australia journalists have won the Grant Hattam Quill award for investigative journalism at the Melbourne Press Club awards for their investigation into concussion and the AFL.

Melissa Davey, Stephanie Convery and Emma Kemp picked up the award for their work on “the gaping hole in sport’s concussion policies” with judges describing it as “exemplary investigative journalism”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

TikTok CEO grilled for over five hours on China, drugs and teen mental health

Posted on by

Shou Zi Chew attempts to play down concerns over data and privacy as lawmakers call for ban on Chinese-owned app

The chief executive of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, was forced to defend his company’s relationship with China, as well as the protections for its youngest users, at a testy congressional hearing on Thursday that came amid a bipartisan push to ban the app entirely in the US over national security concerns.

The hearing marked the first ever appearance before US lawmakers by a TikTok chief executive, and a rare public outing for the 4o-year-old Chew, who has remained largely out of the limelight as the social network’s popularity soars. TikTok now boasts tens of millions of US users, but lawmakers have long held concerns over China’s control over the app, which Chew repeatedly tried to assuage throughout the hearing. “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew said in Thursday’s testimony.

Continue reading...

Fox News and Dominion face off in court over 2020 election claims

Posted on by

Judge appears skeptical of network’s arguments as both sides seek summary judgment in defamation case

Attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News will return to court on Wednesday for the second day of a pre-trial hearing previewing many arguments in a closely watched $1.6bn defamation case.

Dominion is suing the rightwing network over its decision to repeatedly air false claims about its voting equipment in 2020 as Donald Trump and allies tried to overturn the election.

Continue reading...

Fox News and Dominion face off in $1.6bn defamation fight in court

Posted on by

The voting machine company is suing the news channel over its disingenuous coverage of various outlandish election claims

Lawyers for Fox News and the voting equipment company Dominion faced off in a Delaware courtroom on Tuesday in the latest phase of Dominion’s closely watched $1.6bn defamation suit against the media company for spreading election lies.

Both sides offered dueling narratives of Fox’s liability for spreading false information. The network presented outlandish claims about Dominion while knowing it was false, lawyers for Dominion said. Fox’s lawyers, by contrast, said that the network was merely airing newsworthy claims by the former president that any reasonable viewer would have understood to be allegations. The judge overseeing the case unexpectedly extended the hearing to Wednesday to give both sides more time to make their case.

Continue reading...

Rupert Murdoch to marry for fifth time at 92: ‘I knew this would be my last’

Posted on by

Billionaire mogul will marry Ann Lesley Smith, 66, whom he met in September of 2022. ‘We share the same beliefs,’ Smith says

The billionaire mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose conservative media empire spans the globe, is engaged to marry for the fifth time at the age of 92 years old, he told an interviewer in his own tabloid newspaper, the New York Post.

“I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love – but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy,” Murdoch said of his new fiancee, Ann Lesley Smith, 66, whose late husband was Chester Smith, a country singer as well as radio and TV executive.

Continue reading...

ITV news is more trusted than BBC after Lineker row and Sharp controversy

Posted on by

Poll finds ITV news is more trusted source of information and trust in BBC has slipped

The BBC has slipped behind ITV as Britain’s most trusted news source in the wake of the row over Gary Lineker’s suspension, according to a new poll for the Observer.

The corporation remains one of the most trusted providers, according to the latest Opinium poll. Two in five trust BBC News and 26% distrust it, giving it a “net trust” of +14%. ITV recorded a net trust score of +23%.

Continue reading...

Alan Shearer talks of ‘difficult week’ as he and Gary Lineker return to MotD

Posted on by

Presenters back to cover FA Cup quarter-final after row that nearly cost BBC director general and chairman their jobs

Gary Lineker returned to presenting Match of the Day on Saturday evening after a row that threatened to topple the BBC chairman and director general.

As the former England international introduced live BBC coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Burnley, pundit Alan Shearer touched on the recent controversy.

Continue reading...

Oscars TV ratings improve – to third worst ever

Posted on by

This year’s Academy Awards with Jimmy Kimmel at the helm drew an average TV audience of 18.7m – and a bigger share of younger viewers

The audience for the 2023 Academy Awards broadcast improved substantially on last year’s unimpressive figures, with a 12% jump on what was the second worst ratings performance in history.

Early ratings from Nielsen, supplied to the Hollywood Reporter, said that the show on ABC attracted an average of 18.7m viewers, compared to 16.6m in 2022. The audience share in the key 18-49 age demographic also improved, from 3.76 last year to 4.0.

Continue reading...

Gary Lineker row: No 10 refuses to say Sunak has confidence in Tim Davie as star ‘delighted’ to return to BBC – live

Posted on by

Downing Street declines to say whether PM has confidence in BBC director-general after furore over Match of the Day presenter

The former journalist and Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell praised Lineker for his “professionalism, accountability and integrity” and Tim Davie for “admitting they got it wrong” after the BBC apology.

Before the BBC statement, the former BBC director of news James Harding told Radio 4’s Today programme that the corporation had got itself into a bit of a muddle over impartiality.

Continue reading...

Pressure on BBC chair mounts over Gary Lineker suspension

Posted on by

Executives race to resolve Match of the Day presenter standoff as senior Tories stop short of backing Richard Sharp on impartiality

BBC executives are scrambling to repair relations with Gary Lineker and stave off a staff mutiny at the corporation, with hopes that the presenter could be back in post by next weekend.

The row left the BBC’s chair, Richard Sharp, fighting for his future on Sunday night as Jeremy Hunt stopped short of backing him to guard the corporation’s impartiality in the wake of the row.

Continue reading...

Board of Deputies of British Jews apologises for calling journalist an ‘asshole’

Posted on by

Tweet, now deleted, was in response to Rachel Shabi’s comments on Holocaust education

The Board of Deputies of British Jews has apologised to the journalist Rachel Shabi after a message on its official Twitter account described her as an “asshole”.

The tweet from the organisation’s account on Saturday was in response to Shabi’s comments on Holocaust education.

Continue reading...

Gary Lineker suspension: Match of the Day 2 and Women’s Super League coverage to be ‘much reduced’ – as it happened

Posted on by

Corporation’s sports coverage severely disrupted as presenters and pundits pull out in solidarity with Lineker

Match of the Day viewing figures were unaffected by the absence of Gary Lineker on Saturday night.

The shortened 20-minute version of the show had no commentary, presenters, or pundits after staff walked out in solidarity with its host Gary Lineker. Even the show’s theme music was dropped, as the BBC dealt with the fallout after suspending its highest-paid star.

Continue reading...

Gary Lineker was singled out from a long list of BBC stars who express political views

Posted on by

From Alan Sugar and Karren Brady to Richard Osman and Nadiya Hussain, there is nothing new about TV presenters writing about politics

Gary Lineker’s suspension for expressing political views set off an avalanche of comparisons with other BBC stars who have not been similarly sanctioned for lacking impartiality.

Some were obvious: Lord Sugar of The Apprentice, whose 18 years of firing people have been punctuated by political outbursts, from newspaper interviews calling on people to vote Conservative to tweeting a mocked-up image of Jeremy Corbyn sitting next to Adolf Hitler.

Continue reading...

BBC has undermined its credibility over Gary Lineker, says Greg Dyke

Posted on by

Ex-director general says decision to suspend presenter for criticising government’s asylum policies is mistaken

The BBC has undermined its own credibility with its decision to stand Gary Lineker down from hosting Match of the Day because it will be viewed as having bowed to government pressure, its former director general Greg Dyke has said.

Dyke’s comments come after the corporation suspended Lineker on Friday for breaching impartiality guidelines by criticising the government’s asylum policies.

Continue reading...

BBC to air Match of the Day without presenters after Gary Lineker’s suspension

Posted on by

Decision taken after corporation takes its highest-paid presenter off air and his fellow broadcasters refuse to appear in solidarity

Match of the Day will be broadcast without any presenters or pundits this weekend, after the main host, Gary Lineker, was suspended from the BBC for breaching impartiality guidelines over his criticism of the government’s asylum policies.

In a dramatic and unexpected escalation of a crisis that has been brewing all week, the corporation took the decision to take its highest-paid presenter off its flagship football show after he was criticised by Tory MPs and the rightwing media.

Continue reading...

BBC apologises for failure to scrutinise Nadine Dorries’ claims about Sue Gray

Posted on by

Former culture secretary called into question neutrality of civil servant after her appointment as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff

The BBC has apologised for the failure to properly scrutinise claims made by Nadine Dorries on a radio show, capping a day of controversies for the corporation.

The broadcaster said in a statement on Friday that “there should have been more challenge” when the former culture secretary and Boris Johnson loyalist made allegations about Sue Gray on Radio 4’s World at One.

Continue reading...