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NGN admits 'unlawful activities' at Sun | AP grows direct-to-consumer revenue
Plus Reach gets into online retail, crime reporters voice concern over official secrecy around Southport killings and LGBTQ+ journalists say they're leaving social media platforms
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Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Wednesday 22 January.
Prince Harry has settled his privacy complaint with The Sun at the eleventh hour (full story here).
The deal secures substantial damages for Harry and co-claimant Tom Watson.
But crucially it also comes with an admission that The Sun did use illegal means to invade Harry’s privacy.
The illegal activity all dates back more than 13 years and could be written off as a largely historic matter were it not for the fact that current News UK CEO Rebekah Brooks was editor when much of this was going on.
This morning we have some welcome news from the US, where news agency stalwart AP is finding a growing audience and revenue with its direct-to-consumer website.
This follows a tough 2024 for its B2B business when the agency had to cut 8% of its staff as some major publishers ended their contracts with it.
AP executive editor Julie Pace told us that "fact-based journalism" is something the readers and viewers have welcomed.
It has come to something when "fact-based" journalism has become a key selling point.
Today we also report on the growth of online sales as a source of revenue for publishers. Reach may not sell many news subscriptions online but it does sell everything else - from sheds to air-fryers - via its Yimbly online shop.
It's an intriguing move in a world where retailers like Amazon have become major advertising competitors for publishers as brands market directly on e-commerce sites. By attempting to compete with Amazon, Reach is seeking to steal back some of that lost revenue.
Today we also report on alarm from some LGBT journalists over changes to Facebook's rules on hate speech which they fear will open them up to abuse.
And crime reporters have voiced concern over restrictions put in place by the Crown Prosecution Service around the release of information related to the Stockport dance class murders.
The chair of the UK Crime Reporters Association Rebecca Camber has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions warning that "opportunities have been missed to quell violence" and "public confidence and trust in policing and the wider criminal justice system" has been undermined.
On Press Gazette
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Prince Harry leaving the Royal Courts Of Justice on Thursday 30 March 2023. Picture: PA Wire/Victoria Jones
News UK admits ‘unlawful activities’ at Sun in settlement apology to Prince Harry
“NGN offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun.”
How Reach has moved from salesman to shopkeeper with launch of Yimbly
“I think we can get pigeonholed into being just a press publisher, and we’re obviously a lot more than that, and this is a really good example of that.”
Associated Press finds growing consumer audience for ‘fact-based’ journalism
“We’re really gratified that we see readers responding to calls to action that are rooted in the notion of AP being independent, being a 179-year-old news organisation that covers the biggest stories of the world.”
Crime journalists concerned over official secrecy around Southport dance class killings
Rebecca Camber, who is crime and security editor of the Daily Mail, wrote: “There has been a worrying pattern whereby forces wanting to provide information to the press have been instructed to stay silent.”
LGBTQ+ journalists set to leave Facebook over ‘dangerous’ new hate speech rules
“I suppose one surprise was Meta announcing they’ll stop performing certain kinds of moderation, because we weren’t aware they were doing any.”
News in brief
The New York Times is looking at bundled subscription partnerships with smaller publishers, Axios reports, and recently explored a deal with entertainment industry publication The Ankler that would have given the latter's subscribers access to NYT Games. The deal did not go ahead, however. (Axios)
The replacement for London Live, which closed on Sunday, has begun broadcasting. David Montgomery's Local TV bought the licence and is airing London TV with morning, lunchtime and evening news programmes and a simulcast of the True Crime channel the rest of the time. (The Sun)
BBC says of the Government’s AI consultation: "We do not believe that ‘scraping’ of BBC data without our permission to train generative AI models is in the public interest.” The corporation is using generative AI for translation and to create online transcripts of radio sport commentaries. (BBC)
A survey has found regional dailies are still regularly providing court coverage: "Reach, National World and Newsquest are often criticised from both inside and outside the industry, but they also deserve some credit for maintaining a vital focus on covering courts.” (Hold the Front Page)