Cannes 2026: All Aboard the Press Gazette News Yacht
Press Gazette is debuting the News Yacht, a fringe gathering held on Equativ’s yacht during the Cannes Lions Festival on June 22, 2026. The event will convene senior leaders from news, marketing and technology to discuss how quality journalism can be better funded in an advertising landscape now dominated by Alphabet, Meta and Amazon. Hosted with support from Equativ, Q5, PA Media and Propeller Group, the invitation‑only session is free for senior news executives. Organisers aim to reposition news as a core advertising asset and a democratic necessity.
Grazia Editor-in-Chief Hattie Brett to Step Down After Eight Years
After eight years at the helm, Hattie Brett will step down as editor‑in‑chief of Grazia UK in September, remaining in the role until a successor is found. During her tenure she transformed the title from a weekly print magazine into...
Globe and Mail Grows Newsroom by 10% Fuelled by Online Subscriptions
The Globe and Mail enlarged its newsroom by more than 10% in 2025, bringing staff to 260 with 30 new hires focused on business coverage and everyday‑life reporting. Editor‑in‑chief David Walmsley said the paper’s subscription base – about two‑thirds of...
Former CNN Host Don Lemon on Turning a Profit with His Five-Person Media Network
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has turned his five‑person Lemon Media Network into a profitable independent outlet, streaming twice daily and publishing a Substack newsletter. The venture, which now boasts over 10 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, Threads,...
Who What Wear on How Publishers Can Think Like Retailers
Who What Wear, a fashion publisher owned by Future, is applying retailer‑style tactics to monetize its editorial content. The brand, which attracted over 12 million visits in April and converts more than $252 million in sales each quarter, relies on affiliate commissions...
Former BBC Content Chief Loses IPSO Complaint After Saying Gaza Documentary Mistake Not Her Fault
Former BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore’s IPSO complaint against The Telegraph was dismissed. The newspaper’s article had linked her OBE to a Gaza documentary that Ofcom found in breach after the narrator was identified as the son of a...
How Paywall Plus Philanthropy Saved The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer, once bankrupt, turned a profit in 2025 after Jerry Lenfest transferred ownership to the nonprofit Lenfest Institute and introduced a hybrid for‑profit, nonprofit structure. A $7.8 million grant and aggressive digital‑subscription strategy pushed subscriber revenue to 70% of...
Beyond Websites: People Inc Grows Digital Revenue Despite Google Traffic Collapse
People Inc reported a 63% drop in Google‑referenced traffic over the past two years, yet its digital revenue grew 8% year‑over‑year to $253 million in Q1 2026, the tenth consecutive quarter of growth. Non‑website income—social‑media ads, events, AI‑driven ad targeting and...
Why Barnie Choudhury Case Is Blow to Public’s Right to Know
Veteran BBC journalist Barnie Choudhury has been hit with a £14,000 (about $18,000) costs order after an Information Tribunal labeled his aggressive follow‑up to Freedom of Information requests to the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) as “unreasonable behaviour.” While the tribunal...
Newsbrand Launched by Ex-Observer Staff Expands Team Six Months On
The Nerve, a subscription‑based newsbrand founded by five former Observer journalists, announced the hiring of two investigative reporters and two columnists just six months after its launch. The outlet now counts 30,000 paying and free subscribers and has logged 2.5 million...
US Publishers Back Amazon in AI Agent Access Dispute with Perplexity
Major U.S. digital news publishers have filed an amicus brief supporting Amazon in its lawsuit against AI start‑up Perplexity, which allegedly accessed Amazon’s shopping site and user accounts via its Comet AI agent without permission. A California judge issued a...
Google, Meta and Amazon Took Two Thirds of £46bn UK 2025 Adspend
UK advertising spend rose 6.4% in 2025 to a record £46.7bn (≈$59bn). A trio of US tech giants—Google, Meta and Amazon—captured roughly two‑thirds of that pie, accounting for about £31bn (≈$39bn). Google led with an estimated £21.5bn ($27bn) from search,...
Martin Lewis Says Meta Scam Ads Stealing His Name Are ‘Worse than Ever’
Financial journalist Martin Lewis warned that scam ads hijacking his name and likeness have surged, now appearing in 44% of 537 Action Fraud reports in 2024. Meta earned roughly $3.3 billion every six months from high‑risk scam ads that impersonate public figures,...
Press Gazette Reality Wars Investigation Recognised by Paul Foot Awards
Press Gazette’s investigation, led by journalist Rob Waugh, exposed a network of AI‑generated fake experts that have infiltrated dozens of UK news outlets. The team compiled a dossier of more than 1,000 fabricated stories involving over a dozen invented authorities,...
The Ankler Ditches Substack to Fly Solo
The Ankler, a Hollywood‑focused B2B publisher with about 150,000 paid subscribers, has left Substack and launched its own website powered by Automattic’s Passport paywall. The move lets the company keep roughly $10 million in annual revenue without the platform’s 10% cut...
Future of Media Awards 2026 Open for Entries with Four New Categories
The Future of Media Awards, now in its fifth year, have opened for entries through 18 June 2026 with entry fees ranging from $70 to $127. Four new categories – Best Use of AI, News Industry Technology Partner of the Year,...
Press Flak Jackets Have Become Targets in War Zones Warns Christina Lamb
Sunday Times foreign correspondent Christina Lamb warned that journalists are increasingly being singled out in war zones, citing the death of Lebanese reporter Amal Khalil, who was killed while wearing a blue press flak jacket. She called for an independent...
AI in Journalism: Live Tracker of Scandals and Mistakes
AI misuse is surfacing across newsrooms, prompting a wave of retractions and policy overhauls. Recent incidents include the Mississippi Free Press withdrawing an AI‑written opinion piece by a fabricated author, the New York Times cutting ties with a freelancer whose AI‑generated review...
Essex Police Press Statements Were Defamatory of Allison Pearson, Judge Says
High Court Judge Mr Justice Chamberlain ruled that several press statements issued by Essex Police and comments by Police and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst were defamatory toward Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson. The statements suggested there were reasonable grounds to investigate...
Gabriel Pogrund to Lead Expanded Sunday Times Investigations Team
Gabriel Pogrund, the 2023 British Journalism Awards Journalist of the Year, has been named editor of the Sunday Times Insight investigations team. He will lead an expanded unit that adds investigative correspondents Emanuele Midolo and visual investigations editor Venetia Menzies,...
Sun Merges Features Desk and Fabulous Team
The Sun has merged its features desk with the Fabulous lifestyle team, forming a single 27‑person features department led by Jessica Wilson and Veronica Lorraine. The restructuring follows a 45‑day consultation, aims to future‑proof the business and aligns with the...
STV Journalists to Strike over Salary Freeze as Broadcaster Profits Drop
STV announced a temporary salary freeze for its newsroom staff after reporting a £5.9 million loss and a 61% drop in adjusted pre‑tax profit for 2025. Revenue fell 6% to £176.9 million (about $225 million) and advertising income slipped 10% to £89.3 million (≈$113 million)....
AI Content Marketplaces Can’t Come Soon Enough for News Publishers
At Press Gazette’s Future of Media Trends event, senior UK publishers dissected five AI‑related challenges and underscored the urgent need for AI content marketplaces that would pay for the use of their articles. Sessions highlighted leveraging AI on archives, repurposing...
Winning Design Unveiled for First UK Journalists’ Memorial
Artist Wolfgang Buttress won the On The Record competition with "End of Copy," a sculptural arrangement of aluminium columns forming a Fibonacci spiral. The design will be installed at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, with a companion piece at...
UK Publishers Urge CMA to Curb Google as Search Giant Claims AI Does Them No Harm
UK news publishers have asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to force Google to separate its AI fine‑tuning crawler from its search ranking system and to provide granular opt‑out controls for training, fine‑tuning and retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG). They dispute...
Readly Deluged with User Complaints Post Cafeyn Merger
Readly has completed its merger with French rival Cafeyn, creating a combined European digital‑magazine platform with roughly €100 million (about $107 million) in revenue and over 2.5 million users. The company reports that 99% of sessions are crash‑free and 97% of users successfully...
Five Ways for Publishers to Attract and Retain High-Value Audiences
Q5’s latest report outlines five practical steps for publishers to attract and retain high‑value audiences. It stresses that journalism alone isn’t enough; commercial, product, and editorial teams must collaborate within organized structures. Senior leaders need a shared vision, transparent trade‑off...
Judges Body Hits Journalist with £14k Costs Bill for Pursuing FOI Request
Former BBC journalist Barnie Choudhury has been ordered to pay £14,270.70 (about $18,000) in costs after the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) deemed his Freedom‑of‑Information (FOI) pursuit unreasonable. The dispute stems from Choudhury’s campaign exposing alleged bullying and secrecy within the...
Food Newsletter Launches with Eight Staff and Tech-Style Incentives
Caper, a New York‑based food‑business newsletter, launched with eight full‑time journalists after raising a $2.5 million seed round. The startup, founded by former Puck and The Athletic executives, offers tech‑style equity and revenue‑linked bonuses to its staff. It delivers a three‑times‑weekly newsletter...
How One Company Built £14m Business by Buying up Flagging B2B Titles
Datateam, a Kent‑based communications group, has built a $17.5 million business by acquiring more than 70 under‑performing specialist B2B magazines over two decades. In 2024, advertising contributed about $10.5 million (60% of turnover), while live events added $5.5 million and subscriptions $1.5 million. The...
Standard Website Transfers to Independent with More than 30 Staff Leaving
The Independent has signed a long‑term agreement to run the digital, advertising and data operations of the Evening Standard’s website, while the print weekly remains under the original company. At the start of the year the Standard employed 75 people;...
Irish News Wrong to Allege ‘Serious Editorial Misconduct’ on Stephen Nolan Show, Says IPSO
The UK press regulator IPSO ruled that the Irish News overstated allegations that BBC Northern Ireland staff were "planted" in the audience of Stephen Nolan's TV programme. The regulator found the newspaper breached the Editors' Code by failing to provide...
AI Answer Engine Drive More Effective Advertisng at Reach and Independent
Taboola’s AI‑powered answer engine, Deeper Dive, is now live on dozens of publisher sites including Reach, The Independent and Huffpost UK. The tool draws about seven million monthly users, with roughly one in six visitors asking questions, and delivers ad conversion...
Apple News Revenue Helped BBC Science Focus Double Size of Team
BBC Science Focus has more than doubled its editorial team and monthly page views after focusing on Apple News and Apple News+ subscriptions. The platform now accounts for roughly 45% of the title’s digital revenue, delivering about $8.30 per subscriber per month...
Google Changes Hit Revenue at The Sun as Losses Grow to £53m
News Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Sun, reported FY2025 revenue of $347 million, an 8% decline from the prior year, while pre‑tax losses surged to $68 million. The company blamed the drop on algorithm changes at platforms like Google, which cut...
Mark Allen Group Posts Pre-Tax Loss and Writes Off £5m From Bonhill Purchase
Mark Allen Group posted a pre‑tax loss of £1.4m ($1.8m) for the year to 31 March 2025 after writing off £5m ($6.3m) of its £6.5m ($8.3m) Bonhill acquisition. Revenue rose 4% to £72.1m ($91.6m), but EBITDA fell 12% to £9.3m ($11.8m). The...
Politico Says Merger of Energy Teams Has Boosted Iran War Coverage
Politico merged its previously separate energy and environment desks in February, creating a unified newsroom of 73 reporters. The restructuring coincided with the U.S. and Israel strikes on Iran, prompting a surge in coverage that lifted energy page views 142%...
Ex-Times Environment Editor Launches Legal Claim Against Government
Former Times environment editor Ben Webster has launched a judicial review against the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), alleging the department breached Regulation 4 of the Environmental Information Regulations by failing to proactively publish four reports on the...
Publishers Urged to Embrace Future Where Bot Readers Provide Majority of Revenue
AI monetisation firm Tollbit says bots will become the primary revenue source for publishers, with its technology already deployed on more than 7,000 sites. Data shows AI visits are rising fast, reaching a 1‑to‑31 bot‑to‑human ratio by the end of...
March Google Core Update Brings Modest Gains for News Websites
Google rolled out its March 2026 core algorithm update between March 27 and April 8, aiming to surface more relevant content. Sistrix data shows modest visibility gains for top news brands – The Guardian (+9.0 points) and Money Saving Expert...
Daily Newsletter Is Telegraph’s ‘Biggest Source of Subscribers’ One Year After Launch
One year after its April 2025 launch, the Telegraph’s flagship daily newsletter “From the Editor” has become the publication’s largest source of new paying subscribers. The email reaches over 850,000 readers each morning and boasts a total audience of more...
Le Monde CEO Urges Publishers to Sign AI Partnerships to Stay Competitive
Le Monde has signed AI licensing agreements with OpenAI, Perplexity and Meta, generating a significant new revenue stream that now accounts for about 25% of its earnings. The AI deals have boosted digital subscriber conversions, with ChatGPT referrals converting 20...
News Diary 6-12 April: Artemis II Returns to Earth, EU Entry/Exit System Goes Live, the Masters
NASA’s Artemis II crew set a new record for the farthest human distance from Earth and is slated for a Pacific Ocean splashdown later this week, marking a critical milestone toward a lunar landing. Meanwhile, the European Union’s Entry/Exit System went...
Wired Pulls Plug on UK Print Edition as It Focuses on Global Subscriber Growth
Wired announced it will cease publishing a UK print edition in 2026, redirecting resources toward global digital subscriber growth. The London newsroom saw seven journalists depart in 2025 and is being rebuilt around audience‑development roles. Direct‑to‑publisher digital subscriptions rose 20%...
Ex-National World Boss Buys Scottish Newsbrands and B2B Conference
Mark Hollinshead, former National World COO, launched Hero Media & Entertainment and immediately acquired Dundee Press Agency Ltd, E News Now Ltd and Daily Business Ltd, adding a suite of Scottish B2B news brands and the Scottish Construction Summit conference....
Spectator Made £6.6m Loss in Year Paul Marshall Paid £100m for Title
British weekly The Spectator posted a pre‑tax loss of £6.6 million ($8.4 million) for 2024 after Sir Paul Marshall’s Old Queen Street Ventures paid £100 million ($127 million) for the title. The 15‑month sale process cost the magazine £11.4 million ($14.5 million), turning a £2.6 million profit...
Agency Faces ‘£100,000’ Legal Costs From Mail and Telegraph over £200 Pictures Claim
A UK news agency, Central European News (CEN), is being sued by The Daily Mail and The Telegraph for failing to pay fees for two images, each valued at less than £200 (≈$250). The publishers have incurred roughly £100,000 (≈$125,000)...
Future Share Price Plummets After Warning Google Traffic Loss Has Worsened
Future plc’s shares tumbled 28% to $3.58, valuing the company at roughly $339 million after the publisher warned that Google‑driven traffic losses have accelerated. Audience metrics fell 20% in the first half of the fiscal year, echoing a similar drop in...
Prospect CEO Mark Beard Leaving to Join Ireland’s Business Post
Mark Beard is leaving his role as CEO of Prospect after three years to become chief executive of Ireland’s Business Post. During his tenure, Beard transformed Prospect from a print‑focused title into a multi‑channel media company, boosting print readership to...
Daily Star Became a Hit on MSN by Tailoring Content to Robot Editor
The Daily Star has appointed senior reporter Adam Cailler to work full‑time tailoring its stories for MSN.com, an AI‑driven news aggregator that now ranks as the world’s third‑largest English‑language news site. By reshaping articles to meet MSN’s strict filters—removing adult...