Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Tuesday 25 February.
Real journalism costs a great deal to produce. It involves years of training, contact building, guile, courage and effort to uncover the often uncomfortable truths which enable society to inch forward.
A UK government consultation over plans to enable AI companies to help themselves to all the journalistic content produced by every journalist in the UK closes today. The incentive for investment in newsgathering could be gone by valuing it at zero in the new AI-driven economy.
That’s why, in a rare outbreak of industry solidarity, the UK news and magazine publishing industries have today backed the Make It Fair Campaign.
All UK creative industries are alarmed at proposals to erode the law which is the bedrock of their existence: copyright.
Business information (probably the biggest UK media sector) could also be fatally undermined by this state-sponsored grand larceny.
I’m backing the campaign because I don’t want the government to give away my life’s work to enrich a few amoral US tech billionaires.
Writing for Press Gazette today Matthew Scott Goldstein explains why we should fight against the greatest heist in history. And he also explains why, from a US perspective, the actions of the UK government are particularly worrying.
Today we also reveal the latest US newspaper circulation figures which reveal no American title now sells more than 500,000 print copies.
In New York you can buy cannabis on every street corner nowadays but will search in vain for a newsstand which actually sells newspapers.
US titles are at least making up for the loss of print sales with paying digital subscribers (as Press Gazette’s recent 100k club ranking reveals).
“Governments don’t give out free electricity, so why should our content – the fuel of AI – be any different?”
Read more
The combined average daily circulation of the 25 largest audited newspapers in the US dropped 12.7% in the year to the end of September 2024.
Read more
Condé Nast has named former Gal-dem culture editor Kemi Alemoru the new head of editorial content for women’s digital magazine Glamour UK. (Press Gazette)
As the UK government’s consultation on proposed copyright exemptions for AI companies comes to an end today, local and national newspapers across the country are running cover wraps campaigning "to protect the creative industries — it’s only fair". (You can see a picture of some of those front pages here)
Former PBS correspondent Jane Ferguson has launched a mobile-first news platform called Noosphere with $1m of funding. It provides a Tiktok-like scrolling feed of premium news for $20 per month. (Semafor)
The Scottish Government has said following a consultation that it will not change the law to restrict reporting on the identities of children killed in homicides. The NUJ welcomed the "difficult decision", saying it was in "the interests of open justice". (Scottish Government)
Facebook Channels providing small but engaged audience for publishers
Noel Clarke loses appeal bid ahead of Guardian libel trial
Katy Balls leaves Spectator to join The Times
Diversity and inclusion a priority for less than half UK news publishers in 2025, survey
2025 journalism job cuts tracked: More than 900 layoffs in UK and US news in January
ChatGPT referrals to top publishers up eight times in six months but still negligible
‘Callous disregard’ of copyright by gen AI companies ruins the magic
5 News editor: There is ‘snobbery’ about us but the figures speak for themselves
The publishers leading a renaissance for London news
With three major London-wide local journalism launches in the last few months, is journalism about England’s capital city bouncing back after many years of decline?
London Centric founder Jim Waterson explains how his Substack-based title has already gained thousands of paying subscribers since launching in September 2024.
Listen now
Thank you for reading Press Gazette. Subscribe for free to receive our daily media newsletter straight to your inbox.
No posts
Ready for more?
