Media Training update w/c 12th May

I claimed with confidence we would return on Monday 5th – which I’ve now realised is a Bank Holiday.

So we’re back a week early.

Good morning. It’s <re-checks diary for the 68th time> Monday 28th April.

“Things Learnt (Then Forgotten)” – Week 15.

Apple’s business model and your cognitive powers…

Stories scheduled for the next seven days:

Today: Parliamentary elections in Canada.

Trial begins for men charged over Sycamore Gap tree felling.

Tuesday: Donald Trump holds rally to mark his 100th day in office.

Wednesday: CCC report on progress in adapting to climate change.

Thursday: UK local and mayoral elections.

Mike Amesbury constituency by-election.

Apple and Amazon announce results.

Friday: UK local elections results.

First court hearing for Russell Brand on rape charges.

Saturday: Federal elections in Australia. 

Sunday: Re-run of Romanian presidential election.

F1 Miami Grand Prix.

UK newsrooms in the year 2025…

• Overwhelmingly white (90%), university educated (91%) and non-religious (71%)
• Left-leaning. In 2015, around half (54%) identified with the political left, but this has risen to three quarters (77%)

Reuters surveyed over a thousand UK journalists. 

And as organisations (including Inside Edge) agonise over their social media presence….

• Social media is widely used by UK journalists professionally, with 70% saying they regularly used it to discover news stories and 57% saying they regularly used it to promote their journalism. Almost all UK journalists used social media for their work at least some of the time.

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Speaking of which….

We’ve designed a shiny new section to be included in a number of our courses – The New Media Landscape.

As readers of the Briefing will know, it’s a time of seismic change for news. From the way it is funded and sourced to the way it is covered and disseminated. This has implications for organisations and interviewees, and this section is a chance to bring you right up to date.

We’ve included a great sequence on how to prepare for and participate in podcasts. We’ve spoken to some of the key players in the sector but we’d like your input too…

What are your experiences of appearing on podcasts?

Please do get in touch.

“Any changes to the seating chart will merely be symbolic of the deeper shifts in the media dynamics in Trump’s Washington, where the mainstream press is fighting for viewers and relevance while the alternative conservative media steadily expands its audience – and basks in the warm glow of Trump’s affection.” 

I’ve received some feedback that the Briefing has been a tad Trump-heavy of late, which is probably fair. But he’s (by accident or design) rewriting the relationship between the media and The Executive, and it would be odd to ignore it.

So instead I’ll plug this Politico piece on the change to the White House Briefing Room. (West Wing viewers will read and weep silently for CJ…)

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Despite being 20 (!) episodes in, Evan Davis has now been told by the BBC he can no longer host his podcast about heat pumps due to the corporation’s concerns that discussing the technology risks “treading on areas of public controversy”.

This feels like one of those stories that is on the face of it fairly insignificant, but feels part of a wider (and perhaps more worrying) narrative…

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Footnotes:

On this day: A billionaire businessman from California became the first paying passenger to go to outer space on this day in 2001.

Monday weather: Newcastle – a mighty 21 degrees and sunny. (Go Geordies.) London – 23 degrees and sunny.

Mutts: Every so often they get half a poppadom each. Find someone who looks at you the way Stan and Leo look at half a poppadom…

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done. We’re @insideedgemedia or just reply to this email.

Have a great fortnight (I think…)

All at Inside Edge