Edition 505

Good morning, it’s Monday 28th July

“There is nothing to go on air with…except the opening titles.”

The MMB takes a break over August so let’s end the school term in the customary manner – by rewatching an absolute classic from 1989.

For those new to the tradition here’s a primer on what to keep an eye out for as – once again – we go behind the scenes of the BBC newsroom…

Stories scheduled for the next seven days:

Today: Keir Starmer expected to meet Donald Trump in Scotland.

Changes to the Universal Postal Service take effect;

Tuesday: First anniversary of the Southport stabbings.

Supreme Court judgments on Russia sanctions and taxi licensing.

Wednesday: US Federal Reserve interest rate decision.

Results from Microsoft and Meta. 

Thursday:  Heathrow deadline to submit expansion proposal.

Results from Apple, Amazon and Shell. 

Friday: US ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs due to take effect.

Saturday: Mariah Carey performs at Brighton & Hove Pride.

Sunday: Atletico Madrid and Porto hold tribute match for Diogo Jota.

“Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham went on air 15 minutes after the Journal published its story, and talked about Epstein. “We have new news coming on about this, as well, from the Wall Street Journal. A new report tonight – next,” she said, throwing to a commercial break. When The Ingraham Angle returned, the new news did not feature.”

Murdoch v Trump and Murdoch v Murdoch. It’s a murky business…

READ MORE

The Liftable Quote Club

MMB reader Sarah joins the Liftable Quote Club with this line from Janan Ganesh’s FT column:

“Recent media coverage has insiders believing those old bonds tying the traditionally Conservative-supporting press to their favoured party are weakening.”

How the rightwing media are pivoting to Reform.

READ MORE

Footnotes:

On this day: Paddy Ashdown was elected the first leader of the new Social and Liberal Democrat Party on this day in 1988.

Monday weather: Manchester – 19 degrees and cloudy. London – 24 degrees and sunny.

Mutts: Plans for August…

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done, please let us know.

Back in September.

All at Inside Edge

Edition 504

Good morning, it’s Monday 21st July

Kicking off this week with an observation about headspace during tough interviews…

7 Days In America

Trump was interviewed on Fox by his daughter-in-law. (Frost-Nixon it wasn’t.) Congress defunded NPR and PBS. CBS axed The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a vocal critic of the President. And Trump filed a lawsuit against Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal following their reporting on the Epstein story.

A horrible week for the US media.

Stories scheduled for the next seven days:

Today: Keir Starmer questioned by Liaison Committee.

Tuesday: New immigration and visa reforms take effect.

England face Italy in Women’s Euros semifinal. 

Wednesday: Google and Tesla results.

England begin fourth Test match against India. 

Thursday: EU-China summit in Beijing.

Friday: Donald Trump begins five-day visit to Scotland.

Resident doctors’ strike begins.

Saturday:  British and Irish Lions second Test against Australia.

Sunday: Women’s Euros final. (England v Germany?)



“Immigrants are more likely to be seen as unique individuals with their own thoughts and intentions, rather than assuming they all share the same group beliefs, when the media describes them with language about their mental states.”

Fascinating research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience on how language in the media shapes public views of immigration.

READ MORE

The Liftable Quote Club

Send in any you spot and I’ll try and include one each week. This line was in an FT article about the state of the Australian airline sector:

“Tim Davie and his team are heading towards unavoidable financial choices – do they change the licence fee model, cut costs or find some other way of making money? In reality, they are looking at all three.”

Guardian Media Editor Michael Savage on the existential threat facing the BBC.

READ MORE

Except of course Morning Live hasn’t been axed – it’s just off air for six weeks over summer, like it is every year.

But for publisher Reach, it’s another cynical opportunity for clickbait, spewed across its brands. As Martin Lewis put it recently, it’s “a swamp of muck and crap.”

News In Brief

Nick Robinson and Fiona Bruce (£415k each) are now the highest-paid journalists at the BBC after the departure of Huw Edwards.

The BBC annual report for 2024/25 also reveals:

• Laura Kuenssberg earns between £395,000 and £399,999
• Justin Webb earns between £365,000 and £369,999
• Chris Mason earns between £270,000 and £274,999

READ MORE

____

Dip back into Year Of The Expert…

Footnotes:

On this day: Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon on this day in 1969.

Monday weather: Grimsby – 19 degrees with light rain. Halifax – 21 degrees.

Mutts: Leo living his best life…

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done, please let us know.

Have a great week. Back next Monday with one more before the summer break.

All at Inside Edge

Edition 503

Good morning, it’s Monday 14th July

Kicking off this week with a newsroom flashback…

Stories scheduled for the next seven days:

Today: Abuse redress measure considered at Church of England General Synod.

Donald Trump to make ‘major announcement’ on Russia.

Tuesday: Rachel Reeves delivers Mansion House speech.

Sentencing for pair guilty over Sycamore Gap tree felling.

Wednesday:  UK inflation data.

Thursday: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visits London to sign a bilateral cooperation treaty.

UK employment and wage statistics; 

Friday: BBC Proms begins.

Saturday: National March for Palestine demonstration in London following Palestine Action proscription.

Sunday: Final round of The Open.

Elections in Japan’s upper house.

Shark Week begins. 

“I haven’t got an answer to the existential crisis facing journalism in this country…I just know it’s an existential crisis.”

Martin Lewis

Fascinating interview with Martin Lewis in Londoncentric on how the incentives to chase online clicks at all costs are destroying public trust in local papers.

READ MORE

“I encourage all commentators to engage their brains before they open their mouths, as they may otherwise land themselves and their organisations in hot water”

Justice Christopher Beale

Australian radio show The Kyle and Jackie O Show sails close to the wind. As a radio nerd I listen to their output quite a bit – it’s brilliantly original and I’m constantly left open-mouthed at what they can get away with. But even by their standards, on-air comments about the Erin Patterson mushroom poisoning trial make an appointment with an unimpressed judge almost inevitable. 

READ MORE

News In Brief

Former BBC News chief James Harding will deliver the annual Edinburgh TV Festival MacTaggart lecture. He’s the founder of Tortoise Media and now editor-in-chief of The Observer.

READ MORE

____

Dip back into Year Of The Expert…

Footnotes:

Recommendations: Let’s try something new. What did you read, watch or listen to last week you think readers might find interesting? (I’ll kick off with the 3-part Live Aid doc on the BBC IPlayer. Loved it.)

On this day: About 500 people were involved in scuffles as Parisians celebrated the bicentenary of the French Revolution on this day in 1989.

Monday weather: Canterbury – 26 and sunny. Glasgow – 20 with the chance of thundery showers.

Mutts: 2018…

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 week.

All at Inside Edge

Edition 502

Good morning, it’s Monday 7th July

Kicking off this week with a brilliant example of the power of specifics…

Stories scheduled for the next seven days:

Today: St Paul’s service to mark the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings.

Donald Trump hosts Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Tuesday: Emmanuel Macron begins three-day state visit to the UK with address to Parliament and State Banquet.

Post Office Horizon inquiry publishes volume one report.

Wednesday: MPs vote on watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments Bill.

England and Wales play at Women’s Euros.

Thursday: ECHR Grand Chamber ruling in Caster Semenya sporting regulations case.

Friday: UK monthly GDP estimate.

Church of England General Synod begins;

Saturday: Wimbledon Finals weekend.

Sunday: England play Wales at Women’s Euros.

FIFA Club World Cup final.

“He was on the ground at Suez in 1956, covered wars in the Middle East and Vietnam, and was jailed by Idi Amin. If he had the air of a man who had seen conflict and lived to tell the tale, there was good reason for it.”

Foreign Correspondent and News at Ten anchor Sandy Gall has died at the age of 97. “His was a great life, generously and courageously lived,” said his family in announcing his death, and it’s hard to disagree. 

Pick of the obits:

Guardian

Times

Another week, another BBC crisis. (We all know the playbook by now…)

Step 1) A mistake is made.

Step 2) The Mail, Telegraph et al whip it into “a very big deal”

Step 3) Phone-it-in-outrage is commissioned from the usual suspects to feed the story

Step 4) Abject crisis management from BBC comms makes the situation worse

And lo, here we all are. A (by all accounts) pretty decent DG hanging onto his job.

“Right now, he (Tim Davie) is central to the BBC’s survival. The futures of the licence fee, World Service funding and public service media in general are under threat. There is no plausible successor to take up the BBC’s poisoned chalice.”

Good stuff from Roger Bolton on (what nobody should be calling) Glastogate.

READ MORE

July’s pick of the Year Of The Expert audio diaries are now on the website. For this month we’ve picked out chapters on introverts on air and email pitches to journalists.

Well worth dipping your toe back in…

Source: Reuters Institute

READ MORE

Footnotes:

On this day: A series of bomb attacks on London’s transport network killed 52 and injured over 800 exactly 20 years ago.

Monday weather: Durham – 18 and cloudy. Truro – 17 and sunny.

Mutts: Hairy idiots…

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 week.

All at Inside Edge