Edition 541

Good morning. It’s Monday 13th July.

Blame the heat, but I’m feeling increasingly irritated at so-called media training tips people tell me they’ve been told over the years which I believe to be terrible advice.

For instance…

Or:

“Always name-check the presenter in interviews”

No. Just… no. It’s one of those bits of media training folklore that’s been passed around for years, despite there being no evidence it achieves anything.

The audience already knows who the presenter is. They don’t need reminding every 30 seconds. If anything, it can make the interview sound like a private chat between two media people rather than a conversation with the listener.

And then there’s live broadcasting. Breaking news happens. The presenter changes at the last minute. The programme is reshuffled. You open confidently with, “Well, Ben…” The person on the other end says, “It’s John.”


Not ideal.


Or worse, you’ve accidentally called them by the name of the colleague they’ve spent the last 15 years sharing a 4am alarm with, quietly competing against for airtime, and privately complaining about in the green room. So you’ve managed to irritate the presenter before you’ve even answered the first question.

With the heatwave due to continue all week my plan is to return grumpily to more of these next Monday.

What did The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar mean by this?

This explainer from Media Editor Michael Savage exposes the dark arts routinely deployed by newspaper editors and political parties…

The Newsgathering Diary takes a week off as I’m writing this particular edition well ahead of time. 
Normal service resumes next Monday.

Apologies.

The Sky/ITV Merger:

“Sky’s proposed transaction will ensure that Sky News and ITV News remain editorially independent, continue to serve the UK with distinct editorial voices, and give everyone the robust and regional choices they deserve. We’ll remain free to air, and we’ll commit ourselves to making the best global, national and regional news accessible to the broadest digital audiences – through the technology investments our company has committed to our newsroom today and well into the future.”

David Rhodes

Executive Chairman, Sky News Group

The Rest Is Entertainment team do a good segment on the implications of the merger towards the end of their Taylor/Travis episode.

Footnotes:

On This Day… Ruth Ellis – now posthumously pardoned – was hanged at Holloway Prison on this day in 1955.

Our Week: Again, Brighton and London this week.

Photo of the week: (h/t Andy Mc)

The Mutt Photo:

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 on Monday. Have a brilliant week.



All at Inside Edge

Edition 540

Good morning. It’s Monday 6th July. (You are over halfway through the year.)

And to those who have just pulled an all-nighter to see England finally put in a proper shift to beat Mexico, the very best of luck getting through today. (Perhaps avoid operating any heavy machinery…)

Ben emailed: “Quick question. Were you as obsessed with weather-related stories as a producer as you clearly are now?”


A little pointed, but I get the message. Final thoughts and then I promise to move on to something else: 

1) The results of last week’s You The Editor vote: 
44% of you would have led on Burnham, 36% on weather, and (a clearly weary) 20% of you voted for something else. 


2) I remain genuinely interested in how the media are/should be covering these increasing heatwaves. For instance take this photo in The Times:

As Rachael Orr, CEO at Climate Outreach points out:

“We need new photos of heatwaves. Those that tell the real story.”

Thoughts on this welcome. (Apart from you Ben…)

Newsgathering Diary
Stories to look out for over the next seven days…

Monday: Funeral ceremony in Tehran for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tuesday: NATO leaders gather in Turkey for two-day summit.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle begin UK visit; (tbc).


Wednesday: World Economic Outlook update released.


Thursday: Labour Party leadership nominations open.

David Lammy at Chatham House London conference;.


Friday: England face India in first women’s test match at Lords.


Saturday & Sunday: Wimbledon finals, 

Men’s World Cup quarter-finals. England take on Norway at 10pm on Saturday.

Facebook has overtaken the BBC as the single most consumed news source in Britain, and no newspaper made the top ten most popular news sources according to a new report from Charlesbye Strategy,

“If you are only fighting for space on the Today programme and the front pages, you are talking to a shrinking and ageing audience, and that is why adapting is essential,”
Lee Cain, Boris Johnson’s former director of comms. 

“Social media gives you a brilliant opportunity to reach the public directly, but some of your key stakeholders: your cabinet, your ministers, your MPs, your councillors, your party members – still get their news from more traditional sources, So you’ve got to do both.” 
James Lyons, Keir Starmer’s former director of comms.

This from Mic Wright on Burnham’s pitch to the nation last week is on the money:


As Politicio’s London Playbook email the next morning pointed out: 


“The row over pay is yet another sign of the tightrope Brittin has to walk, as it coincides with the cuts plans and talks with the government over the future of the BBC’s funding.”

Numerous contacts tell me of increasing talk of strike action amongst BBC staff.

Here’s the Guardian write-up.

Two notable moves from the US Supreme Court last week with implications for journalists and press freedom.


1) The court halted an order that would have forced a former Fox News reporter to disclose her source or pay $800 a day in court sanctions.


2) The court declined to take up the case of Alan Dershowitz, who claims CNN defamed him while covering remarks he made defending President Donald Trump during his 2020 impeachment.

Footnotes:

On This Day… After nearly a century of service the tram made its final appearance in London on this day in 1952.

Our Week: We’re working in Brighton and London this week.

The Mutt Photo:

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 on Monday. Have a brilliant week.



All at Inside Edge

Edition 539

Good morning. It’s Monday 29th June.

A flashmob You The Editor to kick-off this week. Think back to last Tuesday, the morning after seismic changes to the political landscape, with fresh rumblings over possible contenders considering a run against Burnham. It is also the first day of an intense 72 hour heatwave, record-breaking in many parts of the country.

You are in charge of BBC Breakfast. It is 8am.

I’ll share their lead next week. Related:

“The UK public are frequently not well served with clear information about the scientifically indisputable connection between greenhouse gas emissions and extreme heat.” 


A group of leading climate scientists have written to broadcast editors to express concern about recent UK heatwave coverage.

“Always be prepared”

We’ve been asking for the single tip readers would pass on to anyone preparing for media engagement. Here’s your second set:

“Prepare well in advance, decide on your top line and make it interesting with examples.”

“Anticipate the challenging questions and implications of your research. Always be prepared and know your audience.”

“Remember who your audience is, be enthusiastic and be yourself. Make it personal…it is a structured conversation not an interrogation.”

“Take control of your interview. They need you, not the other way round.”

“Preparation! Gather stats, examples, human interest stories. Aim yourself with a repertoire of Wow!” 

“The three C’s to media success- confidence, control and colour.” 

“Have a sentence in mind that encapsulates your message and develop your thoughts from there.”

“Take a deep breath before each answer. That pause is essential. Be engaged, excited and use interesting examples.” 

“Avoid lists! It’s too easy to forget to mention item two and three.”


“In one word, preparation. Think how your work relates to the news of the day to pre-empt questions.”

“A midnight news bulletin on Radio 4, which costs very little, is about as close to a core offering as you can get – and yet it will disappear.”

A friend at the Beeb is fond of describing former Head of TV News Roger Mosey as “everyone’s favourite armchair general” but he makes some good points in this Substack for the Media Society. 

“It truly is time for everyone of goodwill to put their energy into finding solutions that will reinvigorate the BBC, and not doom it to decline and irrelevance.”


Speaking of those BBC job cuts…

Newsgathering Diary
Stories to look out for over the next seven days…

Timing tbc: Andy Burnham is expected to set out his economic vision in an address to the City of London.


Monday: Wimbledon begins.

Tuesday: Amos review of national NHS maternity services published.


Wednesday: Energy price cap changes take effect.


Thursday: Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver addresses Festival of Education.


Friday: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding celebrations expected to begin in New York.


Saturday: Donald Trump holds rally at USA 250th Independence Day event in Washington DC.

Sunday: Women’s T20 World Cup final.

Footnotes:

On This Day… American and Russian spacecrafts successfully docked in orbit for the first time in 20 years on this day in 1995. 

Our Week: We’re working in Manchester, Brighton and London.

The Mutt Photo:

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 on Monday. Have a brilliant week.



All at Inside Edge

Edition 538

Trust in news is at a record low since 2015. Social media and video platforms have surpassed traditional news sources. AI chatbots continue to rise. 

Three newslines from the 2026 Reuters Institute Digital News Report.

Good morning. It’s Monday 22nd June.

Here’s the opening paragraph of this year’s report, released last week:

There is an enormous amount of info to absorb, and I’ll dip into the report over the next couple of weeks. For now I’d recommend specific sections on the changing landscape of news video, why TV radio and print are losing their news audiences, and the emergence of AI Chatbots.

Some top lines from the executive summary:

Globally social media and video networks are for the first time the single most widely used way of accessing online news, ahead of news organisations’ own websites and apps.

The use of AI chatbots for news is growing quickly but not as quickly as AI use for other purposes.

77% of people globally consume online news video each week.

Trust in news has fallen in 29 of our 48 markets this year, resulting in a drop to the lowest level recorded since we started to measure trust in 2015.

Read the report.

Bleak Times

The reality of the scale of cuts at BBC News is becoming clear: 

BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight is to be axed after more than 50 years.

Also going: Money Box Live, AntiSocial, The Law Show and Crossing Continents.

Amol Rajan will not be replaced on Today, meaning the main presenting roster will be reduced to four.

The Sunday morning edition of BBC Breakfast will be scrapped from September. 

The production teams for Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and Newsnight will be merged.


The News channel will be made more international in focus, building on its growing and potentially lucrative global audience.

And this is just the start I’m afraid. The closure of other programmes across the BBC will be announced in the coming weeks.

“Year Of The Expert” Revisisted

We’ve posted a new set of episodes from our Year Of The Expert series. 
Well worth a listen…

Newsgathering Diary
Stories to look out for over the next seven days…

Monday: Andy Burnham, Lara Bird and Douglas Lumsden expected to be sworn in as MPs following by-election victories.


Tuesday: 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum.

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell sentenced on embezzlement charges.


Wednesday: Nottingham NHS maternity review published.


Thursday: Chancellor’s summer VAT reduction scheme begins.


Friday: BMA ballot of resident doctors over pay offer closes.


Saturday: England play final World Cup group stage match against Panama.

Footnotes:

On This Day in 1981… Mark Chapman changed his plea to guilty and admitted murdering John Lennon in December the previous year.

Our Week: We’re working in Brighton, London and Norwich

The Mutt Photo:

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 on Monday. Have a brilliant week.



All at Inside Edge