Good morning. It’s Monday 19th May. (Happy Birthday mum)

Stories scheduled for the next seven days:

Today: Keir Starmer hosts EU-UK Summit in London before expected address at PLP meeting.

Tuesday: G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meet. 

Chelsea Flower Show opens.

Wednesday: Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur contest UEFA Europa League final.

Kermit the Frog delivers University of Maryland commencement address. (Jim Henson’s alma mater.)

Thursday: Statistics on immigration and international migration.

Matt Hancock and Patrick Vallance give evidence at the Covid-19 inquiry.

Friday: Retail sales figures.

Sotheby’s auctions Shakespeare’s Four Folios.

Saturday: Arsenal face Barcelona in final UEFA Women’s Champions League final

Sunday: Pope Leo XIV installed as Bishop of Rome.

Gary Lineker hosts final episode of Match of the Day after Premier League season ends.

“Things Learnt (Then Forgotten)” – Week 17.

Academic phrases, Presidential burgers, and IKEA mattresses…

“While we’ve got you Minister…”

How to survive the Morning Round is a lovely listen from Politico’s Westminster Insider podcast series, with some great insights and archive.

Politicians talk about how they prepare for, and endure over 3 hours of breakfast radio and TV…

“Once the media know that you have a reputation for not doing your homework they will absolutely pummel you for it.” Grant Shapps

“There’s genuinely times when you do an interview and your mind just goes blank because if you’re starting at 6am you’ve been up since 4:30.” Jonathan Ashworth

And Journalists reflect on what they want…

“Without being too pompous about it…I think the breakfast round sets the agenda for the day. I think if it wasn’t there I’m not quite sure where the fingerprint or the texture of that day’s political reporting would come from.” Richard Madeley

LISTEN HERE (or on the usual platforms)

News In Brief:

Foreign states will be limited to owning up to 15 percent of British newspapers and magazines under new laws being confirmed by Lisa Nandy.

__

Newsnight changes: Victoria Derbyshire will present on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Paddy O’Connell hosts on Thursday with Matt Chorley given the Friday night slot.

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President Trump spoke to journalists more in the first 100 days of his second term than any other President in history according to the Sunday Times.

Imagine the hangovers…

Two of the biggest events in radio happened on the same day last week:

Prizes!!!

The ARIAS:

Station of the Year: BBC Radio 3

Local Station of the Year: Forth One

Audio Brand of the Year: Goalhanger

Ratings!!!

RAJAR Q1:

Speech stations have done well across the board – given a febrile news agenda this is either surprising or unsurprising, based on your capacity for global uncertainty. 

Reach and hours are all up at Radio 4, 5Live and Times Radio. 

LBC numbers are down slightly.

Footnotes:

On this day: Labour announced the sponsorship of sports events by tobacco firms was to be outlawed on this day in 1997.

Monday weather: Hull – 17 degrees and partly sunny. Penzance – 18 degrees and sunny.

Mutts: The boys on Poppit Sands in Pembrokeshire last week…

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

Good morning. It’s Monday 12th May.

A truncated briefing this week – normal service resumes from the 19th.

“Things Learnt (Then Forgotten)” – Week 16.

How To Interview The President…

For “delivering piercing commentary on powerful people and institutions with deftness, creativity – and a fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organisation after 17 years.”

Ann Telnaes, a cartoonist for The Washington Post who quit after editors killed this sketch criticising the Post owner and other media execs has now won the Pulitzer Prize for illustrated reporting and commentary.

News In Brief

Nick Robinson’s Political Thinking podcast is to be broadcast regularly on BBC Two at Friday lunchtimes:

“What the BBC is trying to do, and I hope Political Thinking does, is to say we can learn from the fact that we’re in a competitive market in which politicians don’t have to appear – that they have stories to tell, but we’re not partisan, and we’re not creeps, and we will ask proper questions.”

Guardian interview with Robinson: READ MORE

Channel 4 Chief Exec Alex Mahon is stepping down after 8 years.

READ MORE

Thanks to those who have got in touch about their experiences of appearing on podcasts for our new course component – The New Media Landscape.

We’re still keen to gather more insights. Please do get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

Footnotes:

On this day: The Labour leader John Smith died on this day in 1994.

Weather: 24 and sunny in Crete, which is where I’ll be when you read this.

Mutts: Leo very much on-brand…

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

Have a super week.

All at Inside Edge

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.

READ MORE

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…)

READ MORE

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…

READ MORE

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

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.

READ MORE

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…)

READ MORE

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…

READ MORE

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