👋 Hello from the team at Press Gazette on Tuesday, 10 November.
👀 The Guardian has published details of a joint investigation into David Walliams with ITV News. A one-hour documentary titled David Walliams: Power and Silence has already been released on Youtube and is due to air on ITV1 tonight.
The publication of allegations by the two news organisations follow a lengthy legal battle with the comedian and children’s author.
🗞️ Press Gazette today publishes an exclusive take on the decline of local news agencies in the UK.
In the 1980s there were hundreds of local outfits covering every major city in the UK, as well as all the crown courts, and providing boots on the ground for national news outlets.
Today there appears to be only around 20 left.
The reason for this is connected to the economics of filling news pages, which are in turn a reflection of advertising revenue and copy sales. National newspapers previously paid good money for every ‘page lead’ story because each printed page was worth tens of thousands in revenue.
Sadly, the online ecosystem does not provide the same incentives for newsgathering.
Some agencies, notably SWNS, have managed to survive and even thrive by reimagining their business model and diversifying into popular online video formats, while also embracing marketing services and PR.
The world’s online gatekeeper is a law unto itself when it decides what news sites should show up in search and which should not.
It appears to be favouring a greater diversity of sources, which means some established brands like the BBC and The Guardian have seen a big fall in their prominence on Google search results pages.
Substack was one of the biggest winners when it comes to visibility on Google (albeit from a low base).
👋 And we caught up with Phil O’Brien to find out how he plans to take local news business strategies honed in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, to Southport in England.
O’Brien is heading up Stand Up For Southport, a site which has received a potentially transformative grant of £122,800 from the UK Government as part of the £12m Local News Fund initiative.
O’Brien has received a further £268,695 from the DCMS to develop an AI-powered system to collect, organise and archive local knowledge to help publishers.
This week’s Foresight News diary includes Russia-Ukraine peace talks, the COP31 climate summit and the King’s 78th birthday. (Press Gazette)
Prince Harry, Doreen Lawrence, Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley are among those launching a legal challenge against a judge’s verdict in their unsuccessful claims against the Daily Mail’s publisher Associated Newspapers. (The Guardian)
Columnist Karen Attiah, who says she was wrongfully fired over social media posts about Charlie Kirk’s death, has said she will not return to The Washington Post despite an arbitrator ordering her reinstatement with full back pay. (AP News)
The Daily Mail has apologised and agreed to pay damages to former Fame Academy judge David Grant after mistakenly publishing his photo in an article about former BBC dance coach Kevin Adams. The publisher said it was a result of a Getty Images captioning error. Both men are black. (Daily Mail)
Tanya Fowles, local democracy reporter for The Impartial Reporter, is challenging three lifetime anonymity orders following the ruling that a person’s stated intention to take their own life should not prevent them from being named. (Hold the Front Page)
Trust in US national news organisations has risen six percentage points to 62% in the past year, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Local news is more trusted, at 75% (up five points), while trust in social media information is unchanged at 38%. (Digital Content Next)
Skydance has outlined plans for $6bn in cost savings following its Warner Bros Discovery acquisition, according to its Q3 statement. The deal has left the company with $87bn in gross debt and around $10bn in cash. (Skydance Shareholder Letter)
A group of CNN veterans have reportedly opted to take voluntary buyouts as part of an offer driven by the acquisition. (Variety)
Wake Up Productions saw revenue fall by £11.6m after founder Piers Morgan’s News UK exit.
Defence barrister swore at Sunday Times reporter outside the courtroom.
Subscription and display advertising revenues grew in Q2 2026.
Manchester Evening News editor Sarah Lester warns that local journalism could be lost forever.
Funding of £6m distributed to 50 publishers and seven industry projects.
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford and UK editor Charlotte Tobitt discuss why major cuts are coming at Metro as it seeks to get “back on a sustainable footing”, and the rise of creator journalists like Marina Hyde who has left The Guardian for her own Substack brand.
Journalist Rob Waugh also joins to discuss his reporting on tech journalism brand Quartz, where the website is now mostly filled by one hugely prolific journalist heavily aided by AI.
