Media Confidential Prospect Magazine

This week Alan and Lionel follow the latest twists and turns at the Washington Post. The noisy departure of Sally Buzbee, the paper’s former executive editor, continues to reverberate around the media world, following Buzbee’s bust-up with Will Lewis, the Post’s publisher and chief executive, over an article that she approved about a phone hacking lawsuit connected to Lewis.
 
Lewis was mentioned in Prospect reporting that broke new revelations about the phone hacking scandal—but it was only when drama ensued at the Post, one of the great American media institutions, that the story began to make headlines. On this week’s episode, editor-in-chief of Semafor, Ben Smith, explains how the US publishing industry reacts when under fire.
 
Meanwhile Joanna Coles of the Daily Beast, another of the British journalists staking her claim in the United States, discusses whether British or American journalists are more used to newsroom showdowns. With all eyes on the Post, what will the ultimate fallout be?

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Media circles across the pond are abuzz with the news that Robert Winnett is heading to the USA to take up the job as editor at The Washington Post, but not until after the US election. He’s the latest appointment by publisher Will Lewis following the sudden departure of Sally Buzbee. Winnett joins a handful of British journalists who have moved to America, including Emma Tucker, the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Mark Thompson, CEO of CNN, and Joanna Coles, chief creative and content officer at The Daily Beast. Is this the beginning of a British invasion of the American media?
 
Alan and Lionel are joined by NPR’s media correspondent, David Folkenflik, who reflects on the rapid changes at the Washington Post. He observes that becoming editor at this stage of an election year would be like “learning to kayak in a tsunami”. Alan and Lionel are also joined by Peter Foster, public policy editor at the Financial Times, who has known Robert for many years. Peter explains how he thinks Rob’s qualities as an editor will lead him to a successful tenure at the Post.

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Kara Swisher—maverick, rock star and tech guru—has interviewed some of the highest profile and biggest personalities on the planet, from Mark Zuckerberg to Barack Obama, Rupert Murdoch and Kim Kardashian. Joining Alan and Lionel on the podcast this week, Kara unpicks the relationship between big tech and the media. Big tech, she says, have no interest in the “greater good”. They wanted to make money, regardless of how that would impact the media companies, and media companies quickly got left behind.
 
With no existing legislation in the USA to keep big tech in check, the balance of power has swung far in their direction. And while Kara argues that big tech firms should be held responsible for what is published on their platforms, she warns that they are acting almost with impunity. Meeting at the Truth Tellers Summit, held in memory of Sir Harry Evans, she explains exactly what she would like to happen.
 
Also, Alan and Lionel reflect on previous general elections they have covered as they begin to watch the media coverage of the current campaign.

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GB News has repeatedly breached broadcasting regulations, been accused of political bias and featured anti-vax stories—but it got away with such misdemeanors until Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared on a show called “The People’s Forum”, in which he was able to outline key Conservative messages, largely unchallenged.
 
Ahead of the general election on 4th July, this finally grabbed the attention of Ofcom. But what took the regulator so long? And what sort of sanctions can the channel—many of whose MP presenters will now be unable to host during the election campaign—expect to face?
 
Professor Stewart Purvis once served as a senior executive at Ofcom, and is dismayed at the way Ofcom has allowed GB News carry on unchallenged. He talks to Lionel and Alan about the way it should be held to account for lacking impartiality.
 
Also this week: The Bristol Cable, a crowdfunded independent media organisation has been given a rare chance. The investigative newspaper is attempting to fill a gap left by the demise of traditional local newsrooms—and if they gain enough new members by September, they could secure a chunk of much-needed cash. Will they pull it off?

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No foreign journalists are allowed into Gaza, so the rest of the world relies on those living in area to relay what is happening on the ground—dedicated and determined reporters who have made sure that no-one can look away.
For months, photojournalist Motaz Azaiza and Al Jazeera reporter Youmna El Sayed were among those reporting from Gaza.
Motaz has captured some of the most brutal, honest images of the war, refusing to censor even the most harrowing of shots. His aim? To show the world what western media couldn’t.
Youmna is a journalist for Al Jazeera English in Gaza, who witnessed shocking events during her work—ones that that will never leave her. “The only thing that keeps me standing is the suffering I’m seeing,” she says.
For this week’s podcast, they join Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber in London, at the “Truth Tellers” investigative journalism summit hosted in the memory of the great newspaper editor, Sir Harry Evans.

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Investigative journalist Nick Davies returns with yet more remarkable insights and analysis about the phone-hacking scandal that engulfed Murdoch’s papers. Having trawled through documents disclosed through a host of court cases, Davies has pieced together information that suggests figures at the top of the Murdoch news empire—including potentially the man himself—knew more than we previously thought.
 
To read Nick’s stories in full, and the response from News Group Newspapers, visit the Prospect website: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/phone-hacking/65918/the-murdoch-spy-papers
 
Alan and Lionel also talk to Branko Brkic, editor-in-chief of South Africa’s Daily Maverick, about successfully holding power to account in that country and the importance of journalism in fighting for freedom and exposing corruption around the world.

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