The Guardian·2026-03-06
German twist in the Telegraph tale shatters Lord Rothermere’s dreamsAfter three years, a series of failed bids stretching from the US to Abu Dhabi, internal rebellions and even changes in the law, it should be no surprise that the tortured sale of the Telegraph has delivered another spectacular twist with a blockbuster offer from the media giant Axel Springer. It has torpedoed the long-held dreams of the Daily Mail proprietor, Lord Rothermere, to secure the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph and begin the next chapter of his family’s love affair with the British press. It will also put the newspaper, often referred to as “the Torygraph” because of its influence within the British Conservative party, in the hands of a German publishing powerhouse. Rothermere had made no secret of his desperation to purchase the Telegraph and had worked with banks to raise
The Guardian·2026-03-06
Ardan Fisher obituaryMy friend Ardan Fisher, who has died aged 79, was a film editor for the BBC during its creative heyday. While working in the music and arts department he edited documentaries such as The Orson Welles Story (1982) and Artists and Models (1986), working alongside BBC stalwarts including Alan Yentob and Leslie Megahey. He then moved into television drama and film after winning a Bafta award for the thriller Edge of Darkness (1985). Ardan was born in Cambridge to Bryan, bursar of the Bath Academy of Art and his wife, Irene (nee Jefferies), a teacher. He grew up in Corsham in Wiltshire, where his parents moved into a big house on the high street and transformed the spare bedrooms into lodgings for art students. As a result, he was surrounded by unconventional, inquiring minds – and gained a wor
The Guardian·2026-03-06
Paul Keating savages Nine on anniversary of ‘irresponsible prediction’ Australia faced looming China warPaul Keating has again accused the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age of misleading the public with their “irresponsible prediction” three years ago of a Chinese attack on Australia. The former prime minister took the opportunity of the third anniversary of Nine newspapers’ Red Alert series to repeat his disdain for the reporting and its primary author, international editor Peter Hartcher. On 7 March 2023, the SMH and the Age published an alarming front page warning about the threat of “war with China within three years” by a panel of five national security experts. Sign up: AU Breaking News email “The overwhelming source of danger to Australia is from China,” the report said. “The nature of the threat extends to the prospect of a full-scale war – and Australia would have to be involved. “W
The Guardian·2026-03-06
‘You unbelievable coward’: conservative US media in open warfare over IranThe stars of the conservative media movement have been duking it out – in extremely personal terms – over Donald Trump’s decision to enter the United States into a conflict with Iran. While it can be hard to cleanly group the warring factions, much of the fighting has centered on disagreements about whether the US is too deferential to Israeli interests. Those arguing that position most prominently include former Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, while conservative media personalities like Mark Levin (a current Fox News host) and Ben Shapiro have strongly supported both the American intervention in Iran and collaboration with Israel. “There are the classic neocons, there is the populist right, and there are the anti-anti neocons,” said Curt Mills, executive director of the Ame
The Guardian·2026-03-06
Jackie O says she ‘did not quit or resign’ from hit radio show after on-air bust with Kyle SandilandsJackie ‘O’ Henderson has broken her silence to say she did “not quit or resign” from the Kyle and Jackie O Show, and she is “deeply saddened” the hit breakfast radio show may come to an end. “I am deeply saddened by the events of the past week and the possibility of the show ending,” she said. “This has come as a shock to me, as it has to everyone else.” Her statement appears to contradict the explanation given earlier this week by the broadcaster’s parent company, the Australian Radio Network, which said Henderson had “given notice that she ‘cannot continue to work with Mr Kyle Sandilands’” and her contract had been terminated. ARN told the ASX on Tuesday the Kyle and Jackie O Show had been taken off the air and Kyle Sandilands had been accused of “serious misconduct”. “ARN has terminated
The Guardian·2026-03-06
Telegraph sold for £575m as German buyer elbows out Daily MailThe European media group Axel Springer is to acquire the Telegraph after tabling a £575m deal that has scuppered a rival deal from the owner of the Daily Mail. Axel Springer, which owns Europe’s biggest newspaper, Bild, and the daily Die Welt, has agreed an all-cash deal for Telegraph Media Group (TMG), the owner of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph. Mathias Döpfner, the longstanding chief executive of Axel Springer, has made no secret of his desire to acquire assets after striking a deal with the private equity group KKR to take the media empire private two years ago. The takeover tabled by Axel Springer, which owns Politico and Business Insider, is a significant premium to the £500m deal from Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) agreed in November. Döpfner was trumped by
Adweek·2026-03-05
The X’s and O’s of Advertising During the Big GameIndustry leaders talk about why the Super Bowl is still the ultimate advertising stage, even though strategies are changing.
Adweek·2026-03-05
Week of Feb. 23 Cable News Ratings: Viewers Turn to Cable During Iran WarAll three networks had over a million total viewers during primetime.
Adweek·2026-03-05
ADWEEK Commerce Advantage: Amazon and Walmart at the Top, While the Rest Battle for ScrapsThe bigger are getting bigger in advertising and technology.
Digiday·2026-03-05
How brands are measuring value across the entire customer journeyAdvertisers face a challenge: while brand building is essential for growth, measuring its impact remains frustratingly elusive. According to Boston Consulting Group, 46% of B2C marketing leaders are balancing their efforts between short-term revenue and long-term growth. And while brand advertising drives sales, the gap between an upper-funnel awareness campaign and final purchase makes accurate m
Digiday·2026-03-05
Pitch deck: How ChatGPT ads are being sold to Criteo advertisersOpenAI and its first ad tech partner Criteo are framing their pitch around conversational advertising — a format that’s long been promised but rarely delivered at scale. The pitch is landing in clients inboxes just days after Criteo announced it would give its advertisers direct access to ChatGPT inventory through its platform. And true to the pattern of the past month, OpenAI isn’t doing the sell
Digiday·2026-03-05
Yahoo pauses IAB membership amid a series of quiet cost-saving measuresWhile Yahoo is a far cry from its peak during the dot-com bubble, its audience size, brand value, and underlying technology continue to attract advertiser interest. However, that legacy is valued by some more than others (apparently), with sources telling Digiday that recent maneuverings point to a shift in priorities – particularly as its private equity owners are linked to separate ad tech inves
Digiday·2026-03-05
Target looks to e-commerce, advertising investments to help grow the businessThis story was originally published on sister site, Modern Retail. Technology is one of the most important areas Target will invest in with the hopes of returning to profit growth. The company expects rapid growth in its retail media network, Roundel, and its Target+ marketplace, which will help increase its operating income margin rate. Target CFO Jim Lee said this measure of profitability has th
Adweek·2026-03-05
Exclusive: Beehiiv Taps Former Calendly Exec as Its First CMODarren Chait, who built and sold Hugo to Calendly, joins the newsletter platform as it eyes $50M in revenue and a broader identity.
Nieman Lab·2026-03-05
With Washington Post Local diminished, other news sites step up their D.C. coverageWhat was widely recognized as a national tragedy was also a local one. When leadership at The Washington Post laid off more than 300 journalists last month , Post Local was among the hardest-hit sections. Successive rounds of cuts had already shrunk the section down to around 40 reporters and editors. (In the early 2000s, the metro department had around 200 journalists .) But the latest layoffs le
Nieman Lab·2026-03-05
It’s time for local news funders to pick winners, scale up, and force mergers, a new report arguesLast summer, Press Forward made almost $23 million in grants to 22 organizations aimed at bolstering the infrastructure for local news . The grants were the culmination of a request for proposals process that began accepting applications in November 2024, and elicited 559 proposals. Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, with support from Arnold Ventures (disclosure: an occasional consulting client of mine), w
Adweek·2026-03-04
Havas Bets on AI Veteran Sharona Sankar-King to Lead Proprietary Tech PushHavas Media Network North America has hired data and AI veteran Sharona Sankar-King as chief data and product officer to lead its Converged.AI platform.
Adweek·2026-03-04
Ad Agencies Are Embracing ‘Vibe Coding’ to Build GEO Products for ClientsFrom two-hour builds to full SaaS platforms, agencies are using Anthropic's Claude to create custom tools that track how brands show up in AI-generated answers.
Adweek·2026-03-04
Netflix Taps Amazon’s Shopping Data to Sharpen Ad TargetingThe move pairs Amazon’s shopping signals with Netflix’s new Conversion API as the streamer courts performance budgets.
Adweek·2026-03-04
A+E Turns Brands Into Lifetime Movies as It Looks to Compete in Upfront PitchA+E Global Media announces new content and brand creative studio.
Digiday·2026-03-04
Why one brand reimbursed $10,000 to customers who paid its ‘Trump Tariff Surcharge’ last yearThis story was originally published on sister site, Modern Retail. Dame is refunding customers who paid its “Trump Tariff Surcharge” last year, becoming one of the first brands to proactively return money tied to President Donald Trump’s now-invalidated tariffs. The sexual wellness company began adding a visible $5 line-item fee at checkout in 2025 as the Trump administration’s trade war pushed up
Digiday·2026-03-04
Future of TV Briefing: How Paramount’s and Warner Bros. Discovery’s ad tech stacks stack upThis week’s Future of TV Briefing breaks down Paramount’s and Warner Bros. Discovery’s ad tech stacks now that the companies seem set (finally) to combine. Streaming stacks Netflix’s exit, WBD’s town hall, CNN’s future and more Streaming stacks Paramount plans to combine its and Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming services after Paramount+’s owner completes its acquisition of HBO Max’s parent. But
Nieman Lab·2026-03-04
AI-powered search is fueling a wave of Epstein Files transparency projectsThe Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) requires that the millions of documents collected by the Department of Justice (DOJ) about Jeffrey Epstein be shared with the public in a searchable and downloadable format. In practice, though, the searchability of the DOJ releases has been crude at best. Keywords may turn up individual links to PDFs, but users have reported major search malfunctions and
Nieman Lab·2026-03-04
Traffic to top tech publications has plummeted since 2024, new analysis showsOrganic search traffic to some of the internet’s most-read tech publications has dropped by 58% since 2024, according to a new analysis from the SEO and GEO marketing firm Growtika . The report pulled U.S. organic traffic estimates using Ahrefs for ten major English-language tech publications, including Wired, CNET, Mashable, The Verge, and PC Mag. Growtika then compared each publication’s peak tr
Digiday·2026-03-04
How creator talent agencies are evolving into multi-platform operatorsThe legacy agency model, long overdue for a reckoning, is finally being rebuilt from the ground up — with creators at the center. The old agency model — brokering deals, manually sourcing talent and running slow, service-heavy operations that treated creators like traditional talent — came of age in a fragmented market. But that model is giving way to something faster, more scalable, and built aro
Digiday·2026-03-04
‘The conversation has shifted’: The CFO moved upstream. Now agencies have to as wellCFOs are demanding more from marketing — and not in the usual way. The familiar playbook of squeezing costs and investing in performance spend is still in motion, driven by an uncertain economy and an unpredictable geopolitical backdrop. But CFOs now are asking harder questions driven by a better grasp of how marketing actually works, and a sharper instinct for where it doesn t. For example, Vayne
Nieman Lab·2026-03-03
Newsonomics: Will national news shrink even faster than local news did?Anderson Cooper may be running out of lily pads. Just two weeks ago, he announced his decision to leave CBS’s 60 Minutes, after almost 20 years of multitasking. Over time, he arrived at the pinnacle of the TV news profession as a CNN anchor, growing his gravitas as a cascade of crises consumed our world while contributing to the most storied newsmagazine of the entire TV era. He’d seen enough of t
Nieman Lab·2026-03-03
X will demonetize users who post AI-generated videos of war (but not other kinds of disinformation)On Tuesday Nikita Bier , head of product at X, announced that users who post AI-generated videos of an armed conflict without disclosing they were AI-generated will suspended from the site s revenue-sharing program for 90 days, with repeated offenses leading to a permanent suspension from the program: Today we are revising our Creator Revenue Sharing policies to maintain authenticity of content on
Nieman Lab·2026-03-02
New York Times runs in-house ad asking listeners to “support any news organization dedicated to original reporting”The New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger has voiced a new ad encouraging listeners to support any news organization dedicated to original reporting — even if it s not the Times. It s Sulzberger s first-ever advertisement, the Times confirmed, and it ran for the first time on Monday. A New York Times spokesperson said the publisher wanted to call attention to the shrinking of the news industry.
