A year is a long time in news and 2019 gave us a lot to write about, from fresh ideas to save journalism to the launch of Apple News Plus and the tragic death of a journalist on British soil.
Over 12 months titans of the news industry bowed out while others took up new challenges, news channels were ambitiously launched, a podcast became a TV show, and the royals declared war on the press.
As the climate crisis gained traction more and more publishers shunned plastic wrapping for greener alternatives. Podcast numbers grew while journalist numbers fell and yet more print titles closed.
And finally press regulator IPSO made a decision on whether photoshopping a flat cap onto a parrot was a breach of editorial guidelines.
Below are some of the biggest – and quirkiest – news media stories of 2019, as reported by Press Gazette:
January
Viewers back Fiona Bruce after ‘impressive’ Question Time debut
Fiona Bruce on the set of Question Time. Picture: BBC
Fiona Bruce presented her first episode of BBC Question Time after taking over from long-standing host David Dimbleby. Press Gazette readers voted overwhelmingly that the newsreader had “smashed” her QT debut.
Also this month:
February
Rosamund Pike as Marie Colvin in A Private War
Sunday Times war reporter Marie Colvin was immortalised on film seven years after she was killed in a rocket attack while reporting on the conflict in Syria. A Private War covers the last ten years of her life as she struggles to reconcile her desire to report on conflicts with her ability to live with the trauma of what she sees.
Also this month:
BBC axes This Week as presenter Andrew Neil ‘bows out’ from late-night politics show
Sky News Raw: What you might have missed from live behind-the-scenes newsroom broadcast
March
Apple launches news and digital magazine subscription service with more than 300 titles
Apple News Plus launch
Apple announced a major move into the newspaper and magazine subscription market with the launch of Apple News Plus, offering access to 300 titles. When it arrived in the UK later in the year, subscribers could read The Times, Sunday Times and Empire magazine.
Also this month:
The Pool pushed into liquidation two months after administration note to staff
News agency’s $11m libel action against Buzzfeed dismissed by US judge
European publishers welcome new digital copyright directive passed by EU Parliament
Britain’s top anti-terror cop attacks newspapers over ‘publishing uncensored’ extremist propaganda
John Inverdale leaves BBC Radio 5 Live after 25 years at channel he helped launch
April
Journalist Lyra McKee, 29, shot dead during Derry rioting
Lyra McKee. Picture: Excalibur Press
Lyra McKee became the first journalist to be killed on British soil in nearly 20 years after she was shot dead by paramilitary group the New IRA while reporting on rioting in Derry, Northern Ireland.
Also this month:
Belgian media group agrees €145.6m takeover of Irish news publisher INM
Fleet Street cover-up: Daily Star cans topless page three models
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange facing jail time and US extradition after London embassy arrest
Cumberland News journalists lose accuracy complaint against their own newspaper
FT reaches 1m paying readership on back of ‘strong business performance’
May
Jailed Reuters pair freed by presidential pardon after 500 days behind bars in Myanmar
Reuters reporters Wa Lone left) and Kyaw Soe Oo gesture as they walk to Insein prison gate after being freed by presidential pardon in Yangon, Myanmar, May 7, 2019. Pictures: Reuters/Ann Wang
Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were released under presidential pardon after more than a year spent in a Myanmar jail. They had been convicted of breaching the country’s colonial-era Official Secrets Act while investigating the massacre of ten Rohingya men in the country, but always maintained that they had been set up by police.
Also this month:
PA editor condemns attacks on journalists by Tommy Robinson supporters outside Old Bailey
Danny Baker labels BBC sacking over royal baby chimp tweet a ‘masterclass of pompous faux-gravity’
Guardian group meets target to break even at end of three-year financial turnaround plan
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in UK prison for skipping bail
June
BBC turning Brexit podcast into late-night TV show replacing This Week
The Brexitcast team, from left: Chris Mason, Laura Kuenssberg, Adam Fleming and Katya Adler Picture: BBC News
In a UK media first, the BBC announced it was turning its hit podcast about Brexit into a late-night TV show, filling the gap left behind by This Week. Brexitcast’s TV debut was later watched by more than 1m viewers.
Also this month:
Reuters Digital News Report 2019: People actively avoiding news because of Brexit
Northern dailies unite in front-page call for Westminster politicians to ‘power up the north’
Ofcom boss Sharon White says role was ‘huge privilege’ as she steps down
Police raid on Australian ABC offices is ‘attack on press freedom’, BBC says
Talkradio sacks George Galloway over ‘Israel flags’ Champions League tweet
Police drop investigation into Belfast investigative journalists
July
Handout image issued by the CPS of a police interview with Carl Beech which has been played in court. Picture: Crown Prosecution Service/PA Wire
Carl Beech, aka “Nick”, was jailed for 18 years after his claims about a VIP child sex ring operating in the heart of Westminster were found to be lies. Beech’s claims were first reported by now-defunct investigative news website Exaro before they were picked up by the Met, leading to a £2m police operation that ended without any arrests after two years.
Also this month:
BBC continues to slash pay for male journalists in push for gender parity + full salary list 2018/19
Meghan Markle guest edits British Vogue’s coveted September issue in first for fashion mag
Times and Sunday Times win permission to share resources and journalists
Government launches £2m pilot innovation fund to help find sustainable journalism model
Tommy Robinson sentenced to nine months behind bars for contempt of court
Racing broadcaster John McCririck dies aged 79
Private Eye founding editor and Telegraph columnist Christopher Booker dies aged 81
August
Channel 4 news boss labels Johnson and Corbyn ‘cowards’ for avoiding TV interviews
Head of news and current affairs at Channel 4, Dorothy Byrne, before delivering this year’s MacTaggart Lecture at the 2019 Edinburgh TV Festival. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire
Channel 4 head of news Dorothy Byrne used both barrels in a speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival that laid into party leaders Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn. Her words seemingly set the groundwork for a testing December election in which Johnson repeatedly snubbed Channel 4.
Also this month:
BBC launches new half-hour politics show fronted by Andrew Neil
Transgender ex-Times journalist loses discrimination claim against paper
Newsquest US parent company Gannett bought out by rival media group
Ofcom clears Channel 4 News over Jon Snow’s ‘never seen so many white people’ comment
The Athletic launches in the UK with focus on ‘local’ coverage of Premier League football teams
Empire turns 30: Editor Terri White says mag ‘still has a purpose’ and will ‘always’ be in print
Photoshopping flat cap on parrot not breach of code, says IPSO
Yorkshire Post editor in Twitter row over wanting ‘girl’ to take paper’s chief football writer role
September
John Humphrys signs off after 32 years on Today programme
John Humphrys gives a thumbs up during his final Today programme after 32 years. Picture: BBC
John Humphrys presented the BBC Radio 4 Today programme for the last time having totted up an incredible 5,000 shows. The 76-year-old interviewed ex-prime ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron before hearing tributes from both current and former colleagues.
Also this month:
Sun defends Ben Stokes family tragedy story after cricketer slams it as ‘lowest form of journalism’
The Lady editor quits as magazine leaves historic London home
Malta launches public inquiry into murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia
Guardian sorry for ‘privileged pain’ comment over death of David Cameron’s son
TI Media closes Marie Claire UK in print after 31 years
BBC settles Sir Cliff Richard legal bill at £2m after High Court privacy defeat
October
Prince Harry attacks ‘bullying’ tabloids as wife Meghan sues Mail publisher
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, gives a speech as his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, looks on, during their official visit to South Africa in October 2019. Picture: Reuters/Toby Melville
Prince Harry issued a passionate statement defending his wife Meghan Markle, describing her as “one of the latest victims” of the British tabloid press as she filed a privacy lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday. He invoked the memory of his mother, Diana, who was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 as she fled paparazzi photographers. He later also filed a phone-hacking claims against The Sun and Mirror publishers.
Also this month:
BBC equal pay: Samira Ahmed claims Jeremy Vine paid six-times more for equivalent work
Twitter bans all political advertising
Daily Mail launches free daily briefings with video bulletins under Mail Plus banner
Tributes paid to ‘warrior queen of journalism’ Deborah Orr who has died aged 57
John Sweeney leaves BBC after 17 years with parting shot at Tommy Robinson
Sky launches ‘Brexit free’ news channel on TV and Youtube
Extinction Rebellion climate protestors blockade BBC Broadcasting House
Ben Stokes suing Sun for breach of privacy over family tragedy story
Former BBC and ITN newsreader Peter Sissons dies aged 77
November
Financial Times appoints first female editor as Lionel Barber steps down
Roula Khalaf has been appointed as the next editor of the Financial Times, succeeding Lionel Barber in 2020. Picture: FT
The Financial Times appointed its first female editor in its 131-year history as Lionel Barber announced he was leaving the paper after 14 years in charge. He is succeeded by Roula Khalaf, his deputy editor since 2016.
Also this month:
Daily Mail publisher DMGT buys i paper from JPI Media
Newsnight declined earlier Prince Andrew interview over Epstein ‘red lines’, Emily Maitlis reveals
Critic and broadcaster Clive James dies aged 80
Newsquest boss calls on Lib Dems to pull ‘outrageous’ pamphlet mimicking local paper
Mirror barred from Boris Johnson campaign battle bus
Fact-checkers criticise Tory press office’s Twitter ‘deception’ as ‘self-evidently wrong’
Lib Dems threaten legal action after BBC snubs leader Jo Swinson in planned TV head-to-head
Claim Question Time put BBC editor’s son in audience as Brexit supporter debunked as hoax
December
FT editor Lionel Barber collects the prize for News Provider of the Year at the British Journalism Awards 2019. Picture: Press Gazette / The Photo Team
The Financial Times made British Journalism Awards history by becoming the first title to win News Provider of the Year award two years in a row. Outgoing editor Lionel Barber accepted the prize and later told Press Gazette the FT had “reinvented the business model” for newspapers.
Also this month:
Millions watch Andrew Neil call out Boris Johnson over one-on-one interview snub
Channel 4 News says sorry for ‘people of colour’ misquote on viral video of Boris Johnson speech
Huw Edwards hits out at ‘blatant propaganda’ in press in fending off BBC bias claims
Saudi Arabia sentences five to death for murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Committee to Protect Journalists reports record low deaths of journalists in 2019
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