News

Number of FOI complaints upheld prompt bias fear

 

Fewer than one in 20 complaints made to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) about central Government departments led to a formal ruling to disclose information under the Freedom of Information Act.

This was one finding of Press Gazette research into complaints made about Freedom of Information requests to central Government departments.

The Home Office and Ministry of Justice, which were responsible for introducing the Act, received more complaints than any other department, getting 155 and 148 complaints respectively. The Department for Transport had the highest proportion of formal decision notices issued against it, at 8.7 per cent.

The ICO handles complaints from the public on how well public bodies handle requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, and has powers to force public authorities to disclose information. However, it has only issued formal notices on 4.4 per cent of complaints against central bodies.

Half of all complaints were either still awaiting decision or dismissed. One in three were resolved informally, while a further 4.7 per cent were formally resolved in the public authority’s favour, with a similar ratio partially upheld.

Freedom of Information campaigner Heather Brooke said the findings showed it was time for the Information Commissioner to come under the direct control of Parliament.

“By resolving so many complaints informally, the Commissioner has abdicated his responsibility to set important case law in the area of Freedom of Information,” she said.

“That so few rulings favour the public shows why the Commissioner should be accountable directly to Parliament and not Government, as there seems to be a clear bias in favour of his paymaster.”

A spokesman for the ICO said the Commissioner preferred informal resolution as part of a policy to resolve complaints “by co-operation, not compulsion”. Unlike the Information Tribunal, the ICO does not routinely make public its rulings.

News International: Murdoch names Milner COO

James Murdoch today promoted Clive Milner to the new role of chief operating officer of News International, as part of a major reorganisation that will lead to some redundancies.

The editors of News International's four national titles – the Sun, News of the World, Times and Sunday Times – will continue to report to Murdoch, as part of a flatter management structure that sees key commercial executives also report directly to him.

Murdoch, who took charge of News International in December when he became chairman and chief executive for parent company News Corporation's businesses Europe and Asia, has also today promoted Times Media's managing director, Paul Hayes, to the post of managing director, commercial, across the company.

Advertising sales across Times Media, which publishes the Times and Sunday Times; and News Group Newspapers, which publishes the Sun and News of the World, will merge, with Hayes in overall charge.

Mike Anderson, the managing director of News Group Newspapers, will become managing director, digital and development across News International.

Hayes and Anderson will report to Murdoch - rather than Milner, as they did under the old structure.

The changes come after Murdoch hired Boston Consulting Group to undertake a review of all News International operations.

In a letter to staff today, Murdoch said that redundancies would occur as the commercial operations are streamlined.

"Whilst I do not want to hide the fact that there will be some redundancies in these areas, there will also be much greater opportunities for many of you as we strengthen, invigorate and grow this business," he added.

"The best, most challenging companies have more than an aptitude for change. They have a positive appetite for it," Murdoch told staff.

"Colleagues help each other to be the best they can be – not only leading within, but also transforming the business environment.

"Fortunately, this is in our genes. From modernising the industry at Wapping three decades ago to building the most advanced printing facilities in the world at Broxbourne today, we relish shaping the industry and moving it forward. We should celebrate this. It is a crucial part of our culture."

Milner, currently News International group general manager, will take on some of the functions of the former News International executive chairman, Les Hinton, who left in December.

He will run manufacturing, technology, distribution, procurement and facilities at News International.

"The way content is delivered through newspapers, websites and products will be brought under Clive's control," the company said in a statement.

Anderson will takeover responsibility for all digital functions including News International-owned sites Globrix, BrandAlley and Milkround; as well as for the enterprise operations division.

The company also confirmed today that it will appoint a chief marketing officer.
"These appointments will streamline and strengthen our management team and will bring us closer to our readers and advertisers, creating greater benefits for both," Murdoch said.

"The new management structure is an essential first step in delivering the changes required to further develop our market leading titles and set the pace for the industry.

"I expect Paul to streamline processes, align resources more closely to clients and customers, and leverage new platforms – like our unique data capabilities – right across the business," he added.

Murdoch said that digital, including online sports franchises, Times media events, and the multiplatform Times Archive would be "key pillars of our business going forward".

Anderson will act as chief marketing officer until an appointment is made; with support from Matthew Anderson, group director, strategy and corporate affairs, News Corporation Europe and Asia.

Milner will remain in charge of the London Paper.

News International denies London Paper rumours

News International today moved to quell speculation that James Murdoch is about to axe the London Paper as part of his reorganisation of the company.

Speculation has been mounted that the loss-making London afternoon free newspaper, launched in September 2006 by the departed News International executive chairman Les Hinton, would be axed has been mounting for the past fortnight.

Murdoch, who took over from Hinton as the boss of News International in his new role as chairman and chief executive of its parent company News Corporation's businesses in Europe and Asia, is expected to unveil his reorganisation of the UK newspaper publisher later this week.

But today News International issued a public statement in support of the freesheet, which is locked in a battle for the capital city's readers with Associated Newspapers' London Lite and the 50p London Evening Standard.
"The London Paper has established itself as the capital's leading afternoon paper with an audited daily circulation of over 500,000 and strong advertising revenue," a spokeswoman said.

"News International, the UK's largest national newspaper company, has backed its confidence in the long-term future of the industry with a recent £650m investment in next generation print plants," she added.

"We intend to build on the success of our market leading national titles and that of the London Paper in the years ahead."

The London paper is regarded as an obvious target for cost cutting because lost £17m in its first 10 months.

News International conceived the paper as an afternoon London freesheet to undercut the Evening Standard.

It has been speculated that News International wants the London Paper to go national and eventually take on Associated's morning freesheet Metro, thought to make about £8m a year in profits.

But a downturn in the advertising market will put pressure on the newspaper. Already London Lite has cut costs by merging news desk operations with the Evening Standard.

Last week News International axed its loss-making News Magazines unitand plans to sell the subsidiary's titles or take them in-house.

'Bloodletting' at the Telegraph: eight more redundancies

The Telegraph Media Group is cutting eight journalists, as Andrew Neil speaks out about "bloodletting" at the group.

Management at the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph are seeking eight compulsory redundancies from editorial, telling staff the company needs to make "tough decisions for tough times".

The cutbacks come as Neil, chief executive of Press Holdings, owned by Telegraph Media Group proprietors Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, spoke out at the weekend about group's management.

"The bloodletting at the Telegraph has gone on too long," Neil said.

"After any takeover there is an element of blood on the carpet, but you have to go forward then and take your staff with you," he told the Independent on Sunday in an interview about his £4m acquisition of the literary and talent agency PFD.

The comment has been removed from the IoS website, although it remains on the Google cache of the article.

TMG is seeking the eight redundancies at the Telegraph papers from the ranks of reporters and production staff.

Two jobs are being lost in sport, two in graphics, two in property, one in foreign and one in news.

The National Union of Journalists' TMG chapel is meeting tomorrow about the proposed redundancies.

It is understood that there may be additional redundancies among support staff but that has not been confirmed.

The company is in the process of introducing a new production system, called Escenic, that will allow editing of print and web stories at the same time. Some staff believe the new system will lead to further job losses.

Telegraph management sources maintained that there will be no overall reduction in staff or the editorial budget.

"[The editorial budget] is actually the largest in Telegraph history," one source said.

But they point to an "inevitable redistribution of resource from the newspaper to online" as integration of TMG's print and web operations continues.

The Sports Journalists Association website reportsthat one of the sports journalists asked to leave is Martin Smith, who has been at the Telegraph for 21 years.

Since the arrival of the executive editor sport, Mark Skipworth, in April with a brief to integrate sport across the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and Telegraph.co.uk, departures from the sports section have included its star interviewer, Sue Mott, the BBC presenter and Telegraph writer John Inverdale and the cricket columnist Michael Henderson.

MediaGuardian.co.uk contacted Telegraph Media Group for a comment, but it was unable to supply one before publication.

Sindy slashes cover price to £1

The Independent on Sunday has cut its cover price to £1.

Independent News & Media's UK Sunday title cut its price from its regular £1.80 after a rolling campaign of regional discounts outside London since February this year.

The paper has been deploying price-cutting sporadically since it relaunched in a slimmed-down version in June last year.

That relaunch was accompanied by two weeks of a price cut to £1.

There was speculation that the reduction was designed to be permanent and that the return to a £1.80 cover price was one of the reasons behind Independent on Sunday editor Tristan Davies' departure from the paper in December last year. Davies was replaced by John Mullin.

Yesterday's price-cutting points to an intensification of the strategy under INM UK's new managing director, Simon Kelner, who replaced Terry Grote.

Kelner, editor of the Independent for nine years, remains editor-in-chief of both titles.

News International in major management restructure

LONDON - News Corp Europe and Asia chief executive James Murdoch has introduced a raft of top level changes at UK subsidiary News International to reflect merged commercial operations between Times Media and News Group Newspapers.

The main change involves group managing director of newspaper divisions Clive Milner, who is promoted to chief operating officer. Milner will have responsibility for all operations from distribution to procurement and content delivery.

Paul Hayes, Times Media managing director, has been appointed managing director of commercial - a new position - leading a fused advertisingunit, encompassing all News International titles.

Mike Anderson, managing director of News Group Newspapers, which incorporates The Sun and the News of the World, has been appointed managing director, digital and development.

Anderson will oversee search property site Globrix, BrandAlley and Milkround, as well as the group's Enterprise division.

All executives will report directly to James Murdoch.

News International confirms CMO search as part of management reshuffle
LONDON - News International has announced that it is to appoint a chief marketing officer across its group amid a number of other management reshuffles, as reported in Marketing last week.

The chief marketer is expected to sit on the News International board and will work above Roland Agambar, who currently heads marketing for The Sun and News of the World, and Katie Vanneck, who runs marketing for The Times and Sunday Times.

In other changes, the group has appointed Clive Milner as its chief operating officer and Paul Hayes as it commercial managing director. Both currently occupy other senior positions within the group: Milner is the group's managing director and Hayes is the managing director of Times International. Mike Anderson will become managing director of digital and development with responsibility for all digital functions across News International.

The changes follow mounting speculation about reshuffles at News International, which is working with Boston Consulting Group to review its overall structures. These are the first major moves to streamline operations to be brought in by James Murdoch, who has been in charge of News International since December as the chief executive of parent company News Corporation for Europe and Asia

He said: 'These appointments will streamline and strengthen our management team and bring us closer to our readers and advertisers, creating greater benefits for both. The new management structure is an essential first step in delivering the changes required to further develop our market leading titles and set the pace for the industry.'

Murdoch is also expected to significantly boost the marketing budget across the media group, which is currently estimated at £28m.

Today the group publicly declared its plan to stick with its evening freesheet thelondonpaper, countering speculation that it was considering scrapping it following its announcement last week that it is shutting down its loss-making News Magazines unit.

Independent web visitors shows huge increase

LONDON - Independent.co.uk, which posted its first ABCe figure of 6.5 million unique users in May, has revealed the number of unique UK users accessing the site has risen by 86% since December.

The site has been recording ABCe data for a year, but the group wanted to ensure the durability of its traffic growth before revealing the figure publicly. The site was relaunched in January.

The company also claims that UK page impressions have increased by 92% since December. The May ABCe figure of 6.5 million worldwide unique users for Independent.co.uk puts the title behind market leader Mail Online, with 18.7 million unique users, Guardian.co.uk, Telegraph.co.uk, The Times and The Sun Online.

However, the May ABCe figure puts it ahead of Mirror Group Digital, which posted an ABCe of 4.8 million unique users in May.

Meanwhile, The Independent plans to bring its digital ad sales in-house to give it more control over operations.

AdLink, which has held The Independent account since 2001, was reappointed to the brief in early 2007.

The strategy to establish an in-house digital sales team for The Independent mirrors the set-up at other national newspaper sites, with Guardian.co.uk, The Sun Online, Times Online and Telegraph.co.uk all having their own dedicated digital sales teams.

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