The Media Club · 23 October 2026 · 44 min

Newsrooms In Flux

With Charlotte Tobitt, Fergus Bell, Tom Trewinnard

Matt Deegan is joined by Charlotte Tobitt of Press Gazette and Fathm co-founders Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard to work through a busy week in UK media. The panel discusses the BBC's decision to close BBC Three, BBC Scotland and Radio 4 Extra as linear services as part of £500m of savings by 2028, alongside BBC News cutting just over 100 roles, while CNN launches its first UK paywall and All Access subscription at £5 a month. The conversation widens into reach versus attribution for young audiences, the collapse in platform referral traffic, and Snapchat's retreat from publisher monetisation. In the second half, Bell and Trewinnard give a field guide to AI in the newsroom — what is genuinely saving journalists time, what is a waste of budget, how to handle shadow AI use, and how newsrooms should think about deals with OpenAI and Google. The show closes with Spotify's new creator memberships, two Southwark court cases involving Tommy Robinson and Russell Brand, and the Audio Network Media Quiz.

Key takeaways

The BBC confirmed it will close BBC Three, BBC Scotland and Radio 4 Extra as linear services next year as part of £500m of savings by 2028.
BBC News is cutting just over 100 roles, saving £5.5m, in the same week CNN launched a £5-a-month UK paywall and All Access subscription.
Charlotte Tobitt reported CNN's global web traffic is down 49% on two years ago, with the UK launch combining paywall and video subscription for the first time.
Fathm's Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard said newsrooms are now willing to experiment with AI, with back-office tasks like tagging and image selection the most successful starting points.
Spotify launched creator memberships keeping 90% of takings, and the panel covered court cases involving Tommy Robinson and Russell Brand.

In this episode

Intro and plus-ones0:00 · Matt introduces the panel and each guest nominates a media figure as their plus one.
BBC closures and CNN paywall0:00 · Discussion of BBC Three, BBC Scotland and Radio 4 Extra closures, BBC News cuts and CNN's UK subscription launch.
Reaching young audiences0:00 · Reach versus attribution, platform traffic decline, Snapchat and direct sales.
AI in the newsroom with Fathm0:00 · Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard on what works with AI, shadow use, and dealing with OpenAI and Google.
Audio Network Media Quiz0:00 · Panel play 'Did They Just Say That?', matching quotes to this week's media stories.
Outro and plugs0:00 · Where to follow Charlotte Tobitt, Press Gazette, Fathm and The Signal podcast.