You won't believe what happened next…
Clickbait , Issue 1643

"THE narrative is that we're a clickbait organisation. Which we are not," Jim Mullen, CEO of publisher Reach, complained to the Sunday Times recently, in an interview in which he complained about how he and his management are depicted by Private Eye and others.

So how is his brave new world of responsible and values-driven online-first journalism going in practice?

Code violation
That very week, Reach's legal department sent a bulletin to all hacks: "We have received more than 10 IPSO complaints in the last month regarding online headlines. Headlines must be accurate and be supported by the text in the article for the purposes of the Editors' Code. It is worth stopping and checking that the headline is a true summary of what you are reporting as if they are found to be inaccurate, we will be required to publish a standalone correction on the website's homepage."

And lo, last week, the watchdog ruled that two such headlines on Reach's Birmingham Mail site, suggesting that Labour planned to "scrap" both the triple lock and free bus passes for pensioners when in fact the opposite was the case, were "actively misleading" and breached the code in six different ways.

Target practice
Days after that, staff were warned they could face the sack if they inserted unauthorised external links into the stories they upload directly to the company's websites, after one hack was found to have been directing readers towards online casinos and escort agencies.

Oh, and Mirror editor Caroline Waterston has received a second letter (see last Eye) from unionised journalists on the paper objecting to the imposition of page view targets on their stories, and pointing out that such a regime is already leading to a flood of stories about a notorious online sex worker, including the headline "Bonnie Blue supports same football team as another world famous adult film star". But yeah, definitely not a clickbait operation.

Own goal
Meanwhile, the efforts under new Daily Express editor Tom Hunt to eliminate "segregation between 'print' and 'digital'" and ensure "progress towards the strategy of a single team approach" continue. The paper is now thrown together just as cack-handedly as the website ever was.

Monday 10 February's front page featured a sizeable trail reading: "GIANT-KILLERS! Plymouth dump mighty Liverpool out of FA Cup – see back page." It was imposed over a photograph of three, er, Millwall players, celebrating a goal against Leeds United.

More top stories in the latest issue:

CARRIE ON REGARDLESS!
Times columnist Joanna Williams railed against Keir Starmer "attempting to control the media" – but her paper has its own skeletons in that department.

CULL CLASSIC
Staff who are at risk of redundancy at the Mail titles have learned the papers were already advertising for trainee sub-editors and news reporters.

NEWS CORPSE
While Rupert Murdoch's News Corp focuses on digital real estate, data and analytics and book publishing, journalism is taking a back seat.

HAT'S ENTERTAINMENT
The Telegraph published a long first-person piece from the co-founder of a firm that sells special protective hats to block out phone signals and WiFi.

SUNDAY OUTING
Half the hacks at the Observer have opted to take the offer of voluntary redundancy on generous terms, rather than stick with the paper after it is sold.

DOGE WHISTLE
The Spectator launched its own "war on wasteful spending" – pointing out wasteful projects set up during the years when its current editor was a minister.

COMING TO GRIEF
The Sun featured an unusually lengthy and prominent mea culpa last week imposed by regulator Ipso, after an alarming breach of the editors' code.