Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette news briefing on Friday 9 May brought to you in association with INMA - a leading provider of global best practice for news media companies. Register now for INMA's World Congress of News Media in New York May 19-23.

The latest News Corp results show business is booming for its former broadsheet titles while the tabloids struggle.

The New York Post has never been a majorly profitable title for News Corp but The Sun was once a cash cow.

The News Corp earnings release for its third quarter highlights falling online advertising revenue from The Sun as an issue, driven by a sharp fall in website traffic due to Google and Facebook algorithm changes.

The latest figures help explain why The Sun has launched a £1.99 per month premium content paywall and why it is pushing so hard to find new video revenue on Youtube (where it now has more than 6 million followers).

Meanwhile, subscriptions continue to show healthy growth at News Corp’s more upmarket titles.

The Times and Sunday Times now have some 629,000 digital subscribers, while The Wall Street Journal and Barron's Group boast 5.5 million paying online readers.

How long can it be before Mirror publisher Reach follows The Sun and Daily Mail down the route of charging for some online content?

Today we also report on the findings of the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary report into the Southport riots which were fuelled by misinformation on social media. The police must be more open with journalists, the report said, and platforms must take down harmful content more quickly.

It is now up to Ofcom to flex its new Online Safety Act muscles and force X and Facebook to stop disseminating illegal and harmful content.

The Nicola Bulley case in January 2023 highlighted why the police need to bring journalists back into their circle of trust and brief the media to stop unhelpful speculation. Perhaps now the overly secretive UK police culture will finally start to change.

We also report on an interesting development in the Prince Harry versus the Daily Mail privacy battle (Harry’s final and, potentially biggest, legal showdown with the tabloid press).

The Mail has asked Prince Harry's lawyers to disclose all details of payments and other inducements made to witnesses. If such payments have been made they sound every bit as dodgy as the tabloid shenanigans Harry is seeking to expose.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend when you get there.

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On Press Gazette

Premium news subscriptions offset falling tabloid web audience for News Corp

Dow Jones was star performer as News Corp grew revenue to $2bn in third quarter 2025.

Read more

Police told to do better to fill information void like one that fuelled Southport riots

Policing boss says forces need to be "more open when dealing with mainstream media".

Read more

Mail publisher asks Prince Harry’s lawyers for ‘payment for evidence’ documents

A limited number of documents had been disclosed which showed that “payments were made or offered” to “procure evidence and invoices” but “there is good reason to believe that incentives have been offered or paid by the research team more widely.”

Read more

News in brief

Sunday Times reporter Will Lloyd returns to the New Statesman as deputy editor in Tom McTague’s first hire as editor in chief. (Press Gazette)

The Guardian has relaunched its app and redesigned its website homepage. The new-look app features a new “My Guardian” tab which allows readers to have a more personalised feed of sto