MediaGuardian briefing

Media briefing Wednesday 04 Mar 2015 g Top stories on MediaGuardian More » ITV's pre-tax profits soar 23% to £712m Commercial broadcaster beats analysts’ forecasts and reports strong demand from advertisers in the first quarter of 2015  Steve Coogan backs bid to buy channel Independent producers Jimmy Mulville and Jon Thoday respond to BBC TV chief Danny Cohen following initial rejection of £100m proposal  Chair of Ipso funding body should quit over Trinity Mirror, says Hacked Off Campaign group claims Paul Vickers is ‘unfit for the role’ because of allegations of widespread phone hacking at Mirror publisher  BBC cuts cost of top talent by 30% but some pay deals remain flawed Total wage bill for ‘top talent’ drops below £50m, but reductions come at the expense of the production of in-house programmes  Phone hacking at Mirror titles was on industrial scale, court told One journalist hacked phones of 100 celebrities every day for 18 months, says barrister acting for victims including Sadie Frost and Paul Gascoigne  Paul Gambaccini: police used me as 'flypaper' for almost a year BBC Radio DJ tells MPs of his support for police bail limit of 28 days, after his bail was extended seven times in 2014, costing £200,000 in earnings and legal costs  BBC licence fee good for at least another decade, says director general Tony Hall welcomes MPs’ report on the corporation, even supporting the idea of a proposed household levy  Top executives called in for grilling over knowledge of HSBC files Senior figures at bank including current BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead ordered to appear before public accounts committee over Swiss operation  Sun journalists acted like they had a ‘Harry Potter invisibility cloak’ Old Bailey court told in trial of four senior journalists on charges of alleged payments to public officials that greed lies at the heart of the case  Fox News forced to backtrack again over Bill O'Reilly's reporting claims Channel admits O’Reilly did not witness bombings in Northern Ireland or murders in El Salvador in wake of questions over TV host’s reporting experiences  Today's newspaper headlines More » Today's media stories from the papers Our roundup of the day’s media stories, including ITV’s pre-tax profits soar 23% to £712m  Media Monkey's pick of the day More » BBC News trumpets its exclusive reveal on Jihadi John – or was it? Sky’s Adam Boulton sarcastically compliments former ITV reporter Lucy Manning on Washington Post story

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