Read this: Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover

BBC sounds music Radio podcasts hello, this is the media show from BBC Radio 4 this week about 3 grand plans first of all does Elon Musk so that people have the bus the the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law he said that he asked that is offered by Twitter accepted.

It's a story with any number of consequences for Media protect for all of us to use Twitter but if you don't use it and you're thinking what to do with me.

We'll get into that to the next plan is one that's come to a shuddering halt.

This was only a few weeks ago and there's a Nikon of the cable and satellite.

Bernard cable is completely my streaming and there isn't a streaming subscription service for TV news in United States so if you work radio news product from scratch in 2022.

How would you build it? That's one of the questions one of the starting points for sale in plus is the biggest bed any company has made in the news streaming world that CNN Brian stelter millions have been spent on a streaming service CNN plus, but the plug was pulled within weeks of the launch and what about was stopping Rupert Murdoch talk.tv was starting with a familiar face at the centre of it will come to viewers around the world on Piers Morgan and I'm uncensored.

Has Nelson Mandela long walk to freedom of speech and I'm back with the night before the Fabulous guess feelings and yes some fun talk to CNN + twitter all three and different ways connect to the broader challenge of working out.

How will choose the learn about and discuss the world we live in that begin with Vivian Sheila exec director of aspen digital in Washington DC giving you previously held senior roles at CNN and Twitter to the perfect person to start with I wonder if you saw those two story is coming.

One of the mice are coming a mile away and the other one completely took me off guard is the summary the mile away is seeing mplus was always a dubious proposition not just to me many felt that way that you can take a product that people watch for free that has had the cleaning viewership and I get them to pay monthly to get more of the things that they could get for free so it's not surprising to me that it failed although I was a little startled by the new ownership of CNN which was which was recently purchased along with the rest of Time Warner Media I wanna Media by discovery, so but I got mask I didn't see it coming and even when he made the announcement that he was going to buy Twitter I actually didn't believe the day will come when the board would actually say yes, we are selling Twitter to you.

They came on Monday we can talk about that decision in detail Vivian thanks for being with this Chris Williams is also on the media show Christie the business editor of The Daily Telegraph and I wonder when you're watching what organ and Talk TV were doing this week as they launched whether you felt you're watching the future and in some ways to heart back to what in America is Back to the Future they still big questions about that you can Alexa TV news and weather into approaches one is the only got a radio newspapers to to make cheaper content and then to monetize new Investments like around the world is the new model wait and see I think it's is the current position alright.

We'll talk to you in detail and talk about Twitter in detail and a few minutes.

Let's start though with CNN plus.

We could reasonably call it one of the most spectacular Media failures in recent years.

It was a 300.

Million-dollar experiment it was over within weeks Clare Atkinson is cheap Media correspondent at Insider and Claire help us understand why seeing this was a good idea and why it came off the rails so quickly management teams who wanted different things wanna hear on the guy called Jason Kyler and wanted to watch the streaming service.

They had conceptualised the idea they brought in all this Talent from other networks millions of Dollars bringing his people in all the while you have the management of Discovery saying or not being able to say rather that they didn't want this service didn't see it as viable.

Didn't think it would be a profitable and they wanted to wrap news into a larger bundle with news for movies and entertainment and it wasn't their vision at all so.

Understand what this product was while it existed.

I'm sitting in the US open up my phone or my computer on my TV what did I get you would get a couple of different things it was billed as a little bit more lifestyle.

It wasn't necessarily the breaking news that you would see on CNN although they did have an element of that when that was a big news story about a guy in Brockley you let off a smoke bomb in and shouted people on the subway CNN plus covered that but they were also doing panel shows and and it was a little bit more lifestyle that was documentary music documentaries and the feeling was that it wasn't you know if you wanted news and you cut the cord and you didn't want to pay for cable anymore this wasn't really an alternative because the wasn't much news on it and how many beers clears we can be with the terminology here we here and Liz talking about linear TV vs.

Streaming products just unpacked those.

A little bit please traditional television aerial TV broadcast networks like ABC NBC CBS v0 you can get free to where they don't cost you money table cost you money but it comes through a fibre optic cable into the back of your TV where is streaming is something that you can get anywhere have to have a cable package lots of folks historically in lived in the yolk say couldn't get free to air TV and they paid the cable company to get it.

So this was this is something that that streaming the whole idea.

Is you can cut the cord you don't have to pay for television anymore and you can buy it our car, so you could buy CNN save that 599 and grab you with us on the media show so I Chris and Vivian let's all bring it as a ring in Lauren her.

She's a reporter at the New York Times and Lauren can you help me with one question? Why is it that news broadcaster?

So preoccupied with streaming why did CNN decide this was worth investing 100 millionaires of dollars in international TV but the problem is there is now so much.

Don't know what people will pay for they don't know how much how many streaming services people before so it's really been with a past against the wall and now I think everyone to be like in the beginning on the floor out by the sounds of it as well baby.

Let me bring you in here because there is one potentially frightening scenario here for news broadcasters, which is the audiences of departing the linear TV now.

But they may simply not want and you streaming product well.

That's possible.

I mean there's so many paid subscription opportunity and I think we are now learning you know it's still early days learning the limit.

So how many you know Netflix who lose you know apple classes etc people going to sign on to you and then you know when you look at news in your assistance particularly well with their subscription subscription service in fact.

It's interesting that scene and plus pointed it to the bosses in making the case said we think we are more of the New York Times model which I think was misguided but ok, but yeah, it is concerning it may be that we find the limits and beyond which news platforms are just not going to grill when it comes to the television David Hasselhoff the new head of the company has said that he has he's not worried about the

CNN he wanted to do good journalism will see if that sticks and I wonder and perhaps you could help me with this to what degree one of you as a reference in text what degrees that Netflix story just before the CNN announcement was relevant announced.

He'd lost 200000 global subscribers and perhaps the figure that cold everyone's attention if expect to lose 2 million more subscribers in the next 3-months Claire was that relevant to CNN canning CNN plus that the owners of CNN have to show that they're investing in a profitable business and what we've seen so far.

Is that the likes of Netflix and Disney plus have been throwing literally billions of dollars at content produced in the hopes that people will subscribe and all of a sudden has a pivot Wall Street is saying hang on a minute.

We want to see profit from this business and the expectation that this.

When was the tune into streaming streaming that's not being questioned and that affects the ends owners and Chris I'm listening to all of the others talk about CNN plus of course a product aimed at the US market and I'm wondering if you think a streaming product could work in the UK based in the US would be the more sleep in the UK BBC very high quality news and current affairs products available for delivery in the UK and yes, if anyone trying to sell a new subscription to be distinct and have some that's what paying for in the UK so I can't see that ever been tried in the UK really could be wrapped in a broader subscription offer where you pay one company to give you not just you and everything else.

Well, that's one of the irony is here as you had this sort of fracturing of the table package channels and handled by a handful of small a very large groups you got Disney Netflix and Warner Discovery 200 C and N contents on Amazon it's kind of people want to sell your phone or I've got a dishwasher.

You're seeing a kind of the package that was cable for Italy so that's what's happening to Sarum plus.

It's just that is going into the big package.

I just want to say that this is a global business news global by it's very nature and the stream as they may begin in the States ultimately the goal is who in power around around the globe and have you as everywhere and MBC news is certainly attempted to chase the and and and

Go to the BBC in the hopes that you know that that brand can have resonance and that folks all around the world with C content that they are producing in order to make it cost effective name with Netflix same with Disney plus the marches on now to see how many global subscribers you can own and this is not just a country-by-country game and of course we can't talk about media or global news without considering what Rupert Murdoch thinks about that.

He's been a major player for decades and this week.

He made another play with Piers Morgan at the centre of talk to you.

He was launched on Monday Piers Morgan show was at 8 p.m.

Next President Donald J trump the biggest issues in the world today and you think I'm a v.

I do know yet.

Nothing is off limits trump reveals what you told Putin invading Ukraine before.

And the big question whether he'll run again for president in 2024.

I think people going to be happy you might even be happy.

What crisps are the Telegraph you were watching.

Did you enjoy it? Was it was not bad.

It was very slippery made.

It was it was the American style production.

Not my cup of tea and Piers Morgan has been very keen to share the ratings on both evening so far.

How do you assess how talk to you the is performed and it's first 48 H 317000 the best.

So pleased that €100000 second day, but I could just sensitive and how is going to be a long road in building an audience in the Channel menu which I think is somewhere down in the 200s.

You're not going to get me.

People bumping into your Staffordshire why you're seeing a very aggressive double campaign around the shower so I spent a lot of money on it's going to be a long road with the TV news in UK is instruction in 2013 80% of people watching TV down to 60% in the bum and so it's structurally difficult so successful and how it goes online and Piers Morgan traffic's and controversy and help him to cut through the noise online and I will be trying to generate and some of those controversies.

Don't just play it on TV of course.

They're pushing out social media clips and they're also plugged into the Sun newspaper and the New York Post and so busy as we consider whether news broadcasters need to find a route away from lineage you think this hybrid model that Rupert Murdoch on Piers Morgan have come up with could offer a blueprint for others.

I think in fact I wish on behalf of seeing and plus they had maybe not sort of jump in with both feet for this you know 9 figure investment into a full-blown channel, but rather experimented with these kind of streaming shows I actually not I'm not a big fan of Piers Morgan but I do think in terms of the business.

It makes a lot of sense and sort of reflects the idea of with test and learn along the way what the business model work and one part of the business strategy clear is to build a TV network and a product around one individual to what degree do you think that point of direction of travel that increasing the individuals may be as important or even more important than brands?

Yeah, I think was saying that you know all these newsletters but journals themselves are becoming conduit of the news that stars Piers Morgan very well known in the States used to host a channel used to host a show on CNN he's actually going to be broadcasting on fox Nation which is Fox News streaming offering and they actually told they don't consider fox Nation and use strimmer.

It's the lifestyle network so I think that's kind of interesting and I think this weekend there's the White House Correspondents Dinner Washington where news in the future of news will be discussed by The Great and the good and I'll be politicians and Joe Biden they're sitting with news organisations.

This is a topic that will be talked about and you know perhaps Donald Trump comes back and perhaps there was no news audiences.

Come back to and I'm interested BoxNation does not consider.

Open new strimmer that you emphasise lifestyle Piers Morgan is placing a huge amount of emphasis on The Culture Wars Lauren from the New York Times do you think this makes sense business terms in consumer terms because the glory days of Us cable news was very much based on covering politics and over the media and the weather now in and actually and consistent with the fact that we seen before we go on to talk about Twitter presumably all of the strands of our discussion point towards the fact that news and how are your consumer is in tumultuous few years.

Oh, yes, I mean it impossible to even address that respond to what you just said without talking about Twitter because I think in many ways Twitter The Hub for the mini spokes of of how news is what news takes hold who pays attention to watch in what storylines dominate what is talk about Twitter of course this jaw-dropping announcement came on Monday at it's amazing new sources Vivian explains and Elon Musk has had enough for a 44 billion dollars accepted for the whole thing Laura and hurt from the New York Times you've been reported on this in detail and well.

It would have been jaw-dropping however long it took but for it to happen.

So quickly really took us all by surprise.

How did that happen? It was incredible and maybe Monday maybe not

Out there out there without anything anything and he went last week on all the sudden it became very real and the space of a decision of looking at it.

It was limited and right now with the company's the advertising business under pressure and they came to the conclusion that perhaps it was desirable buyer, but he was the only buyer and the price that he was offering posted better solution remember.

Reeth to get into the night on Monday and send a document for Monday afternoon and the deal has been learnt at the borders accepted the offer but none of this magics away the tensions between weather Twitter is a platform and whether it's a publisher and just help us understand.

How that particular attention, please directly to this emphasis from Elon Musk on freedom of speech and how he feels like Twitter should be doing better on that front about yesterday and which other next year requires companies to Crackdown on misinformation and indicated yesterday in the follow-up that he can in you.

Bye-bye the last so I think you started this with the Wi-Fi deals with an idea.

I think the reality is as and the remains in in Europe in the country begins with regulate ultimately it will have that so those of the details of how Elon Musk has ended up in this situation and let's bring you in and they'll be people listening thinking ok looks like he's going to be in charge.

How's my experience of Twitter going to change for example is told about sharing the so we all understand why Twitter is showing a certain tweets more than others but in a practical sense of humour or anyone else opens up Twitter what do you think the big? Shift? Would be well.

You don't really know because he's made very limited comments so far about what he plans to do about content moderation contact moderation is the practise of a platform deciding what to leave up what to take down.

Amplify, what is depressed but based on his remarks in based on some of these tweets in the last few days, just his personal behaviour on Twitter it seems like he is maybe going to open up and make more open some of the eliminate some of the decisions that previous management has made which would give rise to a lot of ugliness on Twitter and bullying hate speech all of those things.

I'm very very concerned and can I ask you about your time inside to it must have talked about it being the world's town square with all the responsibilities that come with that.

Could you feel that responsibility when you were sitting around the the top table of Twitter thinking my goodness with part of this thing now that almost goes beyond the company.

That's almost a public platform that everyone uses absolutely and I know I've been you know I've been gone from Twitter for a while now, but I know I have a lot of fun.

And I think that sort of that kind of face and that passion about the role that water plays is still very much alive in the company.

It is Tiny compared to Facebook and YouTube and some of the other platforms, but it punches above it's weight from Mundesley in terms of the kind of influence it has it affects news coverage is Apple for all of us journalists on twitter all the time we amplify them in our story has tremendous influence influence it matters a great deal for people who use it regularly but Laura and I started on behalf of probably the majority of people listening to this program because the majority of people do not use Twitter why does this story matter to them and the rest of the country with local newspapers with hand therapy.

Things to do that kind of which water has become Twitter has become the A14 the nation so even if an individual is not on 12th news in some capacity and that news journalist think it's important and seeing that he also goes down even if you're not use A1 you mean the front page of the New York Times of course.

That's fine.

That's exactly and Claire as we look at the role that Lawrence Twitter almost as the front page of the news we all experience as you look further down the track though.

There's no guarantee Twitter remains in that role is there?

I mean that's very true and you think about services like MySpace any number of other tech platforms.

Lol they come and they go and so who's to SE8 we're on the Elon mosque remains as powerful as it has been I think that's no question you're not interested report out this morning looking at how many people have deactivating Twitter or how many folks on the right and now activating accounts and so you know think Vivian had a good point there.

We don't know like what the effect of a new owner is going to be on the platform.

You know there's a lot more talk about Elon musk's ownership of Twitter and a lot less conversation about the effect of Private Equity ownership on local newspapers.

So you know Twitter is a social media site the drives a lot of conversation on reporters, but your point rolls in a what does it matter to the everyday person on the street.

You maybe isn't sitting.

Looking online and as we approach the end of this edition.

I'm interested to hear the three of you respond to Vivian point which is really all of our discussions about how we all consume use you find information where we discuss the world we live in all in some ways connect Mac to Twitter and connects back to social media Chris and the Telegraph would you agree with that every iteration of CTV news is really in that context.

Yeah.

I think you've got a legacy media about losing our audience and believe they have to be on social media for the nail right at the same time there.

Is it has been disastrous, it's Colin and journalistic culture and we can do better like this.

I think that you are jealous to Paris and you know it's slightly jealous talking with audience of people who have a healthy relationship with the news and never will be better off.

The time to be activate your account Chris risks distorting both how we see the world as consumers but also how the news industry makes decisions yes, although if it becomes too just ordered then the news industry is Twitter as as a one as basically the equivalent of the New York Times front page so he might end up destroying destroying that Golden Goose that he thinks he's going to be a monetizing will see where to see if the process goes through the borders accepted the offer but of course now both sides do their due diligence and in a few months if that's all good, then Euromaster will be fully in charge of Twitter thank you very much for the four of us fascinating discussion to listen to this Claire I can see she's Media correspondent and insider Vivian Sheila executive director.

Digital Chris Williams business editor of The Daily Telegraph and Lauren Hurst reporter at the New York Times the media show will be back at the same time next week.

That's it for now.

Thank you very much for listening.

We'll talk to you soon, goodbye.