Claire Enders was quoted in an article on François Fillon’s claim of being the victim of a “media lynching” and told reporters he had faced “a press campaign of unheard-of violence”. His criticism chimes with that of his chief opponent National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who also sees bias in the mainstream media’s coverage of her. Mr Fillon and Ms Le Pen’s combative tone reflects heightened tensions between France’s politicians and the country’s media, which have traditionally enjoyed a cosy, conciliatory and even incestuous relationship. Claire said “French politicians feel that the country’s press has become more demanding, journalists were more deferential before and they could be restrained. There was an established pact between the government and the media, which has broken down.”

François Godard was quoted in an article on the rising tensions between Mediaset and Vivendi over the Vivendi’s deal to acquire 3.5 percent of the Italian group. Despite reports in Italy of a possible peace deal between the two parties, Vincent Bolloré, Vivendi’s chief executive, has accused the Italian group of providing “misleading” information during negotiations. Francois said that he would “not be surprised” if Mediaset had been “too optimistic about its assets”, when the Italian group struck its agreement with Vivendi last April. He added that “they could have said a lot of things. But on the other hand I do not think Bolloré is a person who believes everything he is told.”

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on George Osborne’s first tasks as editor of the London Evening Standard. Mr Osborne must find new ways of raising revenue, with cost-cutting expected later in the year. Douglas said that the paper’s profits were positive “compared to where they were a few years ago”, but the decline in print advertising was likely to result in a loss for the paper. He added, “you could argue that [Osborne’s] a man who has some experience of taking on a distressed set of accounts”.

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on the resignation of David Abraham as chief executive of Channel 4. David has run Channel 4 for seven years and is credited with restoring financial stability. Claire said financial stability was Mr Abrahams’ greatest achievement. She added “when David came in, Channel 4 was a busted flush, he has restored the company’s financial fortunes.”

Tom Harrington was quoted in an article on Netflix, who seeks for a subscriber boost due to the increased competition with Amazon and Sky on local content. Tom said “in terms of original content, it does seem like Amazon is a more concerted effort than Netflix. In India, they’re doing eight separate programmes. They’re really looking to localise their content rather than what could be considered window dressing”.

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on the newspaper industry. As print's fortunes continue to decline, prominent publishers such as the New York Times are increasingly relying on their digital future. On both sides of the Atlantic publishers were reinvigorated by the globe-shaking news events of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. Claire Enders says that while the trends in the UK and US mirror each other, many newspaper groups would have fared better had they not wasted so much money on new digital ventures. She added “The remarkable story in the UK is that more titles have not followed the Independent’s lead and gone digital only. There is still enough scale to keep newspapers going.”

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on the book industry, where there are signs of a book renaissance all around. Waterstones, the UK book chain, returned to profit last year after suffering six years of losses. Sales of print books in the US rose by 3 per cent, while those of eBooks have fallen. Digital technology has not unleashed the same revolution in publishing that it has for music, television and news. The book, in digital or printed from, has been more stable than other kinds of media. Douglas said “we read books one at a time and each one takes us days”.

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on the expansion of Axel Springer news service, Upday, from four to 16 countries in Europe, as the German media group accelerates its shift into digital publishing. Upday, it’s a news aggregator that uses human editors as well as an algorithm to select news stories, it was developed as part of an exclusive partnership with Samsung and launched in Germany, Poland, the UK and France last February. Douglas said that the outlook for app advertising was promising. Adding that “Publishers are able to charge a premium for app advertising because the user is more loyal and engaged than the mobile web audience, and it is a much less intrusive experience, so we see this as positive.”

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on Bertelsmann, the German conglomerate, which owns 53 per cent, is looking to raise its stake in Penguin Random House. Especially after the UK professional publisher Pearson said it planned to sell its 47 per cent share in the company. However, it comes at a time when the digital revolution is utterly transforming traditional business models and rewriting the rule-book for industries, from music and media to travel and financial services. Moreover, when many believed publishing would also fall victim to digital disruption, Douglas said “the physical book market has turned out to be more resilient than anyone expected”.

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on the Murdoch family, and the gradual transfer of power from Rupert Murdoch to his sons, James and Lachlan. The brothers will manage the Sky bid with the aim of avoiding the fate of the last offer they made for the company. Back in 2010, the family couldn’t have handled things much worse, according to Claire Enders. Claire points to the aggressive posture taken at the time, particularly by James, who in his 2009 MacTaggart lecture lambasted the BBC, calling the scale of its activities “chilling” and describing the regulation of UK broadcasting as “authoritarianism” that limited choice and freedom of expression. Claire says this disdain carried over into the first Sky bid a year later, with “hectoring” phone calls by the Murdoch camp to government ministers. It was, she goes on, “an extraordinary farce”. The bid this time has been made in less charged circumstances. There has been no antagonism towards Ofcom or the government and no backdrop of a criminal investigation. Claire said “the previous bid was highly politicised but this bid is very deliberately not politicised at all”. The Murdochs, she adds, “are being patient and understanding and they are not hectoring”.