Welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Friday, 8 August.

Google published a blog post this week insisting that AI Overviews and AI Mode have not adversely impacted clickthroughs to websites.

In fact, it said, “average click quality has increased” – by which it means clicks where users stay on the website they have been directed to.

Lots of people who work in SEO are not convinced (if not somewhat miffed) by this blog and we share their comments here.

The Google update was short on data and effectively said: ‘Trust us, everything is fine.’

Barry Adams of Polemic Digital is among the SEO experts to take umbrage at the Google blog. He said : “Every single study done on the impact of AI Overviews, from every single source, shows the exact same thing: a significant drop in clicks from the search result to the listed pages.

“It appears Google lives in an entirely separate reality, one where they haven’t been the web’s largest parasite extracting value from almost every revenue stream while giving precious little in return.”

It is worth remembering that Google is the biggest UK media company by a country mile, making at least £20bn a year in British advertising revenue (by my estimate). According to Ipsos iris it accounts for 27.8bn page views per month in the UK, that’s a lot more the rest of the top ten UK online publishers combined.

Today we also report on a new petition calling for urgent access to Gaza for the world’s media. It looks to be the most widely supported such initiative yet, with nearly 1,000 journalists signing so far (including many famous names).

The Israel-Gaza war has been the most deadly conflict in recorded history for journalists, with around 180 killed according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Yesterday, a coalition of press freedom groups warned that remaining journalists in Gaza are now literally starving to death.

This new petition includes an open letter supporting journalists who defy restrictions from Israel and Egypt to enter Gaza unilaterally.

On Press Gazette

Google told to ‘stop the BS’ as it claims AI has not harmed website clickthroughs

Google's Liz Reid claims total click volume from search is "relatively stable" year on year.

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Telegraph showed ‘lack of care’ with headline: ‘Quarter of UK sex crimes carried out by foreigners’

Data was available and set out in article but headline was misleading, IPSO finds.

Read more

Nearly 1,000 journalists sign new petition urging end to Gaza ‘information blackout’

Move comes as press freedom groups say Gaza journalists starving to death.

Read more

SWNS expands into ‘creator economy’ with acquisition and new CEO

News agency giant SWNS Media Group has acquired digital content consultancy Creatorville to bring “social-first firepower” into the business. Creatorville CEO Sam Barcroft will now become chief executive of the merged business.

Read more

News in brief

Vox Media has cut 15 jobs at food title Eater despite chief executive Jim Bankoff saying in an interview with Puck last week that he did not anticipate any upcoming layoffs. (Press Gazette)

OpenAI launched GPT-5 yesterday, calling it a "major upgrade" from previous models which is said to be more powerful and less prone to hallucinations.(Semafor)

IPSO has made another ruling against the Express website about a misleading political headline - this time about farmers considering leaving the industry due to Rachel Reeves' 'inheritance raid'. (Press Gazette)

Journalist Alec Luhn, who went missing while hiking in Norway, has been found alive near Folgefonna National Park by a helicopter crew. He has been taken for medical treatment. (CNN)

Manchester Evening News editor Sarah Lester says the criminal investigation of a police officer alleged to have leaked footage of an airport assault to them is a "truly chilling moment": "what public interest is being served by pursuing this individual?" (MEN)

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