Dan Sabbagh



Profile:
Full name: Dan Sabbagh

Area of interest: The Media

Journals: The Times

Email: Contact page: Dan Sabbagh

Website:

Blog: Beehive City - covers the meeting of popular culture, technology, politics, sport, and the media business

Agent:

Networks: LinkedIn



Biography:
Education:

Career: Computing (magazine): senior reporter; Daily Telegraph: City reporter; The Times: Telecoms correspondent, media editor
 * A farewell to the Times's Dan Sabbagh - Media editor leaving News International title - meaning rival reporters no longer have to live in fear of being 'Sabbaghed' - The Guardian, 27th November, 2009

Current position: freelance

Viewpoints/Insight: Labour councillor in London Borough of Lambeth, August 1999 / May 2006

Controversy: Served with a criminal libel summons - Telegraph owners use French courts in libel case - in April 2005 (with Times editor Robert Thomson) by the Barclay Brothers. Summons later dropped following a brief Times' statement in February 2007. See also - why Barclays were wrong to sue by Roy Greenslade

Books:

Latest work:

TV/Radio:

Awards/Honours:

Advisory posts:

Speaking/Conferences:

Current debate: the heat on Rupert Murdoch'' - Media groups must raise the political temperature if they are to halt News Corp's bid to take full control of BSkyB - 11th October 2010 (The Guardian)



The Times:

 * column ended November 2009

Column remit: Media analysis

Section: Business

Role: Media editor of Times Online

Pen-name:

Email: dan.sabbagh@thetimes.co.uk

Website: Business Columnists

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Friday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles:

 * hype and expectation, but the Digital Economy Bill will hardly set the airwaves alight'' - The Digital Economy Bill has been drafted after two documents, umpteen Ofcom reviews and a mounting sense of cluelessness - 20th November 2009
 * for Test matches to be free could bowl a googly'' - David Davies will make recommendations on whether changes should be made to the events that have to be free to air - 13th November 2009
 * regulators would cut US down to size'' - Suddenly, it seems that any old transactions will get referred upwards, and perhaps be blocked for competition reasons - 6th November 2009
 * piracy tactics leave Tories with a dilemma'' - James Blunt, who wrote to Lord Mandelson on the vexed subject of internet piracy, called the internet service providers “drug pushers” in an e-mail that the minister saw fit to publish this week - 30th October
 * aims to mix its bedroom guitar heroes into a new breed of DJs'' - However, conflict between the makers of music games and the leading music labels over payment of royalties continues - 23rd October
 * trends produces a tyranny that is hard to shake'' - Online publications that are aimed at a professional audience have amply demonstrated an ability to retain subscriptions - 16th October 2009
 * v paid-for: the media's walking wounded fight it out'' - They're all swapping sides: papers turning into freesheets, TV channels that are thinking of charging. Will anyone win? - 9th October 2009
 * new chairman for ITV, with experience'' - There is a risk that ITV might appoint a chairman who might please the City but who has no obvious affinity for the medium - 2nd October 2009
 * owners sense an advertising recovery'' - An encouraging blip in September is suggesting that newspaper advertising is not far from returning to a growth pattern - 2nd October 2009
 * music’s troubles seemed so far away'' - The decline in music sales has been so relentless that some in the industry are demanding desperate measures - 25th September 2009
 * who stole Tories’ clothes is still naked'' - Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw launches radical shake-up for BBC but is unlikely to have enough time to see plans bear fruit - 18th September 2009
 * Tory dilemma: how to tame the BBC'' - Bringing the Corporation to heel is just one of the many broadcasting problems facing a future government - 11th September 2009
 * is on for risk-free broadcasting policy'' - Jeremy Hunt's policies on broadcasting make for good politics, but there are few votes to be won there - 11th September 2009
 * the shadow of Big Brother, will Andy Duncan be evicted?'' - Channel 4 remains a small, quirky broadcaster overly reliant on a reality show and with no clear commercial strategy - 31st July 2009
 * film industry needs a change of direction'' - If the state is going to come to the aid of our movies, the cash would be better spent on building production companies - 24th July 2009
 * volunteers for a TV station where you are?'' - 17th July 2009
 * set and match to sport online'' - Technology has been a boon to office staff who don't want to miss out on the joy of everyday life while they are at work - 10th July 2009
 * to harness the power of the TV star machine'' - All the cash is behind celebrity-based brands . . . The challenge for Cowell and Green is to harness enough of it - 3rd July 2009
 * the Ten O’Clock News to a night at the opera, Tony Hall is taking it to the people'' - ROH chief executive is keen to show that public money that his organisation receives helps widen audience for art form - 27th June 2009
 * perks paid for by you and me'' - expense claims of BBC executives reveal rather more than just a culture of occasional rewards for popular entertainers - 26th June 2009
 * broadband tax will never connect with the public'' - It's not the money, though; it is only 2 per cent on the average phone bill; but it is the principle that is annoying, particularly when it is imposed by a Government that is weak - 19th June 2009
 * to prove Mark Thompson’s tough talk about BBC pay'' - Graham Norton might say working for the BBC is a privilege and will work for less, but he might not provide the pay slips to prove it - 12th June 2009
 * ITV1 ... RTL ... Canvas'' - Andy Burnham hosted journalists this week in his ministerial office, ahead of the Digital Britain White Paper - 5th June 2009
 * needs a team effort to carry on'' - The sports broadcaster will have to do more, its financial problems are so serious that its chances can really only be rated at 50-50 - 5th June 2009
 * Britain got talent to run ITV?'' - The candidate best suited to take over the reins at the broadcaster has to be someone part geek, part creative, part salesman - 22nd May 2009
 * of authority proving a winner for Radio 3 under Roger Wright'' - Controller Roger Wright has kept this niche of classical music unashamedly specialist and serious for more than ten years - 22nd May 2009
 * focuses on paying readers'' - The magazine has survived with a commercial strategy that is as smart as it looks, with a worldwide sale of about 150,000 an issue - 15th May 2009
 * baby is first cultural victim'' - It would feel better if ITV kept The South Bank Show going, but this is not a time for broadcasters to guarantee poorly rating programmes - 8th May 2009
 * numbered for Independent’s independence'' - Eleven years after taking over left-leaning national newspaper The Independent, it looks like Sir Anthony O’Reilly will lose control - 1st May 2009
 * Boyle and the ITV dream?'' - In that one performance of I Dreamed a Dream, the 48-year-old unkissed Scot has created the world's first global television show - 24th April 2009
 * strong will survive, let the weak go to the wall'' - A crisis for local newspapers? What in fact is happening is that the weaker titles, the weaker companies, are the ones in trouble - 17th April 2009
 * viewers are hooked on drugs and shoot-ups'' - Britain’s elite are trapped in a love affair with American television as sensible people find pleasure in drug-dealing and shooting - 10th April 2009
 * little war and Peace in The Guardian boardroom'' - The Guardian Media Group could do with a bit more rational management, as a glance at its performance figures will show - 3rd April 2009
 * back to the 30s not the only way ahead'' - The New Deal of the Mind requires more than financial inspiration. It also crucially needs some creative thinking on policy - 27th March 2009
 * big farewell to old certainties'' - Those attending Tim Bowdler’s official retirement party were too polite and too mindful of their own share prices to be critical - 20th March 2009
 * Bragg sings out for short-changed stars'' - who controls and pays for intellectual property in an era when workers who use their brain dominate the economy? - 13th March 2009
 * British are coming - and bringing Wife Swap'' - One might complain that a slew of reality shows hardly represents the high point of British civilisation... - 27th February 2009
 * Media disproves myth that trade press will skip media pain'' - The publisher's model, in which subscription titles dominate, makes it vulnerable because of its dependence on advertising - 21st February 2009
 * the narwhals, but Blue Peter is facing extinction'' - If anybody symbolises what everybody agrees the BBC should be about, it’s Sir David Attenborough - 13th February 2009
 * policy could do with a dose of ambition'' - What Digital Britain lacked, amid the flurry of initiatives, was any sense of what the end of the next decade might look like - 6th February 2009
 * internet is just the ticket'' - Not everybody likes the idea of a ticket being a commodity, but touting is hard to stamp out and there are times when it is necessary - 6th February 2009 (Wikipedia viagogo)
 * the BBC was right not to show the Gaza charity appeal'' - Conversations about the Middle East can become personal and sometimes heated alarmingly quickly, even among friends - 30th January 2009
 * Channel 4 and BBC whisper sweet nothings'' - The real loser in this saga of unrequited love among broadcasters is Five, where advertising revenues are down 27 per cent - 23rd January 2009
 * Evening Standard's Jonathan Harmsworth recognises reality'' - The Evening Standard has failed to make money for years and has become more vulnerable as freesheets have bitten into its audience - 16th January 2009
 * back to the future is a hazardous enterprise'' - Buying into Facebook at an implied $25 billion is as much an optimistic purchase as splashing out on a pair of red jeans - 9th January 2009
 * 4 on knife-edge'' - Culture Secretary Andy Burnham ponders funding - 2nd January 2009
 * the front page: there could be an advert'' - It's hard to know what to look forward to in 2009 — but it is obvious in newspapers the big story will be about one thing: debt - 19th December 2008
 * options for BBC in C4 quest'' - Some of the BBC licence fee may be lopped off for Channel 4 or its commercial arm, Worldwide, may be merged into '4 Worldwide' - 12th December 2008
 * calls the tune to beat economic malaise'' - In music, what happens in the UK matters, and Britain's musical influence on the US has not been greater since The Beatles - 5th December 2008
 * planning is crucial in fight for survival'' - Better to think ahead five years than panic and stock up on cheap sweets in pursuit of some short-term strategy delivering a headline that only lasts until tomorrow - 28th November 2008
 * word still has the power'' - One thing that the Sun's Haringey council petition shows is that it is the mass media that generate the impulse to complain - 21st November 2008
 * of The Independent is looking fragile'' - The Independent will lose a little over £10m this year - an unhelpful cash-drain on a parent company burdened with £1.2bn of debt - 14th November 2008
 * this high-speed business, a week of dithering is a luxury no one can afford'' - What a shambles! Under public pressure, the BBC has lost one of its star names and its best radio controller – and all without a semblance of a sensible process - 31st October 2008
 * and Channel 4 need new ways to survive'' - 17th October 2008
 * Peston: the prophet who can move markets'' - on the influence of the BBC's business editor and poster boy of the financial crisis - 10th October 2008
 * times may change how we all get our kicks'' - Certainly, for the moment, the entertainment business is showing resilience amid the crunch, not just in the UK, but in the US - 3rd October 2008
 * the Lone Ranger rescue Entertainment Rights?'' - 27th September 2008
 * summarises political situation'' - The short-term volatility of Lloyds shares is a good indicator of current politics; it is harder to see farther than a fortnight away - 19th September 2008
 * employs wrong tactics for Croatia game'' - 12th September 2008
 * the deluded truly believe that the worst is over'' - 5th September 2008
 * future of TV comedy is no laughing matter'' - As audiences fragment, the question is: how long can stand-up comedy on TV last? - 22nd August 2008
 * advertisers target new technology'' - Life on the sofa could be very different in five years for the glassy-eyed viewer as media companies vie for their attention - 15th August 2008
 * life, but not as we knew it'' - Ofcom's figures show that despite all the distractions offered by the internet, Britons remain wedded to the small screen - 14th August 2008
 * might have been for ITV'' - Virgin Media's generous bid offered the prospect of a combination of its more defensive subscription revenues with ITV’s content - 8th August 2008
 * the download minefield'' - Three strikes and we'll give your broadband a squeeze may not sound like punishment, but it is actually a sensible idea - 25th July 2008



Links:

 * Wikipedia biog.