Hearts & Minds: Leaking Justice?

Almost 40 per cent of UK takeovers were leaked to the media before they were announced in the 14 months to May this year, says the Financial Conduct Authority. Worldwide in 2024 the figure was 31 per cent, according to another research report. The City watchdog is concerned the stock market is getting leakier.

Doubtless this provoked wry smiles from those old enough to remember the ‘Friday night drop’, the practice of companies choosing to tell Sunday newspapers after the market closed on a Friday what they were planning to announce on the Monday. It was a way of trailing the news, of softening up investors for what was to come. As soon as trading ceased, comms advisors would be on the phone to their journalist contacts. So standard was the behaviour that business editors would leave spaces open in their schedules, confident in the knowledge that by Friday evening they would be filled – frequently they were be tipped off in advance to expect ‘something big’.

That practice was outlawed but that’s not say it has not continued, albeit in another form, as the numbers show. Now, they’re billed as ‘leaks’, except they’re not of course. Often, these are authorised but entirely deniable plants. They’re used tactically, to talk up something, to raise interest, to get across a particular angle.

Be warned, though, not only is the process fraught with risk – the authorities are again intent on cracking down – but it may not necessarily be as clever as all that. Journalists love them, they’re hungry for them. That is, journalists generally, as a breed. Individually, on a story, only one journalist likes it and that is the recipient. The rest hate it and the genius ruse can quickly unravel.

This is how. The first thing that happens when a report breaks is that other newspapers question where it came from. They will scrutinise the piece for ‘fingerprints’ and if they think they’ve identified the source – it will usually be apparent from who the item suits – they will blame them. They’re annoyed because they were not chosen; they will automatically seek to dismiss it and will be critical. It is not in their interests to promote someone else’s ‘exclusive’. A favour to one journalist and title has backfired into alienating their rivals who also who cover that sector, plus their editors and titles. So not that smart after all.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.