diff --git a/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py b/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
index 048f9cd4fb..65c79381cb 100644
--- a/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
+++ b/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
@@ -1636,6 +1636,10 @@ class BasicNewsRecipe(Recipe):
                 title, url = None, obj
             else:
                 title, url = obj
+            if isinstance(title, bytes):
+                title = title.decode('utf-8')
+            if isinstance(url, bytes):
+                url = url.decode('utf-8')
             if url.startswith('feed://'):
                 url = 'http'+url[4:]
             self.report_progress(0, _('Fetching feed')+' %s...'%(title if title else url))