The newspaper business was built for a world where one product served everyone and advertising paid for most of it. That model has gone. What replaces it is still being worked out title by title, from national groups to weeklies covering a single town.
Reader revenue is the clearest shift. Even Reach, which argued for free access for years, now puts some of its journalism behind a paywall, and the regional titles doing best changed their newsrooms before they asked anyone to pay. Ownership keeps changing too. National World rebuilt local editorships after years of centralisation, and the Observer is being reinvented as a premium print and digital title under new owners.
The strongest publishers understand the difference because they are not trying to be everything to everyone. They are trying to be essential to someone.
Chris Sherrard News media
Local news is where the pressure shows most. Millions of people now live without a dedicated local title, and new reader-funded and membership startups are moving into the gaps. Platforms are pulling back from news at the same time, which leaves trust and a direct relationship with readers as the assets that matter most.
Print hasn't disappeared either. Well-run weeklies still hold on to their readers, with circulation falling slowly while digital audiences grow.
Below you'll find some of our best feature articles on news media, from reader revenue and newsroom change to ownership, local news and trust, alongside our latest news and industry commentary.
Where is the growth opportunity for today’s publishers? Douglas McCabe tracks how the commercial model has evolved over the past fifty years and examines whether a better understanding of what online audiences want, will help drive future growth.
We asked Chris Sherrard, editor-in-chief of The Irish News, what does best practice publishing look like in news media? This is what he said…
After years of resisting paywalls, Reach is now launching them across its titles. But David Higgerson, Reach’s chief content officer, carefully avoided the word ‘U-turn’ when interviewed by Steve Dyson.
It’s one thing to think that readers should pay for your journalism, but the reality is that unless you improve your offering, then you will struggle to start charging for it, as DC Thomson Editor-in-Chief Frank O’Donnell tells Ciar Byrne.
How can you edit a regional newspaper when you never visit the area you’re writing about? By filling it with generic content, an approach that National World’s David Montgomery, the new owner of JPI Media, is rapidly doing away with.
Ray Snoddy talks to Co-CEO Rich Furness about the thinking behind Tortoise Media’s acquisition of the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper and about their plans for its future.
What’s the outlook for national news media in 2024? Christian Broughton, CEO of The Independent, looks ahead.
There is a new generation of entrepreneurs launching local media businesses, bringing with them new ideas on business models and funding. Phil Clark looks at some of the stand-out examples.
With Meta backing away from ‘news’ and AI accelerating the growth of disinformation, we need to redouble our efforts to safeguard access to quality journalism, says News Media Association Chief Executive Owen Meredith.
East Lothian is not just the best place to live – it has the best newsbrand too. Alan Geere heads over the border to find out what’s happening in the world of Scottish weeklies.
Marketing services is the fastest growing revenue stream for many publishers, says Affino CEO Markus Karlsson, and the way to optimise performance in this area is through automation.
Frank O’Donnell, editor in chief of The Press and Journal is standing down from March 31 and Craig Walker will take up a new role as editor, Aberdeen and the North.
The Society of Editors has condemned a decision by the Scottish National Party (SNP) to bar media access to its upcoming party leadership hustings.
Guardian News & Media (GNM) has announced the appointment of Imogen Fox as its new chief advertising officer.
The new hires in Germany come as the company attracts new clients in the DACH region.
Axate have announced two new titles to their network of news publishers: The Keswick Reminder and The Cumberland & Westmorland Herald.
NewstrAid has announced that they have extended their Cost of Living Crisis Fund to support growing number of industry colleagues struggling to pay bills.
The report shows that 74% of the UK’s leading media companies are currently seeing turnover growth, at an average rate of +10% year-on-year.
Independent TV has announced the release date of The Body in the Woods, a feature-length documentary by Bel Trew marking the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Society of Editors (SoE) has responded to the introduction by the government this week of amendments to the National Security Bill that ministers claim will “protect journalistic freedoms”.
At a ceremony at Stationers’ Hall on Wednesday, 22 February 2023 the Master of the Stationers’ Company, Moira Sleight, signed the Company’s Diversity Pledge.
London newsbrand The Evening Standard has strengthened its longstanding relationship with the British Fashion Council (BFC) by becoming an Associate Patron of the organisation.
Women are taken less seriously than men, says journalist Mary Ann Sieghart, who last year wrote a bestselling book about the problem. Ray Snoddy meets her.
For Prince Harry, the press is the cause of all of his and Meghan’s problems. As Dickon Ross points out, it’s not quite as simple as that.
Brands spend less on newsbrand advertising than they once did, but, says Dino Myers-Lamptey, newsbrands give commercial partners the space to be truly creative. Here, Dino picks out three highly creative and effective campaigns.
