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.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced new legislation which would force social media groups to publicly identify anonymous trolls if they refuse to take down abusive posts.
Online safety resembles a game of whack-a-mole with “far too many moles to whack”, interim Ofcom chair Maggie Carver said.
The Guardian Australia has launched a machine learning tool which automates story evaluations for contextual ad targeting, seeking to move beyond cookies and other identifiers.
IPSO has announced the appointment of Matt Brown, Director of News and External Relations at TfL, and Michaela McAleer, of the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman, to its lay-majority Board.
Reach has launched Testimony, a true crime email newsletter focusing on unsolved cases covered by its regional reporters.
JPIMedia confirmed The Derbyshire Times has absorbed the Belper News, Ilkeston Advertiser and Ripley & Heanor News sites, a year after the weeklies lost their standalone print editions.
IPSO yesterday published ‘The Covid Report: How the British Press is Reporting on the Pandemic’, an analysis of press reporting during the height of the Covid period.
The Financial Times’ latest brand campaign, ‘Letters to this New World’, has been named in the top 25 ‘Most Contagious’ campaigns of the year.
Digital magazine and newspaper subscription app Readly has boosted its content portfolio with the addition of a number of popular titles across its markets over the last month.
The hedge fund owner of US newspaper group Tribune Publishing has made a $140m bid for US local media operator Lee Enterprises.
Paul Dacre has returned to Daily Mail owner DMGT as editor-in-chief of DMG Media, less than three weeks after stepping down as chair and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers to re-apply for the position of Ofcom chairman.
Archant, a regional news publisher, has appointed Cash Boyle as the editor of its new Live reporting team based in London.
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson criticised “cancel culture designed to silence diverse voices”, as he echoed Rupert Murdoch's criticism of Google and Facebook at the group's annual meeting.
The Financial Times has launched Working It, a new weekly podcast about the future of work, hosted by Isabel Berwick, the FT’s work and careers editor.
Martin Breen has been elected as President of the Society of Editors.
