News
Wokingham.Today chooses PCS’s Knowledge Publish platform
Wokingham.Today is now using PCS’s Knowledge Publish software, and have just used it to launch a sister paper, Reading Today.
News Media
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.
Essential Resources
FEATURE
Returning to growth
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.
Best Practice in Publishing
News media
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…
INTERVIEW
Stand and deliver!
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.
INTERVIEW
Change before charge
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.
INTERVIEW
Ditching the generic
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.
INTERVIEW
The Observer’s premium future
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.
FEATURE
Opportunities & Threats: National News Media
What’s the outlook for national news media in 2024? Christian Broughton, CEO of The Independent, looks ahead.
FEATURE
Breathing new life into local media
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.
OPINION
We Need Trusted News Brands Now More Than Ever
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.
OUT & ABOUT WITH ALAN GEERE
Weekly does it
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.
All Articles
News
PAMCo release latest audience data
Today sees the release of ‘PAMCo Bridge 3 2021’ including updated print estimates for the first time in over a year.
News
London Press Club Awards – winners announced
The London Press Club this week announced the winners for its 2021 London Press Club Awards.
News
impact.com announces new product functionality through HubSpot partnership
impact.com, a global partnership management platform, has announced an integration with HubSpot, a leading CRM platform for scaling companies, which is now listed in the HubSpot App Marketplace.
News
UK ad spend to exceed £29bn this year
The latest Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report forecasts UK ad spend will grow by 24.8% this year to reach a total of £29.3bn.
News
Gold Key Media distributing world’s press at COP26
Specialist media distributors Gold Key Media will be distributing the world’s press to the 30,000 plus delegates attending next week’s COP26 Climate Change Summit in Glagow.
News
DC Thomson News Brands journey to the heart of Scotland’s climate crisis
DC Thomson’s daily newspapers are travelling across Scotland to report on how the climate crisis is impacting on local communities ahead of international COP26 talks in Glasgow.
Q&A
Print subs: 5 minutes with… Andrew Parkinson
Well-targeted sampling, with appropriate messaging, is one proven technique for acquiring new subscribers. We grab five minutes with NewsTeam Group’s Andrew Parkinson to talk about this and the overall outlook for subscriptions.
News
Comfort Eating with Grace Dent returns for second series
Comfort Eating with Grace Dent – the Guardian’s weekly food and celebrity guest podcast series supported by Ocado – is back for a second series.
News
Acast and BBC renew international podcast deal
Acast, a podcast platform, this week renewed its podcast arrangement with the BBC. The deal means that Acast will continue to monetise BBC podcasts through advertising outside of the UK.
News
AOP and Deloitte report digital publishing revenues up by 40.8%
Digital publishing revenues in the UK increased to £137.8m in Q2 2021, according to the latest quarterly Digital Publishers’ Revenue Index from the Association of Online Publishers and Deloitte.
News
The Guardian unveils Cop26 coverage plans
The Guardian says it is amplifying its commitment to environmental journalism with extensive coverage of the Co26 summit and the wider climate crisis.
News
Mexican publisher MiMorelia chooses Quintype
Quintype Technologies, a SaaS provider of digital publishing solutions, has onboarded its first Mexican client, MiMorelia.
Society President gives evidence to ‘online harms’ committee
The President of the Society of Editors, Alison Gow, has given evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee scrutinising the proposed Online Safety Bill.
News
Making a Difference to showcase Brilliant Journalism
The Making a Difference public vote for the best local and national news media campaigns of the past year is set to go live at the start of the NMA's Journalism Matters weeklong campaign on 1 November.
