FEATURE
In your head
Podcasting is an incredibly intimate medium that can add an exciting new dimension to your output. But, writes Meg Carter, you need to set realistic expectations and plan properly.
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
FEATURE
First rough draft of history
The Guardian’s Martin Belam live blogged the recent momentous US election. It was exhausting and exhilarating…
FEATURE
Opportunities & Threats: National News Media
No-one looking at publishing at the moment can ignore, or underestimate, the impact of either The C Word or The B Word.
FEATURE
What to expect when pivoting to digital
As a professional publisher of a traditionally printed brand, you will need to quickly adjust to a new landscape if you’ve suddenly found yourself focused on or even fully pivoting to a digital distribution strategy.
FEATURE
Opportunities & Threats: Regional News Media
The biggest threat is, of course, the big C. Add Covid to the underlying Cs – consolidation, cost-cutting, circulation-collapse, closures, complacency – and the prognosis looks grim.
FEATURE
Simplifying digital transformation. A quick guide.
The pandemic has accelerated the need for digital transformation. And going digital can bring cost savings and new revenue, writes Full Fat Things’ Stewart Robinson.
News
Guardian launches pilot Schools Guide
The Guardian has launched a new interactive Schools Guide to help parents and children make better decisions when choosing a secondary school.
News
Bauer launches Junior Advertising Creative apprenticeship with Ogilvy UK
Bauer Academy has announced the launch of its new training programme ‘Junior Advertising Creative’, which will be delivered to Ogilvy UK’s apprentices in a programme branded ‘The Pipe’.
News
New national news title for Wales
Newsquest Media Group is launching a new national title for Wales. The National, Wales, will launch on St David’s Day, March 1, online and with a souvenir print edition.
News
Daily Express launches Green Britain campaign
The Daily Express has launched Daily Express Green Britain following a newly commissioned Sevanta ComRes survey revealing that more people are worried about saving the planet than local crime.
News
SoE supports campaign to free Belarusian journalist
The Society of Editors has added its voice to a campaign to free Belarusian journalist Andrei Aliaksandrau who has been arrested by the authorioties in that country.
News
Andy Philip is Appointed Political Editor for The Press & Journal
DC Thomson Media has announced that Andy Philip will be joining the business as Political Editor for The Press & Journal.
News
Mail’s Computers for Kids campaign raised £250,000 in first weekend
The Daily Mail has launched a major campaign to dramatically boost the supply of laptops to the schools that most need them.
News
Telegraph increases Saturday cover price but defers improved margin
The price of the Saturday edition of the Daily Telegraph is rising by 20p from February 5, but the publisher will be keeping back the improved retail margin for six months.
News
Guardian appoints Merope Mills
The Guardian has announced that Merope Mills has been appointed as editor of its new Saturday magazine.
