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.
WAN-IFRA, the World Association of News Publishers and the World Editors Forum, have expressed grave concern over the arrest in Hong Kong of Jimmy Lai, the founder and publisher of Apple Daily.
Reach has made two new appointments in the North and Wales: Paul Coates is head of print and Dion Jones is the audience and content editor for North Wales Live and the Daily Post.
The Evening Standard is preparing to cut up to 115 staff following the impact of the coronavirus crisis on advertising revenue and distribution.
The Society of Editors is to add its voice to calls for the government to protect rulings that public notices must be carried in local newspapers.
HuffPost UK, part of media technology company Verizon Media, will this week be guest-edited by Black Ballad.
Reach on Thursday confirmed that it will resume publication of all five editions of the Manchester Weekly News on September 9th. Four other free titles will not resume publication.
Reach plc has announced a new editor structure for its Yorkshire and Humberside titles.
Samaritans has launched a new edition of its Media Guidelines featuring new advice and resources on how to report suicide and self-harm safely.
IPSO has announced the appointments of Charlotte Dewar as Chief Executive and Lara Fielden, Eddie Gray, Brendan McGinty, Charles Garside as members of its lay-majority Board.
Tracy De Groose is standing down as Executive Chair of Newsworks in September. Jo Allan has been appointed Managing Director.
The University of Gloucestershire has recruited two experienced journalists who once worked together in the same newsroom to teach the next generation of media professionals.
Cafeyn, a European information streaming service, has acquired Blendle, a leading Dutch news platform.
New analysis released this week by the World Media Group confirms that advertising campaigns viewed within a trusted editorial environment yield significantly better results.
The Times Newspaper this week published an apology, amended its article and agreed to pay libel damages and legal costs to Sultan Choudhury for wrongly suggesting that he held extremist views.
Over a hundred UK-based local news titles are to benefit from funding from a Journalism Emergency Relief Fund by Google News Initiative to ease the impact of Covid-19 on regional publishers.
