News
Guardian US launches City Champions
Guardian US is launching a new special project which will report on inspiring people, groups and grassroots initiatives that are transforming lives in cities across the US.
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
How AI Can Support Editorial Teams by Taking Over Mundane Tasks
Journalists are under pressure to produce lots of great content, but find themselves spending too much time on repetitive, non-creative tasks. Help is at hand, says Sprylab’s Esra Celebi: let Artificial Intelligence take the strain.
News
SoE condemns Lib Dems' apparent effort to mimic local newspapers
The Society of Editors has condemned what appears to be a concerted effort by the Liberal Democrats to mislead readers and voters by disguising their election freesheet as imitation local newspapers.
News
New report: Media Labs, unlocking change
The continued rise of Media Labs is the focus of the latest 2019 Trends in Newsrooms report.
SUPPLIER PROFILE - AFFINO
The future of publishing? Use fewer platforms!
How many systems do you use across your business? Lots? In which case, you’ll not be benefiting from cost savings, better intel, automation, security and GDPR compliance. As Affino’s Markus Karlsson and Jonathan Collins tell us, less can be more…
INTERVIEW
Punching above its weight
The Jewish Chronicle has a circulation of just over 20,000 but, as the voice of the UK’s Jewish community since 1841, its voice carries far. Ray Snoddy talks to editor Stephen Pollard about the challenges he faces, both political and publishing.
COMMENT
2019 – how was it for you?
A year of political turmoil, but what happened in the publishing world? James Evelegh picks four things that stood out for him.
FEATURE
Newsletters: make them good and keep them relevant
With a rising tide of online disinformation, trivia and trolling, the dedicated email newsletter is being seen in a new light. The key to formulating the right newsletter strategy is to focus on quality and relevance (and not forgetting, metrics).
INTERVIEW
No man is an island
Staff numbers have more than halved since 2008 at Isle of Man Newspapers, while copy sales are down 40%. But editor Richard Butt remains one of the UK’s most positive journalists. Steve Dyson finds out why.
FEATURE
News vs Clicks
Are some regional newspapers getting their news values in a twist? Posting stories with little or no news value just to chase clicks or commercial revenues, makes Jon Griffin wonder what has become of the industry he entered over 40 years ago.
MEDIA FUTURES
The Big Picture
With digital upheaval, the publishing industry is smaller than it once was, but is still “massive”. Furthermore, writes Jim Bilton, there are pockets of growth.
News
Guardian Labs partners with Visa for multi-platform Xmas campaign
Guardian Labs is working with Visa on a campaign spanning the Guardian’s complete advertising portfolio, as part of Visa’s message to inspire people to shop locally this Christmas.
News
AOP research reveal drop in digital publishing revenues
Digital publishing revenues declined to £113.1m in Q2 2019, a 3.7% fall in comparison to Q2 2018, according to the latest Digital Publishers Revenue Index (DPRI).
REVIEW
Exciting stuff
At our recent webinar on editorial productivity, NFU’s Paul Bradley explained how changes they had made to their work processes had had a transformative effect on the team.
News
IAB Europe announces results of CMP compliance-checking
IAB Europe this week announced the public launch of its Consent Management Platform (CMP) Validator Tool and the results of its first round of tests for registered CMPs on its Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF).
