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.
Apple News Plus is coming to the UK this autumn. Are you ready? Are you fully up to speed on what Apple’s new service means for publishers? Sprylab’s Esra Celebi has eight key facts that publishers need to know now.
News UK have announced a new digital milestone with The Times and The Sunday Times surpassing 300,000 digital-only paid subscribers.
Factfulness, by Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Ola Rosling, is a superb book. James Evelegh thinks it should be on every publisher’s reading list.
Guardian Media Group (GMG) this week announced statutory results for the 12 months to 31 March 2019.
DC Thomson Media has introduced the role of Chief Revenue Officer to the business, to focus on commercial activities that generate revenue across the newspaper and magazine teams.
The Society of Editors has expressed concerns over comments made by the justice secretary, seeming to call for the introduction of anonymity for some people arrested on serious charges.
Edward Faulks QC, Lord Faulks, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation, with effect from 1 January 2020.
Reach plc has announced that Simon Fox will be stepping down from his position as chief executive on 16 August.
A record 93 winners were presented with their Print Futures Awards on 24 July at a reception at the House of Lords hosted by Lord Black of Brentwood.
The Society of Editors has welcomed the announcement on Sunday (July 21) of a £2m government pilot fund to support public interest journalism, but has sounded a word of warning.
In an age of information overload, with so much of it of dubious provenance, the i newspaper has found a niche with its commitment to brevity, quality and not telling its readers what to think. Editor Oliver Duff talks to Ray Snoddy.
Everyone’s talking about artificial intelligence and how it will change the world. But what does it mean for publishers? What difference can it make to our day-to-day operations and the success of our businesses? A lot!, says Hanifa Dungarwalla.
On 10 June, John Witherow, editor of The Times, gave this year’s Society of Editors Bob Satchwell Lecture at Stationers’ Hall in London. This is an abridged version of his talk.
Getting people to spend more time on your site and to do the things you want them to do, is what publishers are increasingly focused on. John Barnes looks at how you measure engagement, and then how you go about improving it.
With the rise of digital, few journalists now give much thought to typography, preferring to leave it to the tekkies. This is a shame, writes Peter Sands, because font choices can make all the difference to the success, or otherwise, of your title.
