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.
There was a strange sighting at the PPA Customer Direct conference in November – a newspaper man, in the shape of Robert Bridge, chief customer officer at Telegraph Media Group. He was there to give the keynote presentation on the Telegraph’s new cus
When he gave the annual lecture at November’s Society of Editors conference, Google executive Ronan Harris ignited a debate that will continue throughout this year. The issue? Is Google good or bad overall for the news industry? Ray Snoddy reports.
AOP and Deloitte reveal a 6.7% increase in publisher revenue from £77.6m in Q3 2016 to £82.8 in Q3 2017, coupled with a boost in industry confidence.
Two leading cross-industry standards bodies in the UK and US this week announced they are aligning many of their key initiatives to create a consistent approach to tackling the big issues facing digital advertising and to increase industry adoption.
Kent residents with Amazon Alexa-enabled devices now have access to county news from KM Group’s radio station, kmfm.
The South Wirral Standard is to rebrand from this week to the Ellesmere Port & Neston Standard.
ESI Media’s Evening Standard has launched GO London to give time-strapped Londoners an online, curated guide to the best the capital has to offer.
dmg media advertising has appointed former MailOnline Commercial Editor and Daily Mail journalist Anne Shooter as Head of Commercial partnerships within its new single sales unit, encompassing the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, MailOnline, Metro and Met
Canvasflow has announced the release of Canvasflow 3.0, its cloud-based content authoring and management platform.
Georgia Toffolo, winner of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, joins The Sunday Times Style magazine.
Daily Mail and General Trust reports revenue up 2% on an underlying basis in the first three months of FY 2018. Outlook for the year is unchanged and in line with current market expectations, says the company.
Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT) last week announced that it has appointed Rob Chandhok as Group Chief Technology Officer.
The Midland News Association (MNA) has launched a new digital agency to meet the demand for high quality search marketing services.
The 2018 ASICS Greater Manchester Marathon will be broadcast live to tens of thousands of viewers thanks to a partnership with MEN Media.
The Association for Online Publishing (AOP) yesterday announced that News UK has officially joined its board.
