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.
ABC News Correspondent, ESPN Football Analyst and former NFL Quarterback Jesse Palmer has been announced as host of DailyMailTV, the new daily syndicated series from Stage 29 Productions and DailyMail.com, which will launch across the United States o
Investigative journalist Alexander Sokolov has been jailed for three and a half years by a Russian court yesterday. Sokolov has been convicted with involvement in a banned extremist group.
The latest results from company accounts show Gannett UK made a profit after tax of £44.81 million in 2016. This compares with the company's paper loss of £178 million in 2015.
Style, The Sunday Times’s weekly fashion and beauty magazine, has announced that Verity Parker will join as Associate Fashion Director.
News UK is launching a new initiative to identify and develop some of Britain’s best startup businesses.
Nikkei and the Financial Times announce the creation of the Nikkei-FT Asia Pacific Combined Commercial Team, a joint salesforce to leverage their respective networks in the Asia Pacific region.
Decision of the Complaints Committee made concerning a Mail on Sunday story headlined "Revealed: How top QC 'buried evidence of Met bribes to put innocent man in jail'"
The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast has returned with Max Rushden in the presenting chair.
Only half of UK online ad campaigns targeted at women actually reached them, according to a study of 60,000 campaigns across 20+ countries by measurement company Nielsen.
She joins from ESI Media, where she was group head of travel.
As The Atlantic continues to expand internationally, Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg has announced the addition of three journalists to its global reporting team.
Johnston Press plc has published its interim results for the 26 week period ended 1 July 2017.
A YouGov poll for the London Press Club has shown that traditional news sources of newspapers and television remain more influential among voters than social media.
Trinity Mirror has released its half-yearly financial report for the 26 weeks ended 2 July 2017.
In its third quarter Trading Update released on Thursday, DMGT reports that underlying revenue is in line with last year, with an underlying revenue decline of 1% in its B2B businesses and underlying revenue growth of 1% from dmg media.
