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.
Over the past year, Johnston Press has been relaunching the websites of its major regional titles and the early indicators, in terms of traffic and ad revenue, are encouraging. Ciar Byrne talks to Jeff Moriarty, chief digital and product officer, a
Archant has ambitious plans and it’s in a hurry. The company’s stated aim is to be the best local media company in the UK by the end of 2017. The clock’s ticking. Central to achieving this goal, says Will Hattam, is the company’s marketing department
The rise and rise of native advertising has been one of the big media stories of the last few years and the trend shows no signs of abating. Tim Cain looks at where native goes from here.
The discovery of an old media magazine from 1976 prompted a unique analysis of regional newspaper circulation trends over the last four decades. Steve Dyson digs out the results.
Quartz describes its app as “news in a whole new way”. A big claim, but accurate. It takes some getting used to, says Paul Hood, but he, for one, is a fan!
A Londoner in New York, Will Lewis has been CEO of Dow Jones, publishers of the Wall Street Journal, since 2014. Surveying the US newspaper scene, the former Daily Telegraph editor tells Ray Snoddy that the outlook is incredibly bright for some title
UK publishers have seen their total annual digital revenues grow by 62% over the last four years, according to analysis from the Digital Publishers Revenue Index (DPRI), a quarterly report of UK publishers from the Association of Online Publishers (A
Magnus Llewellin will be joining The Times as Scottish editor.
Trinity Mirror regional centres have been hit with staff redundancies and reorganisation targeting Kent, Essex, Birmingham, Coventry, Merseyside and North Wales, says the NUJ.
Senior marketers in the UK are overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the UK, according to a survey by The Marketing Society, in partnership with RadiumOne.
PCS has announced its latest partnership, with DC Thomson, for the supply and implementation of its NCS circulation system.
DMGT has reported revenues of £950 million for the six months to 31 March compared with £922 million for the prior half year, representing, says the company, an increase of 3% or -1% on an underlying basis.
International Business Times has announced several new additions to its roster of columnists for its UK edition, under the helm of comment editor, Laura Davis.
The Financial Times has announced the appointment of Arthur Beesley as its European diplomatic correspondent.
WSJ. Custom Studios has expanded its footprint in Europe with the unveiling of the first of a new breed of content campaigns, developed by its London team, for global cyber security firm Bitdefender.
