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.
Distripress, the international press association, commissioned Wessenden Marketing to undertake a review of global press trends and of the key issues facing supply chains around the world - The Distripress Circulation Monitor (DCM). Jim Bilton summar
A new year is a time for bold resolutions, for hope, confidence and determination to make the coming year better than the one just gone. Err… not in the world of the regional press, where Peter Sands finds a mood of despondency and where ‘more of the
In 2009, the Evening Standard’s ABC stood at 256k – it’s now over 900k. Removing the cover price was obviously the clincher, but there’s no denying the new-found spring in the Standard’s step. As editor Sarah Sands tells Ray Snoddy, no one has to pic
The publisher of the Guardian has invested in Founders Factory, a company that funds technology startups across a range of industries launched by lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman.
Dawson Media Direct has announced a new international press provision contract with Gulf Air.
News of a long awaited price increase on the Daily Mail has been soured, says the NFRN, after it learned that the margin that retailers earn from the newspaper is being cut from 23.3 per cent to 22.4 per cent.
Angus McBride has been appointed as General Counsel, News UK, and will oversee all legal activity and compliance for the business that publishes The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday and the Times Literary Supplement.
Guardian Media Group (GMG) has announced that Baroness Gail Rebuck and Jimmy Wales have joined the GMG board as non-executive directors with immediate effect.
Ad blocking is a growing threat to online business models, and one that publishers need address. What steps are they taking to win back readers who are already ad blocking? How can the user experience be improved? What are the key implications concer
In 2012, DMGT made a public commitment to reduce the Group's carbon footprint by 10% over three years. This week DMGT published results of the progress made.
The launch of the new Times of London Weekly app is the second major product release for The App Lab using the next generation Adobe DPS platform.
A new voice for European publishers, News Media Europe, with a combined worth of over 12 billion euros and more than 2,100 titles, has launched.
Financial Times journalists are poised for a 24-hour strike, the first in 30 years, as talks broke down over the management’s refusal to honour pension commitments following the newspaper’s sale to Nikkei, says the NUJ.
Guardian News & Media has announced the appointment of Martin Belam as social and new formats editor.
Five Trinity Mirror titles this week launched editorial campaigns encouraging young professionals and career changers to consider teaching.
