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.
A new global report on “soft censorship” warns of increasing threats to independent media posed by official use of financial leverage and regulatory powers to influence reporting and the very viability of media outlets.
UK digital readership habits have more in common with Denmark and Finland than the US and France, according to a new international survey by the Reuters Institute.
A global series of exclusive How To Spend It events with Ferran Adriá, one of the world’s most celebrated chefs, launched this week with a dinner at Pollen Street Social in London.
Bobby Ghosh, editor of Time International, will join Quartz next month as Managing Editor.
The Press Complaints Commission has ruled on a case brought by Northumbria Police against The Independent on Sunday and concluded that “sufficient remedial action offered” by the newspaper.
Square Up Media, one of London's leading publishing and multimedia companies has launched FestivalBaby.com – a new global festival portal devoted to all things festivals.
The World Editors Forum unveiled its 2014 Trends in Newsroom report at its annual meetings in Turin, Italy, on Tuesday, with the repercussions from the Snowden affair taking center stage.
The Express & Star Photographic Collection partnership has received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to digitise photographs dating back over the past century, it was announced yesterday.
The 2014 PPA Customer Direct Awards, which reward the best digital and direct marketing in UK magazine media, are officially open for entry.
Telegraph Media Group (TMG) has announced the winners of their inaugural Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competition for 2014.
Taylor & Francis Group has acquired Austin TX-based publisher Landes Bioscience Inc (LBI).
Johnston Press yesterday announced the launch of Scottish Independence, a new digital platform focused around the Scottish Independence debate. The site aggregates content from across the internet, including The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday, user eng
Print and digital combined are increasing audiences for newspapers globally, but digital revenues are not keeping pace, posing a risk for newspaper businesses and the societies they serve, the annual World Press Trends survey released Monday by WAN-I
RadioTimes.com, the television and radio news and listings site, has witnessed a 51.1% year on year growth between May 2013 and May 2014, with 3.71 million unique visitors coming to the site last month compared to 2.45 million the previous year.
Jailed Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega has been awarded the 2014 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
