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.
Guardian News and Media (GNM) has launched Guardian Labs - its branded content and innovation agency - which offers brands bold and compelling new ways to tell their stories and engage with Guardian audiences.
Trinity Mirror is launching an editorial partnership with blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan, which will see content run in the Daily Mirror and across a number of its regional titles. The collaboration coincides with Anthony Nolan’s 40th anniversary
In response to NS representations, the Principal Registry of the Family Division has instructed its counter teams to restore the ‘on the day’ search for divorce decree absolutes for members of the press.
The Press Complaints Commission has upheld a complaint against the Sunday World newspaper after the newspaper published a previous upheld adjudication without agreeing prominence with the PCC in advance.
Following a strategic review of UBM Awards & Partnerships undertaken in late 2013, UBM has now decided to absorb certain of its awards events into other UBM divisions.
Dennis Publishing and Motivate, one of the Gulf’s leading publishers of magazines and books, have entered an agreement to launch a licensed edition of The Week in the Middle East.
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, and Alan Rusbridger, editor-in chief of Guardian News & Media, are the first speakers to be announced for Shift 2014, Newsworks’ second half-day conference for the national newspaper industry.
Yesterday, to mark Safer Internet Day, Egmont joined organisations and schools around the world to take a united stand to promote the safe and responsible use of online technology and mobile phones to children, young people and their communities.
Telegraph Media Group (TMG) has demonstrated its continued investment and commitment to the film industry through two separate partnerships, announced yesterday.
Nichola Glossop, learning and development manager, Local World, has been appointed as head of training with immediate effect.
Access to Research, a pilot initiative to give free, walk-in access to a wide range of academic articles and research in public libraries across the UK, launched this month with the support of Taylor & Francis Group.
The first Hong Kong students of the Financial Times Non-Executive Director Diploma (NED) – a formally accredited, post-graduate level qualification for aspiring and existing non executive directors – graduated on February 11th.
Shane Naughton has joined The Economist Group as its new chief financial officer.
The National Readership Survey (NRS) has confirmed plans to introduce mobile and tablet readership measurement to NRS PADD during 2014.
Local Media Group, Inc. (LMG), which operates community publishers across the US, has chosen MPP Global Solutions to deliver a centralized customer relationship management (CRM), payments and eCommerce platform to house customer data for both free an
