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.
Trinity Mirror has released a series of nostalgia magazines featuring collections of lost photographs capturing the history of Britain in words, pictures and headlines going back over 150 years.
The Telegraph has announced the launch of a new, weekly supplement, Telegraph Total Football, in partnership with Sky Sports, adding a new section to The Telegraph’s sports offering and reinforcing its commitment to providing the best sporting covera
The Government announced its intention last week to regulate the private investigation industry by requiring individuals operating as private investigators to hold a licence from the Security Industry Authority.
Nuts magazine has announced that it will not modesty bag the magazine at retail and as a result - according to the Co-op’s ultimatum – will be delisted from their stores from September.
Immediate Media Co has announced Charlie Lyon as the new Editor of its Hair Portfolio.
T3 has announced that Ford SYNC, Ford’s in-car technology, has signed up as headline sponsor of the T3 Gadget Awards. EE and Qualcomm, have both returned as associate sponsors for a fifth year.
ABC, the industry-owned auditor for the media industry in the UK & Ireland, has been approved by the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) as an official Certification Provider for the EU Self-Regulatory Programme for Online Behavi
Two former Journalism Diversity Fund recipients have achieved senior reporter status after passing the National Qualification for Journalists (NQJ).
Fifty journalists are celebrating achieving senior status after passing the National Qualification in Journalism (NQJ) - a pass rate of 49 per cent.
Responding to the announcement by The Guardian that it has rejected the IPSO scheme proposed by the Press Standards Board of Finance (PressBoF), Professor Brian Cathcart, Executive Director of Hacked Off said:
MPP Global Solutions have been shortlisted for The BlackBerry Business Enabler of the Year at this year's National Business Awards.
Aberdeen Journals Ltd has named Damian Bates as its new Editor-in-Chief.
Richard Caseby, the Managing Editor of The Sun, is leaving after 24 years with News UK and News International.
Grazia magazine, Bauer Media’s weekly glossy for upscale women, has announced an exclusive four-week partnership with Starbucks – ‘It’s a Grazia Starbucks summer’ – starting 6th August.
The Washington Post Co. agreed Monday to sell its flagship newspaper to Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, ending the Graham family’s stewardship of one of America’s leading news organizations after four generations.
