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.
TSL Education, the global digital education business has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by TPG Capital LLP from Charterhouse Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum.
This week, at its Business4Better event at Olympia, UBM plc has announced its support for Give More, a UK-wide, independent campaign which encourages everyone in the UK to give more to charities and good causes at a time when our communities are stru
Mail Connected has unveiled new research which “proves” both Mail newspaper and Mail Online readers share huge influence within larger than average family and social networks.
Hacked Off has welcomed the decision by the Culture Select Committee to recall Rupert Murdoch.
YUDU has announced plans to migrate the company’s cloud infrastructure to PEER 1 Hosting’s Building 5000, which, it says, is the United Kingdom’s most power-efficient datacenter.
Magnificent Murray, a new oneshot from Sport Media, goes on sale 13 July, priced £4.99.
Publishing has come to the fore at Stationers’ Hall with the election of the new Master of the Stationer’s Company Tom Hempenstall, which was announced last week.
Telegraph Media Group (TMG) has announced it has launched The Telegraph for Kindle Fire, The Telegraph’s fourth digital edition, building on the success of the Kindle e-reader, iPad and Windows8 application launches.
Following a return to pre-recession levels in 2012, UK advertising spend continued to show healthy growth in the first quarter of 2013, according to the latest Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report.
Marc Reeves has been appointed to the newly-created position of publishing director, Trinity Mirror Midlands.
Mills & Boon, the publisher of romantic fiction, has announced the publication of Cosmo Red-Hot Reads, a new ebook series.
The newspaper and magazine industry has published draft constitutional documents setting out the structure and rules of their proposed new body: the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
EMAP, the content, subscription and networking business, has appointed Eric Musgrave as Editorial Director for Drapers, the fashion industry title.
Buxton Mineral Water, The England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) official water supplier, has signed an international deal with News UK Commercial to promote its ‘Who’s Got The Bottle’ campaign during this year’s Ashes Test series.
Archant London has signed a deal as media partner for the London leg of Intel’s Global ‘experience’ tour.
