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.
IPC Media has revealed a new positioning for IPC Advertising - Inspired Conversations – which, says IPC, captures just how relevant IPC’s famous brands are to consumers in this new age of highly interactive engagement, and how powerful they are at ig
Guardian News & Media has unveiled a new platform that will allow people from around the world to submit their content directly to Guardian journalists.
IPC Media brands Nuts.co.uk, Goodtoknow.co.uk and NME.com have secured the top positions in their categories in the Experian Hitwise Top 10 Awards 2012.
The Financial Times has announced the launch of FT Executive Coaching, a bespoke service run by FT Career Management, which delivers high quality content, events and job opportunities to senior level executives across the globe.
Telegraph Media Group in the UK, Verdens Gang in Norway, Dagens Nyheter in Sweden and Kleine Zeitung in Austria are among the winners of the first European Digital Media Awards, presented on 15 April in a ceremony in London by the World Association o
Imagine Publishing’s ‘Content is King’ strategy has taken another step forward with news that the company’s premier knowledge title, How It Works, has launched on Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform.
The Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design this week welcomed its first students on the inaugural ten-week Vogue Fashion Certificate.
Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg will be speaking at an exclusive Times event today.
In a UK media first, say the publishers, ELLE UK and WSM Communications have produced an interactive tablet advert to promote the Levis 501 S/S 13 collection.
The Daily Record is launching The Aberdonian on Thursday, a new free weekly newspaper for Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland.
Dennis Publishing staff took part in a charity tree-planting expedition in a bid to help plant the largest broadleaf tree forest in Britain.
Guardian News & Media and Faber and Faber have announced a new publishing imprint - Guardian Faber.
The current Managing Director of Kelsey Publishing, Steve Wright, is being promoted to Chief Executive Officer. Steve is being replaced as MD by Mandy Thwaites.
2012 closed out on a positive note for the ad industry: globally, ad spend increased 3.2 percent year-over-year to $557 billion, according to Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report.
Publishing company DC Thomson has appointed Muirfield Contracts for the refurbishment of its Dundee headquarters.
