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.
Bob Satchwell, the executive director of the Society of Editors has led concerns that the use of celebrity campaigners is at risk of undermining Lord Justice Leveson's impending report into the culture, practice and ethics of the press.
Participants at the African Media Leaders Forum in Dakar, Senegal, last week heard how twinning partnerships between African newspapers, and newspapers elsewhere, are leading the way to developing successful business strategies and strengthening fina
WIRED magazine has announced the first ever WIRED Pop-Up Store in the UK, sponsored by Samsung Smart TV.
The NFRN launched its 2013 public affairs agenda in the prestigious surroundings of the Churchill Room of the House of Commons on Wednesday November 7th when parliamentarians listened to the key areas of concern for independent newsagents and conveni
Informa’s 4th annual Green Week once again celebrated initiatives around the Group that make it a greener company.
Last year, Neil Fowler argued for radical action if regional and local newspapers across the United Kingdom were to have a future. Some re-arranging of the deck-chairs has taken place, but not everything is inspiring confidence. Neil takes a look at
Could digital be the saviour of print? The last twelve months have seen increasing numbers of publishers starting to use augmented reality technology to add an extra dimension to their print offering, and readers have responded positively. Jo Bowman
The reign of Tom Toumazis at the top of Mecom, the European newspaper group may, at just over a year, be one of the shortest on record at a major publisher. But, as he tells Ray Snoddy, he remains optimistic about the future of newspapers.
Gulp… At time of writing, there are four ‘quality’ print newspapers based in London. By the time you read this, who knows? Because, as Peter Preston writes, the qualities are in a precarious position.
The AOP has recently published its Content and Trends Census 2012. As always, the Census provides a great deal of valuable insight into digital publishing trends. Tim Cain, head of research and insight at the AOP, summarises the main findings.
As publishers, we either sit on, or have access to, vast data sets, which, if manipulated efficiently and imaginatively, present considerable commercial opportunity. Yet, the size and complexity of the data pool and the shortcomings of existing platf
The 57th Distripress Congress, which took place in Glasgow at the beginning of October, kicked off with the Forum Day. Distripress managing director David Owen summarises the main talking points from the various sessions.
On 12 October, the AOP held their 2012 digital publishing summit at the Westminster Bridge Park Plaza hotel in London. The theme of the day was ‘unleashing your inner startup’. James Evelegh went along to find out more.
Future plc, the international specialist media group and leading digital publisher, has appointed Rob Elms as Head of a new Central Agency Team and Nick Weatherall as Advertising Sales Director – Entertainment, overseeing the Games, Film and Music Gr
On November 6 and 7, the Future Media Lab. hosted the first European conference on innovative media funding in Ghent, Belgium.
