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.
An influential group of mainstream Tories have written a letter in the Guardian warning that proposals being put forward by the newspaper industry "risk being an unstable model destined to fail".
The winners of the 2012 Guardian Student Media Awards were announced this week at a ceremony in London, hosted by BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt.
The Johnston Press fixed price recruitment service, www.TheSmartList.co.uk, has teamed up with CVSeeMe to provide what they describe as a unique recruitment experience for businesses and HR professionals across the country.
The New Talent Awards promote and reward excellence by recognising the brightest and best new stars in the magazine and business media industry.
Robert Dark, Future Publishing’s Head of Production and Procurement, has been appointed Chairman of the PPA’s Environment Committee.
Apps World is heading to San Francisco for its tech city debut in February 2013.
The Newspaper Society has responded to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s invitation to submit evidence to its inquiry into Support for the creative economy, which was launched on 10 October.
Reece Littlejohn has been appointed as Head of Marketing for Bauer Media’s Men’s, Music and Film portfolio replacing Patrick Horton who recently moved to Bauer’s Specialist Division as Marketing Director.
Among all the world’s media markets, the size and state of African media are least understood, due to a lack of viable data and research, says WAN-IFRA.
This week sees the release of the Christmas Gift Guide campaign for Superdrug produced by content marketing agency River.
A new app, based on the children’s brand, The Koala Brothers is now available in the UK on iPad and iPhone.
UBM Live and UBM Tech – the UBM businesses behind IFSEC, TFM&A and InformationWeek – have announced the launch of Big Data Republic, a community for those dealing with transforming their businesses with big data.
As part of its ‘Content is King’ strategy, Imagine Publishing has launched the new face of its digital editions website, GreatDigitalMags.com.
Nuffield Health has joined with Marie Claire to run a print ad embedded with a near-field communications (NFC) tag, giving readers access to additional content on their smartphones.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and global information solutions provider, Minesoft, have today announced the launch of their Minesoft Inspec platform.
