Q&A
5 minutes with… Katie and Thomas
This year’s co-chairs of the AOP’s Digital Publishing Awards, the Guardian’s Katie Le Ruez and Infopro Digital’s Thomas Lake, answer our questions about digital trends and the upcoming awards.
News Media
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.
Essential Resources
FEATURE
Returning to growth
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.
Best Practice in Publishing
News media
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…
INTERVIEW
Stand and deliver!
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.
INTERVIEW
Change before charge
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.
INTERVIEW
Ditching the generic
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.
INTERVIEW
The Observer’s premium future
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.
FEATURE
Opportunities & Threats: National News Media
What’s the outlook for national news media in 2024? Christian Broughton, CEO of The Independent, looks ahead.
FEATURE
Breathing new life into local media
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.
OPINION
We Need Trusted News Brands Now More Than Ever
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.
OUT & ABOUT WITH ALAN GEERE
Weekly does it
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.
All Articles
COLUMN
Speaking with one voice
There’s not much our national newspapers agree on, but they are united in their opposition to the government’s plans to weaken copyright protections to kick-start Britain’s AI sector.
News
Lancashire Life appoints Chantelle Dietz
Newsquest, a local media group, has appointed Chantelle Dietz as editor of Lancashire Life Magazine, effective 17 February 2025.
News
DailyMail+ launches in US and Canada
DailyMail.com has launched DailyMail+, offering readers in the US and Canada premium content curated by its journalists.
News
'Make it Fair' campaign launches
Hundreds of news brand titles are to run a campaign today as the government consultation ends.
News
AA names new president
Allwyn UK CEO, Andria Vidler, becomes Advertising Association president.
FEATURE
Can Keir Starmer find his inner Tom Cruise?
If you’ve understandably never considered Sir Keir Starmer as any sort of Tom Cruise figure, then now is the time to think again. Paul Connew looks at the PM’s mission-impossible week and how Fleet Street is covering it.
News
GumGum releases survey results
GumGum has released results of a study showing that 94% of consumers across the US, UK, and Canada prefer contextual ads over identity-based ads.
Q&A
Taking control of programmatic: 5 minutes with… Piero Pavone
There’s a sense that publishers are starting to take control of programmatic, but how are they doing it in practice, and can smaller publishers, up against larger entities including walled gardens, get in on the act? Preciso's Piero Pavone explains.
News
The Telegraph launches podcast in Ukrainian and Russian
The Telegraph has announced the launch of its podcast Ukraine: The Latest in Ukrainian and Russian using a new AI tool.
News
The Herald and Glasgow Times team up
Two of Glasgow’s newspapers have joined forces for the first time in their long histories to explore the future of the city as it celebrates its 850th anniversary.
News
NMA welcomes report
The News Media Association has welcomed a report on AI & copyright from the University of Cambridge's Minderoo Centre.
News
Podcast returns for second series
The Parched Pea Podcast, a podcast lifting the lid on the people of Preston, is returning for a second series.
COLUMN
How low will it go?
The US has been slipping down the World Press Freedom Index. Where's it likely to rank in the 2025 index?
News
The Press Awards 2025 – shortlist announced
The shortlist, across 37 categories, for the 2025 Press Awards, was unveiled last week.
