News
New launch from Puzzler Media
Puzzler Media, the leading puzzle publisher, has announced a brand new launch into the puzzle category.
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
News
Prog Magazine launches music awards
Prog Magazine has announced the first annual Progressive Music Awards, presented by Orange Amplification, which will take place at Kew Gardens, London on Wednesday 5th September.
News
Olympic torch brings sales success to Cumbria
The Olympic flame was greeted around Cumbria by excited crowds during its journey through the region and CN Group have reported their highest sales figures for 13 months.
FEATURE
Losing Money
Losing money in any business is a nightmare. If you are in this unfortunate position in magazine publishing, every issue that you publish reminds you of your loss maker. Weekly is more frightening than monthly! Piers Russell-Cobb looks at turnaround
FEATURE
Time to die
Ross Sturley marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of a sci-fi classic, by taking one of his periodic looks at the present state and likely future of business to business publishing.
FEATURE
Too Many Covers Lost In The Crowd
The PPA recently added a Cover of the Year category to its annual awards. Peter Jackson takes this opportunity to look at cover trends in general and what the PPA nominated covers tell us about the current state of front cover design.
FEATURE
Light at the end of the tunnel?
The local newspaper industry is going through a torrid time at the moment, with circulation falls, title and edition closures and redundancies. And, while there are likely to be more tough times ahead, writes Ciaran O’Neill, there are also reasons to
FEATURE
Magazine Extensions On Steroids (Part 2): E-Commerce
In this second in a series on US consumer magazine publishers’ burgeoning brand extensions, Karlene Lukovitz looks at the growing number of initiatives to partner with - or become - e-tailers.
FEATURE
Facebook Wall Flowers
Are your current tweets, posts and LinkedIn updates acting anti-social? If so, says Andrew Majewski, here’s how to mingle more effectively.
FEATURE
Specialist Media Insights 2012
Specialist Media Insights polls the views of over 160 niche publishers, and is a joint project between the Specialist Media Show and Wessenden Marketing, sponsored by Brad Insight and supported by InPublishing. The research was carried out in March 2
FEATURE
Specialist Media Conference 2012
How can a niche publisher make sense of the opportunities around digital? With so many options, it can be hard to prioritise, especially when resources are limited. There was some welcome direction for independent publishers at the Specialist Media C
FEATURE
Digital Back Office - the sting in digital’s tail
For most publishers, digital transformation has only penetrated skin deep. Core back office processes are still based on legacy systems and are creaking under the strain. Unless this issue is addressed, according to recent research from Deloitte, the
FEATURE
Search – Now It’s about the User Not Just Technology
The business of search has changed radically over the past few years, as users have become more mobile, more sociable and a lot more impatient. In response, the search companies have made dramatic changes to the way they operate and it’s vital, write
FEATURE
The Nationals on iPad
Peter Sands casts a critical eye over the iPad editions of some of our national newspapers.
FEATURE
Josh Tyrangiel - interview
Businessweek has enjoyed a turnaround in its fortunes since being acquired by Bloomberg in 2009. Part of that is down to Bloomberg clout, part of it is down to the leadership of award winning editor Josh Tyrangiel, who on a recent visit to London, me
