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.
Andrew Miller, CEO of Guardian Media Group, has joined Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr., CEO and Chairman of the New York Times Co., as a keynote speaker at Digital Media Europe, the digital publishing conference organised by the World Association of Newspa
Big publishers have closed some weekly newspapers and ‘hyperlocal’ websites are struggling to make serious money. But small, independent papers full of street corner content are still surviving. Steve Dyson reports.
In the last year, writes Carolyn Morgan, a wide range of publishers have been experimenting with paid content, and the old image of an impenetrable barrier with unseen goodies on the far side, has been replaced by an enticing open gate with a glimpse
Module 1 of the Inquiry, which examined the relationship between the press and the public and looked at phone-hacking and other potentially illegal behaviour, was completed in February. Jon Slattery looks back at some of the main talking points.
Neil Fowler spent a year at Oxford University looking at the decline and future of regional and local newspapers across the United Kingdom. Radical action, he argues, is needed if many are to have a future.
The term ‘hyperlocal’ has been a buzzword in regional publishing for the past couple of years, yet it has been the guiding philosophy of one particular newspaper group for decades. Ray Snoddy talks to Sir Ray Tindle and his senior team at Tindle News
Following the sudden closure of the News of the World last July, the media industry has been waiting to see where Sunday readers would migrate to, writes Clare Rush.
Some of the the UK’s largest regional publishers are launching apps for iPhone, iPad and Newsstand, with a variety of models, using PageSuite’s Dynamic App technology and print replication product.
Fashion and beauty title InStyle has launched its first app for its Best Beauty Buys Awards. In association with John Lewis, the app is free and available on iPad, iPhone, Android and Blackberry.
Hearst Magazines UK, Hearst Corporation’s principal business in the UK, has appointed award-winning media product strategist, Lee Wilkinson, into the newly created role of Product Director for its digital division.
Outbrain, the content discovery platform, yesterday opened its network to external sponsored links in France.
The largest annual survey of email marketers in the UK, The Adestra / Econsultancy Email Marketing Industry Census 2012, highlights important areas that are neglected in making the email marketing channel produce better results and raise revenues.
Archant, the community media business, has seen a small rise in group operating profit in the second half of 2011, as it has continued to invest in its future and pursue a strategy of developing a customer-centric, multi-media organisation.
Forty years after its launch, the Financial Times this week relaunches its conferences and events division as Financial Times Live, making live video streaming, webinars, a video archive and Twitter chats core elements of its corporate events.
About 200 participants from the European Institutions, Europe’s magazine media and other stakeholders from across Europe attended the European Magazine Media Night on 28 February in Brussels.
