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.
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has published a report that illustrates how the government of Ecuador is carrying out “a sophisticated strategy of marginalising all voices independent of state power”.
Conde Nast Brides has announced the launch of The Brides Wedding Planner app in association with The Turquoise Holiday Company. Available for the iPhone, the app claims to be the ultimate companion to planning your perfect wedding.
News International released the following statement yesterday:
Tom Curley, president and CEO of The Associated Press since 2003, will step down this year, AP announced yesterday. The search for a successor has been launched by the AP Board of Directors.
Hackgate, the biggest scandal to rock the mainstream press in decades, is the subject of the latest book by Professor Richard Lance Keeble of the University of Lincoln’s School of Journalism.
The Arab Free Press Forum opened Monday in Tunisia with a celebration of the gains that have been made in Middle East press freedom, but with a reminder that much more needs to be done.
iJento, a leading provider in multichannel customer intelligence, has launched its next generation analytics datamart and intelligence tools known as iJento 2012 in the UK, USA and Australia.
Cambridge University Press has announced the addition of six more academic presses to its University Publishing Online (UPO) platform.
Vibrant Media, a global leader in premium contextual advertising, has announced the acquisition of Image Space Media (ISM), the in-image advertising technology company, based in New York.
Atex, a leading software company providing solutions for media-rich industries, has appointed Jerome Laredo as Chief Executive Officer of Asia, with immediate effect.
NI Group Ltd yesterday issued the following statement on behalf of its wholly owned subsidiary News Group Newspapers (NGN), formerly the publisher of the News of the World.
Yesterday marked the beginning of a new phase in the history of Liverpool’s oldest surviving newspaper, when the Liverpool Post launched as a new 100-page weekly title.
Regional newspaper editors highlighted the industry's reputation for behaving ethically at the Leveson Inquiry and said that it should not be tarnished by the phone hacking scandal.
How one woman built a precious community! Carolyn Morgan applauds the pioneering efforts of Foluke Akinlose of PRECIOUS Online.
Adestra has announced a partnership with Apteco where its enterprise level email marketing platform, MessageFocus, is integrated with Apteco’s FastStats data analysis and automation platform.
