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.
Yemeni “Arab Spring” activist and journalist Tawakkol Karman, laureate of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, will open the Arab Free Press Forum, the annual event organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), to be held in
On Wednesday 18th January, Lord Rothermere, Chairman of The Daily Mail and General Trust and Patron of the NewstrAid Benevolent Fund, hosted a reception for the leading lights of the newspaper and magazine industry, to celebrate the anniversary of Ch
Community media publisher Archant has launched a unique community news platform that will transform the way it gathers news.
The first in-depth survey of email marketing habits in the publishing sector, UK Publishing Email Benchmarking Survey Autumn 2011, conducted by Adestra in association with PPA, throws up some interesting data. Henry Hyder-Smith looks at the main find
Publishers are battling with multiple challenges: changing audience content consumption habits, the decline of traditional ad-funded models and the availability of free content online – plus the need to master an ever expanding range of channels from
There was some revolutionary thinking in the Publishing Theatre at November’s mediaPro, with innovative consumer and B2B publishers sharing their experiences in digital media. Carolyn Morgan gives us twenty insights from the event.
The sad truth is that much of the content you find in some local papers is a little on the dull side. This does not bode well for their long term future. The challenge for editors, writes Peter Sands, is to strip out all the padding and focus on qual
Having been told for years that the digital era signalled the beginning of the end for print products, writes Jo Bowman, publishers are finding that – with the rise of mobile and tablet usage – they’re actually being given a new lease of life.
As the future of press regulation was debated at the Society of Editors annual conference, three newspapers closed, two more were put on death row and a new survey of delegates’ attitudes was revealed. Steve Dyson reports.
Content is king! Right? Even if that content is on a dismally designed website? Err… what then? Dan Brown looks at the critical role of design in digital publishing.
When YouTube started five years ago, it proved a popular destination for teenagers eager to watch ladder accidents, and, as ever, when consumers see a good thing, businesses are quick to follow. Andrew Petherick looks at how publishers can turn this
The final quarter of 2011 was not a great time to be a tabloid journalist. At the Leveson Inquiry, some of their darker arts were exposed to the harsh light of day as sundry victims of press intrusion lined up to exact their revenge. Tabloids’ reputa
Johnston Press, one of the largest newspaper publishers in the UK, recently appointed a man with no newspaper experience as it new chief executive. Ray Snoddy talks to Ashley Highfield about his plans for the company.
The FT has unveiled a global market-leading initiative created to ensure advertisers are getting the maximum return on their marketing investments.
Magners Specials have achieved significant success with their September launch campaign in The Mail on Sunday, You magazine and Mail Online, with awareness of the newly launched Magners Specials increasing by almost 20% as a result of the campaign am
