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.
WoodWing Software, developer of workflow solutions for efficient multi-channel publishing, yesterday announced that the integration of the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite into the Enterprise workflow is available with the release of Enterprise 7.5.
River has announced the launch of an innovative online mapping tool for the Ramblers’ online magazine, walkmag.co.uk.
Special interest media group Future Publishing has announced the appointment of Sam Wight to the role of Group Marketing Manager for its Entertainment portfolio.
The KM Group is reacting to the closure of the East Kent Gazette by launching a new paid-for newspaper in Sittingbourne.
British company Aurasma has joined forces with Mainichi Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest national newspapers, to bring print copies of its film supplement to virtual life.
A new app to help you find the perfect hairstyle is now available from the creators of Your Hair magazine.
While the conventional wisdom holds that newspapers and young people don't mix, newspaper companies and media associations from around the world are finding new ways to attract younger readers, using video, social media, research, education and a "to
Prime Minister David Cameron made a special visit to the Archant Suffolk offices in Ipswich on December 5 as he brought his whole Cabinet to East Anglia.
Mag+ has announced the finalists in its inaugural Creativity Contest, aimed at identifying great magazine app design talent and ideas.
TotalFilm.com, the movie site, has revealed the “phenomenal” success of its new-look website, which was relaunched last month.
Trinity Mirror has announced that it is combining the Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail and sister company Scottish and Universal Newspapers to form Scotland's biggest publishing business - Media Scotland.
The communications and marketing departments of the Newspaper Society are to be merged in January and a newly constituted Communications and Marketing Committee formed under the chairmanship of Danny Cammiade, chief operating officer at Johnston Pres
Gizmodo UK readers are this week being given a glimpse into the future of super-fast mobile broadband as O2 trials its 4G network in London – several years before the technology is introduced nationally.
I’ve seen it all now, writes Jim Chisholm. Having had the privilege to see many incredible things, good and bad, in hundreds of international trips to over forty countries, I think I have just witnessed the dumbest thing on earth; in an airport.
Future Publishing has just launched a new online image library of photographs available to licence from titles across Future’s brands in Sport, Technology, Craft and Music.
