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.
Will Hutton has long believed that the British state needs a radical overhaul. Ray Snoddy catches up with him to discuss our current state, his latest book, his first impressions of the new Labour government and the imbalance of our media.
US newspapers overwhelmingly endorsed Kamala Harris and we all know how that turned out...
Due Diligence is one of the FT’s most successful mini-brands. Here, Emily Goldberg looks at the launch, growth and ongoing success of the newsletter.
It was a year of elections in the UK and US. Trump is back, so is Labour. Elon Musk mocks mainstream media and Rupert Murdoch predicts when the last newspaper will be printed. Jon Slattery chooses his media quotes of the year.
The regional news publisher has been experimenting with AI across a number of fronts. Tim Robinson, editorial director and publisher, looks at what progress they’ve made so far.
Making their content easy to find has been a perennial challenge for publishers. AI enables publishers to make their content more discoverable and to do so in a more efficient and effective way, says Brian Alford, founder and CEO of Bright Sites.
What type of content is being read by what type of visitor to your site? A deep knowledge of content consumption habits should be informing your content strategy. AI can help with this, says Aliya Itzkowitz, manager at FT Strategies.
AI is driving major workflow efficiencies and image enhancements within editorial and picture teams, says Derek Milne, commercial pixometrist at Pixometry.
If AI tools are intuitive and easy to use, journalists will use them. If they’re not, they won’t. Peter Dyllick-Brenzinger, head of product and engineering at Purple, looks at this and other AI lessons learnt so far.
One of the most effective ways in which AI can assist in the copy editing process, says Tom Pijsel, VP product management at WoodWing, is in the area of copy fitting.
Creating comprehensive directories of local businesses is just one of the areas where AI can help drive increased commercial revenues, says Christian Scherbel, CEO at Smartico.
The local news media sector announces a major new development phase for the Public Notice Portal.
Jellyfish has launched Share of Model Platform, a solution to track how LLMs perceive brands, products & services.
National World print dailies have announced the launch of a Christmas campaign for Young Lives Vs Cancer.
HSBC UK partners with Metro on new financial capability campaign to help parents talk to their children about money.
