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.
Last week, Mag+, in collaboration with American Photo magazine and some of the world’s best photographers, launched 9/11/01: The Photographers’ Stories, a free standalone tablet magazine app.
The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs have announced the shortlist for the seventh annual Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, which aims to identify the book providing the most compelling and enjoyable insight into mode
The Guardian’s decision to change its retailer terms has met with an angry response from the National Federation of Retail Newsagents.
Guardian News & Media has launched a Books Season for its autumn marketing campaign, which includes a nationwide book swap across Britain.
The Guardian has revealed a new url for the US – guardiannews.com – marking the start of its digital operation in New York.
Is going from daily to weekly a sign of weakness? Is it giving in to the inevitable? Or is it a positive reaction to market dynamics? Jim Chisholm looks at some of the issues.
Media Trust’s Community Newswire, a free national news distribution service for charities, communities and campaigns, run in partnership with the Press Association (PA), has been reinstated.
Timeout.com has been named the Number 1 website for entertainment and nightlife by Hitwise, Experian (the traffic intelligence tool).
FinancialForce.com, the cloud applications company, has announced that Emap Insight, a division of Emap, has selected FinancialForce Accounting to improve the order to cash process, and serve as a complementary financial application to its Salesforce
William Lewis, a leader of News Corporation's efforts to deal with the News of the World phone hacking scandal, has joined the programme of the upcoming World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, to be held in Vienna, Austria from 12 to 15 Oct
The Wall Street Journal has announced the launch of WSJ Live.
The Financial Times has launched a free iPad app for its luxury lifestyle magazine, How To Spend It, which transforms the way magazine content is packaged for the iPad.
The International Newspaper Colour Quality Club – the elite group of newspapers that fully exploit the enormous impact of good colour printing on readers and advertisers - is inviting newspapers world-wide to apply for membership in the club's 2012-2
Vibrant has expanded its portfolio by signing 15 new publishers, reinforcing its position as a market leader for premium contextual advertising solutions.
IPC Media digital director Neil Robinson has announced two key appointments within IPC Digital.
