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 online scientific article is evolving. IOP Publishing (IOP) has announced the start of its article evolution programme, a new project designed to improve the online delivery of research articles, enabling readers to interact with research in new
TechRadar, the technology and reviews website from Future Publishing, has secured a special interview with superstar film maker James Cameron.
The Financial Times has announced the launch of Luxury 360, a subsection of FT.com that will house all FT news, analysis and special features related to the luxury industry, broadly defined.
WoodWing Software, developer of workflow solutions for newspaper, magazine and corporate publishers, has announced the availability of version 7.4 of its cross-media publishing system Enterprise.
Prime Minister David Cameron has given his strong backing to the regional press during a flying visit to the Eastern Daily Press newsroom in Norwich.
The Financial Times has selected international development charity Sightsavers for its 2011-2012 seasonal appeal to readers.
With great fanfare, RadioTimes.com relaunched in August. The aim, writes Rebekah Billingsley, is to provide TV viewers with a one-stop shop for all their viewing needs, and through innovative use of interactivity, social media and personalisation to
The events of the past few months still defy belief. Surely, we’ll wake up soon and it will all have been a dream. Ray Snoddy looks back at one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of the British press.
Like many B2B publishers, Advanstar has undergone a period of radical restructuring as it moved away from its traditional print roots towards multi-platform publishing. Peter Houston describes their journey.
In the fast moving digital world, everyone is experimenting and few claim to have got it right. But, by general consensus, one publisher that has got it more right than most is the Financial Times. Meg Carter talks to FT.com managing director, Rob Gr
For some time now, Future has been particularly active in the digital arena and, over the past twelve months, has wholeheartedly embraced tablet publishing. CEO Mark Wood explains the company’s digital strategy.
In late 2010, Forbes changed their business. They didn’t tweak it. It wasn’t a slight nudge on the tiller. What they undertook was a complete root and branch reinvention of their publishing operation. Kevin Gentzel explains why.
With puny or non-existent economic growth, western countries are tough places to do business. Asia, on the other hand, is where the real money is and UK publishers are heading over there in search of growth. The main challenge facing them, writes Kat
After a summer dominated by the twists and turns of the phone hacking scandal and the shock closure of the News of the World, writes Jon Slattery, now comes the reckoning for the press.
The 12,683 circulation Chorley and Leyland Guardian is a regional press success story. Its circulation has remained fairly stable for the last few years and it even recorded a slight increase last year! Editor Chris Maguire outlines the strategies he
