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.
Next Issue Media’s recent launch of six new tablet titles on its Android-based Newsstand is a reminder of how important it is to stay nimble and experimental in the tablet market, particularly at this early stage of the game, writes Sanjay Sarathy.
The Press Complaints Commission has welcomed the announcement of the terms of the inquiry into media ethics.
FuturePlus, Future’s publishing agency, has partnered with Tesco to launch the supermarket’s first ever interactive magazine.
Cambridge University Press has announced that it will be launching a new integrated eBook and digital content platform for other academic publishers, called University Publishing Online.
News Corporation has announced that it no longer intends to make an offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC not already owned by it.
Future, the special-interest media group, and Sony Computer Entertainment UK Ltd (SCE UK) have announced a new weekly HD video show which will be available for download from the UK PlayStation Store on the PlayStation Network (PSN).
In relation to the allegations made by Gordon Brown on Tuesday, the Sunday Times has released the following statement.
UPM CEO Jussi Pesonen and the Ambassador of Finland to the United Kingdom officially opened the £17m Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at UPM's Shotton paper mill last week.
The iPad edition of BBC Focus Magazine was recently rated the world's best publication app. JV Chamary describes the experience of producing the app, and what the creative team has learnt from six months of tablet publishing.
The rise of open-data cities is giving local media a chance to re-invent themselves, and, warns Greg Hadfield, it could be their last lifeline.
Some very big players, including the Financial Times, the Economist and even the White House, all use freely available software. Too good to be true? Michael Upshall looks at the whys and wherefores of open-source software and highlights the question
How to manage all the emerging digital channels is probably the publishing industry’s biggest challenge. While opening up so many new opportunities, writes Jim Bilton, digital is also creating all kinds of headaches in a business where there are now
News International (NI) has announced that it will offer employment opportunities to the vast majority of staff who lost their jobs as a result of the closure of the News of the World.
WoodWing Software has announced that Time Inc. has created the TouchPad editions of its titles Time, Fortune, People, and Sports Illustrated with WoodWing´s Tablet Publishing Solution.
The last issue of the News of the World sold 3.8 million copies on Sunday – up 1.1 million from the previous week - with many stores selling out across the country, says News International.
