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.
Michelle Paver has been announced as the winner of the 2010 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for Ghost Hunter, the sixth and final book in her Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series.
Xavier Vidal-Folch, Deputy Director of the Spanish daily El Pais, has been re-elected President of the World Editors Forum, the global association for senior newsroom executives within the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA
WAN-IFRA has announced that the 63rd World Newspaper Congress and 18th World Editors Forum would be held alongside the IFRA Expo in Vienna, Austria, in 2011.
Mark Rowe spent his summer trying to whip up some interest amongst the local press about his recently published book. What he found was a near-universal lack of interest and feedback.
The latest Media Pioneer award winner is Songlines. Carolyn Morgan of the Specialist Media Show looks at how Songlines has found new readers through retail partnerships.
Newspaper editors are optimistic about the future of their publications, but see no end to the reshaping of newsrooms under the pressure of the multi-media revolution, according to a global survey released by the World Editors Forum and McKinsey & Co
An Iranian journalist who was imprisoned following Iran's disputed presidential election last year has been awarded the 2010 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
Gavin O'Reilly, CEO of Independent News & Media PLC, will continue as President of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) until June 2011, following a vote Tuesday by members of the global organisation.
Thirteen media companies have won the 2010 XMA Cross Media Awards, the annual prize WAN-IFRA to honour companies that are using a wide variety of platforms to deliver editorial and advertising content in innovative ways.
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has called on African nations to immediately abolish criminal defamation and "insult" laws that are widely used to silence criticism and intimidate free reporting across the continent
According to a report on the Guardian website, News International is reported to have struck a commercial deal with ASDA that saw the Sunday Times back on sale in its stores last Sunday.
The Association of Online Publishers (AOP) welcomes Centaur Media Plc as a new Board Member.
The NFRN has given a generally positive welcome to the news that Northern & Shell has listened to the concerns the organisation has raised at a recent meeting and in recent Press Releases.
The PCC has launched a new advertising campaign for use in newspaper and magazines (in print editions and websites).
Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture Olympics Media and Sport, confirmed this week in a speech on Local TV that the Government will shortly bring forward an order to remove all remaining local cross-media rules.
