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.
Digital publishing has given publishers more information about their readers than they ever dreamed possible. Yet, many publishers have been swamped by it and have struggled to derive the full commercial benefit. The key, says Kate Mayfield, is to pa
While their release of new iPad apps continues apace, magazine publishers are at loggerheads with Apple over subscription models, writes Karlene Lukovitz.
The world of newspaper subscriptions has changed dramatically over the last few years, reflecting the broader shifts in publishing strategy. David Greene looks at the evolving subs model and has some advice for those newspaper publishers wanting to b
Specialist media businesses are taking a pragmatic approach to the speed of change in their industry, and are optimistic about the future of their business, according to research commissioned for the Specialist Media Show by Fusion Communications whi
More than £1.7m has been donated by Evening Standard readers and some of London’s biggest firms to help the capital's most vulnerable residents.
Cosmopolitan is making 12 of its naked Centrefold images available to download as mobile wallpaper.
Motors.co.uk has become one of the UK’s first online car advertising sites to launch a free search app for smart phones.
Future has launched TriRadar.com, the brand-new triathlon website from the teams behind Triathlon Plus magazine and the popular BikeRadar.com and Cyclingnews.com websites.
The New York Times Media Group has unveiled a new trade brand identity to reinforce its global advertising positioning and reach.
UPM Shotton paper mill have struck a long term deal with waste management company, PHS Special Contracts, part of PHS Wastetech, to reprocess all of its rejected material into valuable products.
The Guardian has launched a social media element as part of the VisitEngland Enjoy Every Minute brand partnership campaign.
Mark Anslow, former editor of The Ecologist, has joined Permanent Publications, publisher of Permaculture Magazine as their new online editor.
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Southeast Asia’s leading media organisation, is now publishing its classified pages with a “state-of-the-art” system developed by Atex.
Apple’s iPad is redefining the future of computing, says YUDU’s Robert Elding. It’s not just a mobile device, an eReader or a netbook, but provides the capabilities of all three.
The latest Media Pioneer award winner is K9 Media, for its radical reinvention of K9 Magazine. Carolyn Morgan of the Specialist Media Show looks at some of the new publishing tricks pioneered by K9.
