News
Look unveils a brand new website
Look, the weekly fashion magazine has unveiled a brand new website at www.look.co.uk.
News Media
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.
Essential Resources
FEATURE
Returning to growth
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.
Best Practice in Publishing
News media
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…
INTERVIEW
Stand and deliver!
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.
INTERVIEW
Change before charge
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.
INTERVIEW
Ditching the generic
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.
INTERVIEW
The Observer’s premium future
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.
FEATURE
Opportunities & Threats: National News Media
What’s the outlook for national news media in 2024? Christian Broughton, CEO of The Independent, looks ahead.
FEATURE
Breathing new life into local media
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.
OPINION
We Need Trusted News Brands Now More Than Ever
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.
OUT & ABOUT WITH ALAN GEERE
Weekly does it
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.
All Articles
News
Reiner Mittelbach to leave WAN-IFRA
Reiner Mittelbach, who helped guide the successful merger of IFRA, the news publishing service and research organisation, with the World Association of Newspapers, has decided to leave the merged organisation at the end of May.
News
Amazon introduces Kindle for Mac
Amazon.com has announced "Kindle for Mac," a free application that lets readers around the world read Kindle books on their Mac computers.
News
Lloyd's List unveils new service
For the first time, trusted news from Lloyd’s List and data on over 120,000 vessels, 163,000 shipping companies and 17,000 credit reports will combine on a single platform to create Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
FEATURE
All Hail the iPad?
Apple’s long-awaited creation has finally been unveiled. But, asks Dominic Jacquesson, does this really herald the next revolution in publishing, or will print live to fight another day?
FEATURE
If Content is King, Context is Queen
The long established maxim that “content is king” has been so overused that it’s easily dismissed as stating the obvious, particularly for professional publishers for whom the quality of their content has always been of paramount importance. However,
FEATURE
Show me the money!
Ad sales down; copy sales down; just where are newspapers expected to find their next shilling? The industry’s brightest brains have been mulling over this question for some time now, so presumably there are lots of bright ideas floating about? Err .
FEATURE
Land of the Free
We’re in the midst of a titanic struggle for the heart and soul of the internet. On one side, we have Murdoch erecting his paywalls, on the other, Anderson surfing the tidal wave of Free. Who will win? I will resist the urge to shout FIGHT! and inste
FEATURE
Wot will win it this time?
It’s almost twenty years since the Sun claimed to have won it for the Tories and a tearful Neil Kinnock seemed to concur by singling the paper out in his resignation speech. Did the press really swing it that time, asks Peter Preston, and could they
FEATURE
Developing and Maintaining a Vital Online Forum
A vibrant forum is a wonderful thing, but it doesn’t come easy. Hard work and careful planning are essential, as is ongoing moderation and participation from the forum host. You can’t just launch it and leave it! Amanda Watlington lists the essential
FEATURE
Paid Content – the options
Up until quite recently, free was the most common price for online content. The failure of advertising revenue alone to sustain the publishing model has lead to a radical rethink across the industry. Carolyn Morgan looks at some of the different pric
FEATURE
Darkness at the edge of town
The decline of the regional press has been the subject of intense debate for some time now; falling ad revenues and circulation figures have lead to staff cuts and declining editorial standards, which in turn have lead to further circulation falls. A
FEATURE
Greg Hadfield - interview
Greg Hadfield is living proof that someone steeped in print can thrive online. With a CV that includes the Wakefield Express and Soccernet, Greg is uniquely well positioned to comment on the future of newspapers. Ray Snoddy spoke to Greg about recent
News
Louise Burns new Ad Director of MNA
Louise Burns has been appointed Advertising Director and joins the Board of the Midland News Association from Monday, March 29, 2010.
News
Mirror partners with Grand National
The Daily Mirror has signed a three-year deal with Aintree Racecourse to be the media partner of the John Smith's Grand National.
