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 number of TMT (Technology, Media & Telecoms) businesses who feel they have access to funding for their business to operate effectively has more than halved year-on-year, according to new research from accountants and business advisers BDO Stoy Ha
Printing industry news and community site printweek.com is the latest Haymarket website to have its traffic figures independently verified to UK industry standards.
BigKid has announced the appointment of Jon Cardus to the role of Operations Director.
Edda Media, part of Norway’s Mecom Group, has decided to replace its existing web content management solution with Polopoly, to manage their existing web presence which consists of more than 40 sites, over 70 million page views per month.
The BRC has announced that David Cooke from Tesco has agreed to become the BRC Chairman for the Joint Industry Group for the period May 2009-April 2010.
Printers can now enjoy the fastest make-ready times available today thanks to a new fully-managed, internet-based process control solution, says Targetcolour.
The ACE Press Awards 2009 was held on Wednesday 25th March, at the Inter Continental Hotel in Park Lane, London.
The results from the seventh annual Census survey released today by the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) reveals that UK online publishers predict a 16% growth in their digital revenues in 2009.
The speaker line up for the EPublishing Innovation Forum (19th & 20th May at the Marriott Regent Park, London) has just been announced.
Darmstadt, 26 March 2009 – IFRA Expo, the leading international exhibition for the news publishing and media industries (www.ifraexpo.com), will be held in the maritime city of Hamburg next year from Monday, 4 October to Wednesday, 6 October 2010.
Springville, Utah – 25th March, 2009: Digital Technology International (DTI™) has today announced the appointment of Charlotta Medin as regional sales manager in Scandinavia.
Andy Viner, Head of Media, at BDO Stoy Hayward says: “Despite the headline grabbing 1,000 job losses, it is not all doom and gloom that has come out of today’s trading update from DMGT.”
Smiths News, one of the UK’s leading wholesaler of newspapers and magazines, has bought the business and assets of the Bertram group of companies, previously part of Woolworths, in a deal worth £8.6m.
It’s strange to think that colour in newspapers is still a relatively recent development. Indeed, even now, not all newspapers have full run colour. Alan Geere, who was at the sharp end when it all started, takes a look at how the nationals are copin
Question: what is the favourite watering hole of newspaper editors? Answer: the Last Chance Saloon, of course. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve seen them drinking there. Trying to keep them on the straight and narrow over the years, has be
