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.
Setting the right price for your advertising is critical to your success. Pricing too high, pricing too low or simply creating impenetrably complex rate cards bundling this, that and the other together, can all do irreparable long term damage. Cather
Of all the disciplines in publishing, the one that has probably had to travel furthest to embrace the multimedia world is journalism. Craig Hanna looks at some of the issues journalists face when switching from a print-focused publishing strategy to
Isn’t it really annoying when you put loads of effort into your online forum, yet it remains completely and utterly lifeless; whilst other sites host lively and dynamic discussions. What’s it all about? Why do some forums sink and other soar? Pike &
Go on, admit it. Being number one on Google is your search strategy. If you can just nail that top slot, then you can relax. Job done. Err... not exactly. The important thing is, says Julie Sewell, to look at the search landscape as a whole and to op
The fortunes of e-editions have ebbed and flowed since they burst onto the scene about eight years ago. Initial high expectations then gave way to scepticism, especially in the consumer sphere. Yet, says Karlene Lukovitz, rising print costs and falli
Perhaps the only good thing you can say about a recession is that it forces us to work smarter. The unrelenting focus on costs leads us to re-examine the way we do things and we strain every sinew to make our marketing budget stretch further. Angus P
Launched in 1999 to keep the Swedes out, Metro has since spread across the UK. Its success has led to the mixed free/paid model adopted by some papers, to other publishers piling in to get a slice of the freesheet action and to the current melee in L
Below is the text of Rebekah Wade's speech, delivered at the London College of Communication on 26th January 2009.
There’s no easy way of saying this. It’s utterly dire out there. Searching around for some good news to sweeten the pill, and I find there’s none. Aaaaaaaaaagh! We’re all going to die!!! Sorry ... ahem. Andrea Kirkby reports.
To survive and thrive, publishers really do need to be media neutral and to engage with their readers in a wide variety of settings. To communicate through one channel alone – be it on or offline – is one dimensional and extremely limiting. Sophia De
Millions, mainly teenagers, go online every day to check the comings and goings in the lives of Kate, Sam, Sofia and the other stars of online soaps, or ‘interactive shows’. They watch, they comment, they interact. Most traditional publishers look on
Newspapers are in a jam, in no small measure because of over consolidation, increasingly remote management and the pursuit of excessive and unsustainable profits. Allan Prosser urges publishers, in the current frenzy, to remember what’s important, wh
Regular, eye-catching promotions have become a feature for many newspapers as they look to lock in existing readers and tempt new ones. David Greene looks at some promotional dos and don’ts and also at what the future holds.
Today’s journalist is a highly skilled individual. They can write the story, shoot the film, record the interview, edit it all up, sub it and then squirt it down the various tubes that make up today’s multimedia newsroom. The burning question is, say
No one pretends 2009 is going to be easy, but there is no point whingeing and feeling sorry for ourselves. The best thing to do is to use the time wisely and to plan for the upturn, so that when those first green shoots of recovery start to sprout, y
