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.
Putting print content online need not involve cannibalising print sales. That was the message from MEED editorial director Sean Brierley and Anthony Ray of Stingray Research, in a presentation at February’s Publishing Expo describing the relaunch of
One of the easiest ways to improve the RoI of your email marketing is to increase the proportion of your emails that get through. It’s not rocket science. But, says Paul Crabtree, it’s about more than just RoI. Fail to get to grips with data hygiene
Ever since the dawn of the internet, publishers have agonised over whether to charge for access to their content. The FT had built a successful paid-for operation, but the barriers they put up reduced their online profile and their ability to earn ad
The wholesaler is the link man in the news supply chain – taking copies from the publisher and ensuring their timely distribution to retail. Sitting in the middle, they inevitably have a more balanced view than those at either end of the chain. Lucy
Reader offers are a newspaper staple, building loyalty and, hopefully, making money. Publishers have a responsibility to make sure that their readers are protected by ensuring that suppliers are reputable ... and that, when disaster strikes, action i
The road to recovery for local newspapers runs through the neighbourhood. Or does it? Newspapers make a great play of the fact that they are “local” – it is their unique selling point. But Peter Sands asks whether they really capitalise on their role
Interaction and an enhanced user experience are what Web 2.0 is all about, but this means more than just putting up a forum and a few video clips on your website. It is much more fundamental than that and, says Craig Hanna, publishers are in danger o
The regional press – or should that be regional media – is going through a tremendous amount of upheaval. Changing lifestyles have led to declining sales of the core print product and publishers have responded by diversifying their offering. Andrea K
After a great deal of planning, Peak Performance relaunched its website last November, with the aim of fully utilising the full array of Web 2.0 tools. Now that the dust has settled, Mark Edwards assesses what has been achieved and what lessons learn
Despite the increase in podcasts and video, the bulk of what we produce is designed to be read. With the growth of online content, the reading experience has undoubtedly changed, as we react in very different ways to on and offline content. Karl Jeff
Legitimate sampling exercise or cynical attempt to massage ABC figures? Few subjects are better placed to get media buyers hot under the collar than bulks. Ray Snoddy looks at how publishers employ this contentious device.
Some of the inflexibilities, and high charges, that used to characterise mobile are beginning to fall away and publishers are renewing their efforts to capitalise on the unquestioned strengths of the sector. Patrick Dye talks to two early adopting pu
Inroads from other media and an increasingly fickle consumer are two of the challenges facing newspapers. The irony is that the best defence against these challenges – namely home delivery – is in decline. Ken Moreton argues that now is the time for
The profitability of newspapers derives, in large measure, from advertising. Traditionally, national newspaper sales teams have been good at promoting their own papers, but less so the merits of the medium as a whole. For that reason, the Newspaper M
Times are changing. As budgets and marketing resource move online, marketers are finding that the influence they enjoyed in the off-line world is dissipated online. Customers are increasingly calling the shots and marketers are having to adapt quickl
