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 statistical analysis of supply and demand is the cornerstone of an efficient distribution operation. Got right, it can affect both an increase in sales and a reduction in costs. Jim McArdle looks at the relationship between some of the key variab
In this digital age, with its rapidly fragmenting media landscape, what is the future for the regional press? Tony Coad met with Tim Bowdler, chief executive at Johnston Press, to hear him outline his vision for the development of regional newspapers
Your weekly entertainment guide should be FUN. More than that, it should be the cornerstone of your strategy to attract younger readers. Then, why is it that so many What’s On guides are dull, unfocussed and lack a voice?
Shelf space is not a problem online, and neither, as a result, are range reviews or delistings. There is room for all and virtual magazine superstores are springing up all over the place, offering consumers a wide choice and publishers a valuable new
Digital technologies are resulting in more content, more channels and more ways to consume media than ever before. What does this mean for publishers? To find out, Deloitte and the UK Association of Online Publishers spoke to over thirty key digital
Despite the onward march of the web as a subscription source, subscription marketers are still underperforming in the online world. The reasons are, firstly, a failure to apply direct marketing techniques as rigorously in the online environment and,
Each issue, Alan Geere casts an eye over the performance of the national press.
The regional press is coming to terms with the new media landscape and is repositioning its print brands accordingly. Tony Coad talks to Johnston’s group sales and marketing director, Chris Pennock, about how they are responding to the rapidly changi
After much research, the Evening News decided that a greatly strengthened direct home delivery service was the answer to its circulation prayers. That was the easy bit. The tricky part was working out how to re-energise direct delivery when they had
At the 2006 Newspaper Society Conference, the Promotional Campaign of the Year award went to the Newcastle Journal for its Culture Club – a brilliant fusion of offline and online activity built on the back of the burgeoning local arts scene. Here, th
Frees and leaflets (F&L) teams have seen their work greatly helped by system advances over the last ten years, and there is no sign of a slow down. James Evelegh looks at the trends which will affect the way F&L teams operate in the future.
List fatigue is an ever present danger for email marketers, as recipients start to tire of the frequent communications. But, says Mark Edwards, there are a number of techniques you can use to extend the profitable life of a lead.
The boundaries between media continue to blur. Publishers are now comfortable with the fact that their content might not be read on paper but from screen, and now they are getting used to the fact that their content might not be read at all – but lis
Andy Jonesco, now AOL’s senior vice president of Audience, has made the jump from a career in national newspapers to one in the new media. Here, he talks to Tony Coad about the differences, and why there is room for traditional media people in this ‘
One of the most exciting, or terrifying (depending on your outlook), aspects of the web is the breakneck speed at which new technologies roll out. The speed of change today (and tomorrow) is as fast as at any time in the online era. Andrea Kirkby tri
