It’s a good news day
Opinion
Ray Snoddy rounds up some good news from the changing face of news brands.
Once upon a time, a newspaper in Chicago devoted itself entirely to publishing good and cheerful news. It was meant to be an antidote to the long-standing complaint that the conventional definition of what is news concentrated almost exclusively on the grim and tragic- an offering that merely depressed readers.
The paper was probably the result of focus groups that identified a happy hole in the market for good news. Alas, good news wasn’t what readers actually wanted, and the good news newspaper in Chicago didn’t last long.
In more recent years, grim and tragic news wasn’t confined to newspaper pages; it also became a metaphor for the state of the industry itself.
Advertising, and sometimes editorial content, stolen by the tech giants; print sales in inevitable, alarming decline; all leading to hollowed-out newsrooms, particularly in the local and regional press, a story that appeared to add up to a death spiral.
All that before you get to AI.
Now for the good news
Challenges for sure, but this week there were a number of morsels of good news and cause for comfort, some of them surrounding last week’s Press Gazette conference on the future of the media, and the associated awards ceremony.
At the conference, Financial Times chief executive Jon Slade said the publishing group’s revenues were up again in 2025 after hitting a £540m record the previous year.
Part of this was the FT‘s continued success in attracting young readers, even though some may only become paying customers later in their careers.
Slade admitted that he tried to speak at a school or a university every month, and the FT is free to anyone under 18 if their school registers for it.
The paper targets 350,000 registered readers under 35, hoping many will convert to subscribers.
While there are many outrageous examples of online content theft, the FT CEO said he was happy with the mix of revenue and control flowing from the FT’s licensing deals with OpenAI and Google.
Overall, a reason to be cheerful.
Journalism is changing, not dying
Another came from the Guardian Media Group despite an annual loss of £17m.
Total digital reader revenues up by 17% year-on-year to £126m.
The biggest good news story about The Guardian is that its ultimate owner, The Scott Trust, has a reserve fund of no less than £1.35bn, and that rose by £100m in the past year.
At the other end of the newspaper market there was evidence of innovation and optimism at The Sun.
The paper’s editor-in-chief, Victoria Newton, admitted that The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, had not yet escaped the pull of declining print revenues after posting a pre-tax loss of £53m in 2024/25.
But Newton told the Future of Media conference that while journalism was “changing. It is certainly not dying.”
The Sun was “reimagining” its newsroom, complete with video news updates from a studio on the newsroom floor.
The videos from the news floor are part of an attempt to reach younger audiences who want stories “in a different form”, which includes short, sharp, entertaining content from people who know what they are talking about.
Newton cited defence editor Jerome Starkey, explaining the latest debate over the Falklands Islands and business affairs editor James Flanders, warning of the threat of a deepening financial crisis.
A project for the future, but promising nonetheless.
Lowering the risk of Alzheimers and dementia
There was also structural good news for all readers of books – and newspapers.
Historically, there has been some evidence that people absorb and retain more from reading the printed page than from rapidly skimming headlines on screens of all kinds.
Now researchers at Cambridge University have found that sitting down and reading a book, magazine or newspaper reduces stress and lowers the risk of dementia.
In fact, the researchers go further and say that older adults who regularly read books, newspapers or magazines had a 33% lower risk of developing Alzheimers.
Overall, the data suggest that reading is associated with “reduced stress, greater empathy, enhanced wellbeing and decreased loneliness.”
There are not many magic pills or potions – if any- which can claim such a wide range of benefits as the ancient power of the written word.
Surely the marketing departments of traditional publishers can make something of that.
A similar boost will be revealed tomorrow at a media summit in Manchester organised by The Media Leader.
A study from Newsworks reveals the commercial value of culture for the first time and the importance of cultural relevance- insights that will expand on the physical importance of reading.
Another positive morsel has come from communications regulator Ofcom in its latest News Report.
It comes amid worries that too many people are turning their backs on the news because of what seems like its unremitting gloom.
In the UK, news consumption has actually increased, perhaps partly because of a methodological change.
But small mercies, news consumption is now averaging 72 minutes a day – even though 37% of that is accounted for by social media, search and AI.
News publisher websites account for 11% of total time spent on news each day, with print at 5%, radio at 18% and TV at 25%.
More trustworthy than online news
In a worry for some, one in five Britons are now using AI to access news.
But in another ray of good news, those who use legacy media for news say they find it far more trustworthy than online sources.
The biggest burst of good news comes from the Future of Media Awards- as much from the actual range of award categories as the worthy winners.
Heaps of evidence of innovation from traditional publishers appears across their websites, with video and live journalism, podcasts, and distinguished digital storytelling.
The judges said that The Times, which won the national website of the year, “has rewritten the narrative of legacy media decline.” Or as The Sun editor Victoria Newton put it – journalism is changing, not dying.
Raymond Snoddy is a media consultant, national newspaper columnist and former presenter of NewsWatch on BBC News. He writes for The Media Leader on Wednesdays — bookmark his column here.