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Most website traffic is non-local for biggest UK regional news brands
The notable lack of ‘local’ in local news has been a growing joke in the UK for some time now. So I doubt this analysis from Press Gazette will be surprising. Nonetheless, it’s always good to have actual evidence to back up those uncomfortable hunches.
Of the 50 sites studied, only eight drew at least half their UK audience from the region in which they were based. Twenty brands received less than a third of their UK digital audience from the area. “Stories written to capitalise on SEO trends and popular national stories can draw in non-local visitors to local news sites,” the story diplomatically notes. In short, incentivising traffic directly conflicts with incentivising relevant local coverage.
It’s not a good look for Reach especially, whose titles dominate the bottom of the table. But it’s a hell of an opportunity for local news start-ups who want to focus on actually serving their titular regions.
“An immediate drop in content”: A new study shows what happens when big companies take over local news
More data on the local news problem from the US this time – again, quantifying something we all knew already. A study has found that when local titles are acquired by corporations, there is a significant decrease in the volume of local content produced by those papers. The study’s authors were especially shocked at the immediacy of staffing changes and drop in content following acquisitions.
Echo of Moscow’s Alexei Venediktov on the station’s closure, press freedom in Russia, and the evolution of Putin’s propaganda
Before the war in Ukraine began, Echo of Moscow was one of the last remaining independent press outlets in Russia. On March 1st, the radio station was taken off air by Roskomnadzor, and two days later the Board of Directors voted to close it down. The 31yr old outlet’s only ever serving Editor-in-Chief, Alexei Venediktov, talks to FIPP about press freedom in the country, fake news, and his account of the series of events that led to the station’s closure.
Maintaining subscriber acquisition and retention momentum post-Covid: Insights from WaPo and Arc XP
Before the war in Ukraine began, Echo of Moscow was one of the last remaining independent press outlets in Russia. On March 1st, the radio station was taken off air by Roskomnadzor, and two days later the Board of Directors voted to close it down. The 31yr old outlet’s only ever serving Editor-in-Chief, Alexei Venediktov, talks to FIPP about press freedom in the country, fake news, and his account of the series of events that led to the station’s closure.
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