Good afternoon from a sunny Lancashire and I write with nervous tension, nothing to do with journalism innovation but England facing a World Cup semi-final against Argentina. I’ve started listening to the games on 5Live because the commentary is better but also it is not as tense as watching on TV. Or maybe it’s because I turned 40 last week.
So apologies for the lack of newsletter last week, I was on the road and also hit the big four-oh, so decided the newsletter would take a breather.
Part of that being on the road was to attend the Publisher Newsletter and Podcast Summit and Awards, and also be together with The Lead team as we got everyone together for the first time(!). It was a good and worthwhile trip.
Today’s newsletter includes some insights from that summit….
What We Learned at The Publisher Summits and Awards 2026: Why the Future Belongs to Media Brands That Own Their Audience - John Hayes, Upland - there’s some good threads from John in here and mirror much of my scribbled notes from the day too. The main thing being the divergence of the newsletter and podcasts into being publishers in their own right, people aren’t really just newsletters or just podcasts, these are agenda-setting top-tier media brands and publications. Or in the case of established heritage brands, the move out into newsletters and podcasts are creating mini sub brands in their own right. This was reflected in the number of people working in the space and in the awards it was noticeable how many trios (or more) of people are going up. The one-person band operation is still a thing, but it’s becoming increasingly rare.
One of the key sessions for me was Sarah Donaldson, co-founder of The Nerve, reflecting on what they learned from their first year or so of existing.
For me there’s a few standouts from the conversation
The increasing movement of membership-led publications, rather than subscription-based. It’s a very different kind of relationship built on support and advocacy for a brand or a cause, similar to the relationship one may have with a certain charity or non-profit they have a personal connection to.
Having a ‘big name up front’, in their case Carole Cadwalladr, has been crucial. And you can see this happening more and more particularly with newsletters and podcasts that sit within the stable of a large media house or production company. It does beg the question of those who are more grassroots and don’t have a Harry Kane style figure to lead the editorial line...
Having a clear tone of voice and positioning, and reason for existence, will drive content choices and supporters.
It’s interesting they are choosing to reverse-publish into print, in the coming months, to cement their reason for being and celebrate their anniversary. People still want a physical tangible product, especially aligned with newsletter and podcast brands (merch, live shows etc).
Well done to everyone shortlisted and who picked up awards during the newsletter and podcast awards, the full list is here.
The Owned-and-Operated Invasion - Yoni Greenbaum - or ‘The Canadians Are Coming’. I’ve written a number of times on what Village Media, headquartered in Canada, have been doing over the years. They have created a CMS-system, Villager, which also comes with a ‘community-operating model’ allowing them to scale into new markets quickly. They can also operate on a franchise basis. This feels significant, especially in light of the Local News Fund announcement here in the UK, they are now taking their owned and operated model into more US markets. This makes sense as likely there’s only so many places in Canada where it can stack up, while the US will seem untapped to them - especially in places where traditional local news organisations have retreated. It’s also interesting to me as Canada has negotiated a settlement with Google which sees dollars flow based on a journalist FTE basis. If Village (and I don’t have sight of what the deal is) does have some of its core Canadian editorial cost base underpinned by that Google deal, it is being given the headspace and bandwidth to now march on.
Local News Fund opens - gov.uk - back in March the government announced the Local News Strategy, Amplify, for the UK. A major fund for local journalism was included, but detail was light on the actual nature of the fund, there’s now plenty of detail. The timescale is tight, the delivery timescale is tighter. For those with ideas, and the ability to deliver them, now is the time. I am sure there will be plenty of frustration with the rules of the field of play, but as with a World Cup, the rules are there and you have to find a way to win within them.
A massive well done to the 2025 cohort of the Journalism Leadership and Innovation programme who graduated last week at the University of Lancashire. I’m proud to play a small part in the programme (I co-lead the innovation module each Autumn) and it was fantastic to catch up with many of them as they donned their cap and gowns in sweltering conditions (don’t say that about Preston very often!).
Some lovely reflective messages from Dan, Sunita and many others on their graduation ceremony. Well done to all of them!
This newsletter is now taking a summer break, as we head to Scotland for a week as schools breaks up. Although I might pop a digest over during August of interesting reads crossing my feed during that month.
Thanks for reading and keep going.
Ed
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