A model failure: Why news can no longer pay its way

Throughout its history as a professionalized practice, the adoption of new technologies has affected news journalism as a consequence of changes in its delivery; its consumption; or its management. This article focuses on how new technologies, in particular the web, have affected the business of news. It considers whether the digitalization of news has undermined the business model to make the production of news journalism unaffordable for the handful of large companies that now dominate the UK and US newspaper industries. The article argues that the practice of journalism has become marginalized within the news industry because its business model is based on selling the attention news attracts, rather than on seeing the journalism producing the news as an asset. Finally, the article posits that there is no longer a successful, scalable business model for news journalism in the United Kingdom and United States and a new model will not emerge from adding digital delivery to existing models but from a re-imagining of journalism outside of the news industry.