The 2026 New Year Media Society Newsletter
Here’s the text of the New Year newsletter that was sent out to members and supporters - about the new Media Society Substack and a lookahead to key media issues in the coming year.
“We have launched the Media Society Substack for a mixture of editorial and strategic reasons.
It’s designed to create a new home for articles by practitioners and experts in the ever-widening world of media and digital communications.
It supports our mission to provide analysis and discussion of important issues, and it will broaden the Media Society’s appeal to a wider audience than just those who are able to attend our events.
We also feel there’s a need for a home for longer-form journalism and writing about the broad field of media.
We, of course, have our events, our website, our upcoming podcast series, our YouTube and TikTok platforms, and we regularly post content on LinkedIn. But to date, we haven’t had an outlet for any longer-form writing. Our new Substack allows us to do just that. (And it provides an important new member benefit, which will hopefully encourage more people to join the Society).
We’ve already built up an archive on our new Substack website of media-related and timely articles. Here are the seven articles we’ve uploaded so far:
Issue #1: Our Welcome Post. More detail on why we’ve launched this new Substack.
Issue #2: Adapting to a New Media Landscape. Media Society President Nigel Dacre writes about the history and role of the Media Society.
Issue #3: Perishable News. British academic and journalist Ivor Gaber on how news has changed.
Issue #4: Talking about Refugees - the Media and Migration. Filmmaker, journalist, and communications consultant Louise Orton reports on our migration and media event.
Issue #5: Newspapers - sadness, despite green shoots. The author and journalist Michael Gilson writes about the future of the newspaper business.
Issue# 6: The Matt Frei 2025 Lecture. A review by Peter Walker of the 2025 Steve Hewlett Lecture, given by Channel 4 News’s Matt Frei.
Issue #7: The grassroots fightback against Trump – story by story. An article by former BBC correspondent Jon Silverman on local journalism in the US.
Have a read of these articles, and see what you think. Comments are open, and we welcome feedback. And do make contact if you’d like to write an article for us.
As for 2026, it’s already building up to be a fascinating year for media issues in the UK.
There’s the BBC Green Paper debate and the search for a new DG, the Government’s decision on the future of TV distribution, the ongoing rise of YouTube and the streaming platforms, and progress on the big takeover bids, not least the Sky bid for ITV, the Daily Mail’s proposed purchase of the Telegraph, and the Netflix/Paramount tussle over Warner Bros.
Meanwhile, during the year, AI will no doubt continue to embed itself deeper into every area of the media; website traffic and search will continue to go through fundamental changes; there’s no stopping the rising influence of content creators on YouTube and other social media platforms; and, of course, there’s the continuing importance of Substack as a centre of information, expertise and debate.
A lot of change coming up, then. A lot to talk and write about.
For the Media Society, it’s what we do: produce events, podcasts, videos, and, now, articles about the day’s key media debates.
Thank you for reading this post – and thank you for being a Media Society member or Substack subscriber. You’ll be hearing from us again soon…”