Hearst starts with ‘why’ as journalists asked to produce fewer articles
Maire Bonheim, head of newsletters at The Telegraph, and Malcolm Coles, audience growth director at Hearst UK, speaking at the Publisher Summit in London in July 2026. Pictures: Media Voices Hearst UK is publishing less articles but “more effective” content overall by asking journalists to explain why they are producing every piece. Meanwhile The Telegraph has reduced its newsletter portfolio from about 40 to 26 brands over the course of an 18-month project to ensure they are “pieces of journalism that should provide quality within the inbox in their own right”. They are among numerous major publishers pivoting away from quantity of content towards quality as Google AI changes continue to lead to falling traffic referrals. Press Gazette previously spoke to Times deputy head of digital Anna Sbuttoni about its own “fewer, better stories” strategy which has seen the number of articles it publishes cut by around 25% in the past two years. Sbuttoni said The Times has had four consecutive months of “all-time record traffic growth” this year according to internal figures. Malcolm Coles, …
