ABOUT US
Our Mission
Wayback.org.uk is a project of The London News Group, dedicated to the preservation of journalism email newsletters. Operated from our offices at 1 London Bridge St, London SE1 9GF, the archive is global in scope, reflecting the worldwide reach of newsletter journalism in the digital age.
Our mission is to build a permanent, publicly accessible archive that documents the growing and increasingly important role of newsletters in modern journalism. By collecting, cataloguing, and indexing newsletters from journalists around the world, we aim to ensure that these publications remain accessible long after their original distribution — as a resource for readers today and a record for historians tomorrow.
Newsletter journalism has expanded dramatically over the past decade. Journalists, commentators, and editors increasingly publish directly to readers through email subscription rather than through traditional media outlets. This transformation has created a vibrant, diverse ecosystem of independent journalism, commentary, and analysis — one that sits largely outside the conventional archiving systems that exist for newspapers, magazines, and websites.
Wayback.org.uk was created to address that gap.
Why This Archive Exists
The internet contains many archives of websites, articles, and digital media. The Wayback Machine, operated by the Internet Archive, has captured hundreds of billions of web pages across three decades of the web’s history. National institutions such as the British Library maintain legal deposit collections that include online publications. These are extraordinary resources.
But email newsletters occupy a curious and largely unprotected space in the digital landscape.
Because newsletters are distributed through email rather than published on open websites, they largely escape traditional web archiving systems. They are not indexed by search engines. They are not captured by automated crawlers. They exist in private inboxes rather than on public URLs. As a result, a significant and growing portion of modern journalism — some of it of the highest quality being produced today — risks simply being lost.
Wayback.org.uk applies the preservation philosophy of services like the Wayback Machine to journalism newsletters specifically. We believe that the newsletters being written and read today deserve to be part of the historical record — not just for the journalists who produce them, but for the society they report on.
The Rise of Newsletter Journalism
Newsletter publishing has become one of the fastest-growing segments of contemporary media, both in the UK and internationally.
Independent writers can now publish directly to readers without the infrastructure, editorial oversight, or financial backing of a traditional newsroom. Platforms such as Substack, Beehiiv, Ghost, and others have enabled thousands of journalists to build their own subscriber bases and, in many cases, to sustain professional journalism independently.
Many established UK and international media organisations — including newspapers, broadcasters, and specialist publications — now operate extensive newsletter programmes as core parts of their editorial output. Political briefings, media industry roundups, science journalism digests, and foreign policy analysis newsletters are among the most widely read publications in their respective fields, often reaching audiences that rival or exceed those of the print or digital versions of the same outlets.
These newsletters include original reporting and exclusives that cannot be found elsewhere, curated analysis that synthesises complex topics for time-poor readers, and commentary from some of the most experienced and authoritative voices in journalism.
They represent a vital and irreplaceable layer of modern media that deserves to be preserved with the same rigour as any other journalistic output.
Our Editorial Philosophy
Wayback.org.uk operates according to a clear editorial philosophy: preserve and document journalism newsletters whilst respecting authorship, copyright, and the wishes of individual publishers.
The archive does not claim ownership of any content it indexes. It acts as a discovery, cataloguing, and research tool — helping readers locate newsletters, understand their context, and explore their historical significance. Where possible, the archive links directly to original publishers and their own subscription platforms rather than hosting full content.
We are committed to operating transparently, honouring removal requests promptly, and respecting the intellectual property of every journalist and publisher whose work is represented in the archive.
Our Relationship with UK Law and Copyright
Wayback.org.uk is operated by The London News Group and operates in full compliance with UK law, including the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Newsletter content is the intellectual property of its authors and publishers, and we treat it accordingly.
The archive is designed primarily as an index and discovery resource. Full content hosting is approached with care, and the archive respects the rights of creators at every stage of its operation. Publishers who wish to be removed from the archive may request this at any time, and such requests are acted upon without delay.
For data protection matters, Wayback.org.uk complies with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. For any legal enquiries, please contact us at 1 London Bridge St, London SE1 9GF or by telephone on +44 (207) 782-6000.
Long-Term Goals
Our long-term ambition is to build the most comprehensive archive of journalism newsletters in the world — a resource that scholars, journalists, and curious readers will turn to for decades to come.
As the archive grows, we intend to develop tools that enable more sophisticated research: longitudinal analysis of editorial trends, comparison of coverage across publications, and exploration of how newsletter journalism has developed differently across countries, languages, and subject areas.
We are also committed to working collaboratively with researchers, media organisations, and archival institutions who share our interest in preserving this growing body of work.
By preserving newsletters today, we are helping to write the future history of journalism.
Contact The London News Group
Wayback.org.uk is operated by:
The London News Group 1 London Bridge St London SE1 9GF United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (207) 782-6000