The Society of Editors is to take a close look at the way it operates, how it wins members and where its funding will come from, on the back of a squeeze on budgets.

The Society made a £20,000 loss last year compared with a profit in excess of £16,000 the previous year, mostly due to reduced income from the annual conference, which was held in the Lake District.

Executive director Bob Satchwell said in his annual report that a unique selling point of the Society was that it worked on behalf of all sectors of the media - and independent of any one company.

He said: "Now that the Society is firmly established, and in a period of upheaval in the media, it has been time for a spot of introspection and to ask how we should operate for the future, delivering better value to our members and the industry.

"Just as newspapers and broadcasters are facing up to change, so is the SoE. We do not accept for one minute those doom and gloom predictions about the future of newspapers or that commercial broadcasting is mortally wounded.

"It is clear that the SoE is under funded, under resourced and unable to develop to its full potential.

"More important, however, is the fact that the Society has inherent strengths and clear opportunities for growth and greater success.

"We have established a powerful reputation. The annual conference has played a huge part in establishing that reputation. But we cannot rely on a once a year conference to maintain it.

"Sustaining the standard of the conference, keeping it relevant against competing media events, is increasingly time-consuming."

A strategy review covering plans and costings for the next three to five years is to be set in motion, the main part of the review to be complete by the end of this year, including a succession strategy for when Bob steps down.

Despite the current year’s shortfall, the Society is releasing funds from its reserves to: