Studies in Communication Sciences 17.1 (2017), pp. 81–97 Journalists like the rest of them? A case study of journalistic work routines at a Danish free newspaper Kirsten Sparre, Danish School of Media and Journalism & Department of Media Studies and Journalism, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Denmark (mail: [email protected]) Abstract Academics have paid little attention to the practice of journalism at free newspapers since the free daily press emerged in 1995. A few studies have looked at the contents of free newspapers but not at the way journalism is practiced at free newspapers and whether these practices are different from journalistic work routines in the paid press. This article addresses that gap with a case study of the Danish free newspaper Metroxpress. After identifying the economic, political and digital forces shaping the contents at Metrox- press, the article maps the newspaper’s news net, analyse efforts put into newsgathering and compare them to the newsgathering efforts of other Danish newsbrands. Findings indicate that while the news net is smaller than those of other Danish newspapers, journalists at Metroxpress have similar work routines to other journalists, and their work is routinely recognised by peers in the form of quotations and nominations for professional awards. Keywords free newspapers, news net analysis, market-driven journalism, metroxpress 1 Introduction rest of the media sphere?” (The Free Daily Press, n.d.) Somewhat surprisingly academics have Currently, academic research offers paid little attention to the quality and little help in answering such questions. practice of journalism at free newspapers So far, most of the research on free news- since the free daily press emerged and papers has been concerned with how the disrupted newspaper markets in the mid- business model of free newspapers has 1990’s. So it was both pertinent and time- fitted into national and crossborder news- ly when the organisers of the conference paper markets (e.g. Bakker, 2013; Haller, “The free daily press in Europe 1995–2015” 2009; Lamour, 2016), who their readers called for an examination of journalism are (e.g. Bakker, 2007a; Wadbring, 2007), in free newspapers by asking whether the how that readership impacts on overall professional routines of journalists work- consumption of printed newspapers (e.g. ing for free newspapers are different from Bakker, 2008; Wadbring, 2003) and the val- those of their colleagues employed in the ue that free newspaper content might have traditional paid press? The call grew out of for readers (e.g. Kammer, 2010). a concern that the commercial rather than The most recent academic exam- publicist basis of free newspapers affects inations of journalism at free newspa- the quality of the work carried out by jour- pers were carried out by Bakker (2007b) nalists employed there – a point confer- and Wadbring (2009) at the height of the ence organisers condensed into a further circulation of free newspapers before question, namely whether “journalists the decline began around 2008 (Bakker, working for free newspapers still belong 2013). Based on extensive readings of free to the journalistic profession or are they newspapers from many countries, Bak- mere economic agents separate from the ker concluded that free daily newspapers https://doi.org/10.24434/j.scoms.2017.01.007 © 2017, the authors. This work is licensed under the “Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivatives 4.0 International” license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). 82 Sparre / Studies in Communication Sciences 17.1 (2017), pp. 81–97 generally provide an adequate account of 2 Context: economic, political and current affairs, do some original reporting digital developments and is much more than a printout of na- tional wire services (Bakker, 2007, p. 28). Bakker (2015) has provided a succint over- Wadbring reached similar conclusions view of the rise and fall of free newspa- in a study from 2009 of four different free pers in Denmark in the period from 2001 newspapers published in Sweden. Based when Metroxpress was launched as the on content analysis, she found that the first free daily newspaper in Denmark to contents covered a wide range of issues 2013 where Metroxpress became the last in a factual and brief manner but without remaining Danish free daily. In the inter- much depth. The newspapers contained vening years, nine other free dailies with a number of independently produced ar- a number of different editions have been ticles and were neither tabloid nor full of launched and closed down again. Howev- celebrity news (Wadbring, 2009). er, the Metroxpress of 2017 differs in many Neither of these studies looked at ways from the Metroxpress of 2001. It has the working routines of journalists at free undergone a number of changes in own- newspapers, how they compare to work- ership and responded to digital develop- ing routines of journalists working for dif- ments with new media platforms which ferent types of newspapers, and whether coupled with political changes in the sur- journalists working for free newspapers rounding media system all have impacted can be considered part of the wider jour- on the newspaper’s editorial approach to nalistic profession. However, it is exactly news coverage. these questions this article sets out to ex- plore through a case study of the Danish 2.1 Changes in ownership free newspaper Metroxpress. The case Metroxpress has had a string of different study places Metroxpress in the context owners and been passed from one media of current economic, political and digital group to the next since it was launched in forces that are shaping the production of 2001 in co-operation between the Swedish journalism at the newspaper, and then media group Metro owned by Kinnevik maps the newspaper’s news net (Tuch- and the Danish media group A-Pressen man, 1978) to uncover its strategic ap- that owned 30 percent of the company’s proach to newsgathering for its intended shares (Søllinge, n.d.) audience, the resources invested, and its In 2008, Metroxpress was merged key journalistic concerns. It proceeds to with the Danish free newspaper, 24timer, analyse how much work journalists at when its publishers, Danish media group Metroxpress put into their newsgathering JP/Politikens Hus, bought 49 percent of and compare these results with findings the shares in Metroxpress (“Metroxpress about newsgathering efforts from a 2015 merges”, 2008). Metroxpress and JP/Poli- cross media survey of journalistic quality tikens Hus continued to publish the two in Denmark (Willig, Blach-Ørsten, Hartley, different free newspapers that increasingly & Flensburg, 2015). A final theme in the ar- shared editorial resources (“Gratisaviserne ticle is peer recognition of the work carried 24timer og Metroxpress”, 2010). out by journalists at Metroxpress. Are arti- In 2013, 20 Minuten AG – part of the cles by journalists at Metropress quoted by Swiss media group Tamedia – bought all other journalists, and are peers prepared the shares in Metroxpress A/S and for a to nominate journalists from Metroxpress while cut all ties between free daily news- for prestigious journalism awards? papers and Danish legacy media organ- isations (“Swiss 20 Minuten AG”, 2012). Tamedia quickly decided to close down the free newspaper 24timer and instead focused all its resources on Metroxpress. In April 2013 Metroxpress and the web- site mx.dk were relaunched in a new for- Sparre / Studies in Communication Sciences 17.1 (2017), pp. 81–97 83 mat, with a new layout, a new distribution Metroxpress either adding more resourc- strategy, a new editorial line and expanded es or diminishing them by asking jour- its journalistic staff to 40 with the specific nalists to produce content for more than objective of improving the quality of the one newspaper. This constantly changing journalistic output (Andreassen, 2013; framework where numbers of journalists “Metroxpress relanceres”, 2013). contract or expand is an important factor Since 2013, Metroxpress has had a to consider when talking about the quality monopoly position in the Danish market of journalistic work at the newspaper. for free daily newspapers which cemented an already existing movement for Metrox- 2.2 Media systemic frameworks for press to be a national newspaper rather journalistic content than a newspaper exclusive to urban cen- The Danish media system also provides a tres such as Copenhagen and Aarhus. The specific framework for journalistic work newspaper is produced in two geograph- where newsbrands are not completely ical editions for East and West Denmark free in deciding the composition of edi- respectively that differ only on a few pages torial contents – particularly if they want with localised content. The newspaper to obtain press subsidies from the Danish is distributed through partnerships with state. Firstly, there is a limit to the number train and bus companies, supermarkets, of articles that subscribers to the domi- shopping centres, schools and private nating Danish news agency, Ritzau, can companies. Currently, Metroxpress can be publish on a daily basis. According to an picked up in 3,592 different places across agreement between Ritzau and The Dan- the country (“Danmarks mest læste”, n.d.) ish Competition and Consumer Authority, Tamedia has not succeed in making only 40 per cent of a newspaper’s content Metroxpress profitable and the newspaper on any given day may consist of articles has incurred major annual deficits since from the Ritzau news agency (“Anmeldelse 2013. In 2014, the deficit was 67.8 million af Ritzaus aftale”, 2005). This means that Danish kroner (9.9 million Euro), and in a free newspaper can not rely solely on 2015 the deficit was 43 million Danish kro- news agency material (unless it subscribes ner (5.7 million Euro) (Carlsen, 2015; Mad- to other news agencies than Ritzau), but sen, 2016). In November 2016, Metroxpress must also produce its own material.