Special Edition of Innovation in News Media World Report Re imagining Mark Thompson The New York Times Company Tracy de Groose Newsworks the Faisal Abbas Arab News Marty Baron The Washington Post Maria Ressa Rappler Lukáš Fila Denník N Louis Dreyfus Groupe Le Monde Lisa MacLeod WAN-IFRA Jens Pettersson NTM/Upsala Nya Tidning Warren Fernandez The Straits Times News Editors Fran Unsworth BBC News Howard Saltz Florida International University Juan Señor, Jordi Juan La Vanguardia Emma Goodman Irene Gentle The Toronto Star Damian Eales News Corp An annual survey by INNOVATION International Media Jose Del Rio La Nacion Consulting Group for the World Association of Newspapers Jeongdo Hong JoongAng Group and News Publishers — WAN-IFRA INNOVATION innovation in IN ReNEWS MEDIA WORLDnewsimagining mediaREPORT worldthe 2018 report News2019 LONDON, UK LONDON,LONDON, UKUK GROWTH STRATEGIES • DIGITAL • NEWSROOMS • DESIGN GROWTHGROWTH STRATEGIESSTRATEGIES • DIGITALDIGITAL • NEWSROOMSNEWSROOMS •• DESIGNDESIGN 4 Contributors Contents 5 FAISAL ABBAS JEONGDO HONG 6 MARTY BARON JORDI JUAN FOREWORD TRACY DE GROOSE LISA MACLEOD A note from the editors JOSE DEL RIO JENS PETTERSSON LOUIS DREYFUS MARIA RESSA 8 DAMIAN EALES MICAELI ROURKE WARREN FERNANDEZ HOWARD SALTZ ESSAYS LUKAS FILA JAYANT SRIRAM IRENE GENTLE MARK THOMPSON 90 EMMA GOODMAN FRAN UNSWORTH MONETISATION 14 Business Models for News Publishers publisher MARTA TORRES [email protected] editors 122 EMMA GOODMAN [email protected] ANOTHER CLICK IN THE WALL JUAN SEÑOR A Primer in Paywall Models [email protected] copy editor MICAELI ROURKE [email protected] 138 design, cover design VASCO FERREIRA VISUAL JOURNALISM COMES OF AGE [email protected] DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC illustrations LUIS GRAÑENA typography 156 KEISS by Dino dos Santos [email protected] WAN-IFRA Sharing Global Best Practice JUAN SEÑOR MARTA TORRES 158 President & Principal Partner Administrative Director & Principal Partner [email protected] www.innovation.media INNOVATION From Media Companies to Information Engines Printed in Spain ISBN: 978-84-96076-28-0 Legal deposit: NA-1435/1999 INNOVATION MEDIA CONSULTING GROUP © All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders 6 Foreword A Note From the Editors 7 Editors Juan Señor, Emma Goodman There is finally a global recognition that independent journalism is valuable and must be paid What a year. 2020 has defied all expectations, and no opportunities for face-to-face chance few months of the COVID-19 crisis, research by turning the world as we knew it upside down. encounters. Foreign reporting is suffering as Press Gazette found in June. for: publishers It will take some time for the full impact of the journalists reduce travel to avoid spreading or There is finally a global recognition that in- COVID-19 pandemic on the news industry catching the virus. dependent journalism is valuable and must be must seize this to be felt, but we can already see significant Advertising markets have of course been paid for: publishers must seize this moment. As changes taking place. hit hard, and as a result, many news organ- the Local News Initiative at Northwestern Uni- moment. The pandemic and consequent lockdowns isations are suffering. Publishers have been versity suggests, this is “a make-or-break time are accelerating trends in all areas of life, cutting jobs, cutting office space and cutting for local news” in the US, with the pressure on including news consumption and produc- print days. And as in all industries, there will be smaller publishers to keep the new readers and tion. Trends that might have taken five years to victims of this crisis. subscribers that they have garnered during the become the norm are now becoming the norm But there is a critical need for reliable health crisis. We give an overview of 14 different business in five months. These include the migration of information, particularly when online misinfor- Publishers and journalists around the models that news organisations can try. We the audience to digital platforms, the failure of mation is a credible threat, as the World Health world are stepping up. Three-quarters of pub- also take a closer look at the different types of digital advertising to provide sufficient funding Organisation’s warning of an ‘infodemic’ in lishers surveyed by BRAND United and Pub- paywall that outlets around the world are using. for quality journalism, and the collapse of trust early February made clear. Although some lishing Executive created new content products Whichever you choose, do find a way to make in social media platforms. titles’ print operations have suffered due to in response to COVID-19. News organisations your readers pay. For too long we have been in As well as being the hardest story that lockdowns, many publications have seen their have held a plethora of virtual events, they have the wrong business: selling ads, when we need many journalists will have ever had to cover, digital readership soar during the pandemic as started new dedicated email briefings on the to be selling our journalism. lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic the public seeks to understand the crisis and progress of the virus and its implications, they We open this year’s report with essays have created huge challenges for news organ- make decisions directly relating to their own have launched podcasts, and more. from leading publishers and editors on the isations. Reporters and presenters have done lives. As we show in our visual journalism subject of Reimagining the news. We started impressive work to recreate studios in their In the UK for example, newspaper brands chapter in this report, news outlets have taken this effort at the beginning of the year before bedrooms and living rooms with duvets on their added 6.6 million daily digital readers in the data visualisations to new levels as they seek to extent of the health crisis was clear: we had no heads to improve audio quality, fending off chil- year ending 31 March 2020, reaching record explain unfathomable numbers, unpredictable idea how much more pertinent this topic would dren and pets who wander in and out as they audiences, according to data from The Publish- scenarios and unprecedented political deci- become. We hope that these insights into think- please, but it is far from an ideal situation. The ers Audience Measurement Company, PAMCo. sions. ing at news companies around the globe will creativity of a newsroom can’t be reproduced Ten of the biggest newspaper groups in the As ever, revenue is top of mind for most inspire and motivate as we move through this on Zoom calls. It is far harder to hold politicians US and UK collectively gained more than one publishers, and the current crisis means that it turbulent start to a new decade, with hopefully to account during virtual press conferences million new digital subscriptions amid the first is more crucial than ever to diversify, and fast. more peaceful times ahead. l The New York Times Newsworks Arab News The Washington Post Rappler Demník N Le Monde Upsala Nya Tidning The Straits Times BBC La Vanguardia Toronto Star News Corp La Nacion JoongAng Group Special Edition of Innovation in News 10 Reimagining the NEWS Media World Report 11 THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO CAN DO GREAT WORK IN THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN CONTENT CREATIVITY AND TECH I N NOVAT I ON MARK THOMPSON OUTGOING CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY, USA SpecialSpecial Edition Edition of ofInnovation Innovation in in News News 12 Reimagining tthhee NEWS MediaMedia World World Report Report 13 The economic object of any legacy media digital strategy is to develop digital products “ and services which can grow revenue and profitability the other American streamers, but there’s a company. Its journalism was as strong as ever. crucial difference between producing great con- It had been an early investor in digital and aggressively enough tent to fit someone else’s creative agenda, and its website was still recognised as a market commissioning and controlling it yourself. It’s leader. to offset the inevitable the commissioners who decide what gets made But pretty much every economic indicator declines in print. – and reap most of the economic upside. If real was trending down. Print advertising, which scale is what it takes in digital content distribu- had collapsed during 2008/9 was still falling tion, we don’t have a horse in that race either. like a stone. The number of print subscribers was also falling, albeit more gradually. News- society which loses its shared culture loses stand sales were plummeting. To everyone’s forward economics looked. That digital head- much of its sense of distinctive identity. A soci- * consternation, after years of growth, digital start. Its untapped global potential. ety in which different communities and groups The idea that Netflix and others are changing advertising was going into reverse. Even the All strengths to build on, though quite how can no longer listen to and come to understand the game in broadcasting is hardly news of digital subscription model – launched the was as yet unclear. Wall Street, not known for each other’s pasts and presents shouldn’t course. It was a big theme of last week’s Royal previous year, and the company’s great hope its sentimentality, had reached its verdict – be surprised if mutual incomprehension and Television Society’s Cambridge convention. As – seemed to be running out of steam at around which was that The Times was the best of a bad division are the result. If you doubt that any of for digital disruption of newspapers, that’s been the 600,000 subscriber mark.