Newspaper editors show the way forward
May 7th, 2008 by Lloyd Gofton
The second Newsroom Barometer, which is the largest survey of the worldwide news industry compiled by the World Editors Forum , has been published and it shows a continued change in the way newspaper editors are viewing the web.
Here is a quick rundown of the highlights:
- 86% of editors believe that integrated print and online newsrooms will become the norm
- 83% of editors believe journalists will be expected to be able to produce content for all media within five years
- 58% of editors think the decline in young readership is the biggest threat for the future of newspapers
- 44% of editors believe online will be the most common platform for reading news in the future. 31% voted for print, 12% mobile, 7% e-paper and the rest were not sure
- 35% of editors said training journalists with new media skills would be their first action if they were given resources to invest in editorial quality
- 31% of editors said their priority was recruiting more journalists
These results show that the newspaper industry, or editors at least, have woken up to the reality of the revolution in the way we consume news. Putting new media training as a top priority for journalists is a clear sign of the need to adapt, and understanding that future readers are falling away at an alarming rate, although a very obvious indicator of impending doom, shows an awareness of the issues at hand.
These figures show that the newspaper industry does have a good chance of surviving and perhaps even prospering, if it can act now and evolve its offering to suit readership trends. Focusing on opinion/analysis-led journalism is not a new idea, but implementation of these ideas, along with the acceptance of news for free, is a major step forward considering where we were a few years ago.
Checkout the Editor’s weblog for a full run down of the results available to date.
Tags: free news, Journalism, newsroom barometer, world editors forum