A powerpoint

1. The Digital Newsroom
Threat or Opportunity?

2. A presentation put together by Laura
Stack, Emily Childs and Jacobo Manso
In this presentation we will:
• Review what a digital newsroom consists of and why it is
necessary
• Look in depth at some examples of opportunities offered
by the digital newsroom
• Investigate certain threats that are presented by the digital
newsroom
• Evaluate whether the digital newsroom is in fact an
opportunity or a threat using appropriate data and
resources

3. In 2009, around 75% of internet users looked
for news online 1
“The online revolution is like a
train journey without a
destination. As soon as one
paper arrives at a station that
had once appeared to be a
terminus, another title has
built a new line and sped
onwards.” Roy
Greenslade, The Guardian2
By ~dgies’

4. More than a quarter of internet users went
online via their mobile phone last year1
“UK web users are accustomed
to getting factual content free
online. But their willingness to
pay for mobile apps that deliver
value and convenience offers
hope” eMarketer1
By Caribb

5. The Converged Newsdesk
Al Jazeera
By Paul Keller
"The biggest issue we face is serving a growing market across the
globe. Integration helps us pursue this aim, providing us with a
structure that makes best use of our resources.” Will Lewis, Editor of
The Telegraph2

6. The Telegraph
The Digital
Newsroom
The Financial Times
By Antony Mayfield
“The future of news
gathering and news
delivery is tied to the
screen” Roy
Greenslade, The Guardian2
By Adam Tinworth

7. "The big question is...
how do we create
enough content [for
the website] and still
keep the print edition
fresh in the morning?”
Michael Williams, Editor
of The Wall Street
Journal Europe3
By S Falkow

8. Readers can search
News around the clock whole website for
desired information
News round-up Template used for rapid
for those pushed delivery Personalised
for time services
provided for
convenience
News
sorted by Alerts sent
country to mobiles
for
optimum
speed and
efficiency
News sorted
by subject
News
Video and audio already
available for filtered so
added depth or By jystewart reader
entertainment doesn’t
have to
Reader can Reader can http://digitalnewsroomgro
Stories can be printed
share views share stories for those who prefer to
Reader can up.wordpress.com/2011/10/
with others with friends choose how 29/news-around-the-clock/
look at paper than
much depth in
screen
content

9. Web capacity and multi-
platform journalism
“There is much more fulfilment involved in writing a developing
story when you discover that there is no longer any need to cut it to
ribbons to fit a space.” Roy Greenslade, The Guardian2
http://soundcloud.com/erch
ilds/digital-newsroom-
capacity-and/s-w2j5P
By Sweetie187

10. Multi-skilled Journalists
“Integration is
about …the
creation of a new
journalistic culture,
a method of
working that
reflects both the
technological
possibilities and
the demands of a
wised up, By banlon1964
increasingly media-
savvy public.” Roy
Greenslade, the
http://digitalnewsroomgroup.wordpress.com/2
Guardian2 011/10/30/multi-skilled-journalists/

11. Social Media
“The news industry has moved
from a world where members
of the public needed the news
industry for information, to one
where they can access – and
produce – it themselves” Paul
Bradshaw, Online Journalism
blog4
http://digitalnewsroomgroup.w
By ordpress.com/2011/10/29/social-
media/
sulamith.sallmann

12. Job competition and Job cuts
“One of digital
transmission's
greatest benefits is
that it allows for the
merging of staff on
daily and Sunday
titles in a way that
proved unachievable
20 years ago. Some
call it another
wonder of the web;
By Roger Blackwell
others call it job cuts
under a digital
As revenues in circulation and advertising fall, organisations
cloak.” Roy
are having to axe jobs that overlap between print and online.
Greenslade, The
Therefore, jobs in news output specific to one platform will
Guardian2
be cut in favour for multi-media platform output.
http://digitalnewsroomgroup.wordpress.com/
2011/10/29/job-competition-and-job-cuts/

13. Risk of libel with user-generated
content “Consumer-
generated content
was also on the
editors' minds…as
they are acutely
aware that "letting
go" [and
encouraging
consumer
commentary online]
could be a recipe for
libel” Market wire3
By most uncool
With a growing popularity of citizen journalism and reader
comment, comes an increase in the chance of being sued for http://digitalnewsroo
defamation. A person claiming libel may sue the writer, mgroup.wordpress.c
website, and web server, and each publication is treated as a om/2011/11/01/risk-of-
libel-with-consumer-
separate case. generated-content/

14. Quality of Online
Journalism
With a change in newsroom
roles, some employees might
have seen their workload
increase, being forced to
work across the various
platforms without adequate
training or an increase in
salary. There is also the
concern that converged
platforms make for less
personalised coverage. By GDS Infographics
“You send a TV reporter who knocks out a radio
http://digitalnewsroo report – the radio people don’t get their own four-
mgroup.wordpress.co star service. That’s the worry.” Quoted in Press
m/2011/11/01/the-
quality-of-online- Gazette5
journalism/

15. A Competitive Market
We have an information
overload, and as most
content is free, readers can
go to a competitor in a
single click if they didn’t find
what they were looking for.
http://digitalnewsroomgro
up.wordpress.com/2011/11/
01/a-competitive-market/
By kenudigit
“You don’t own the platform. You own a small part of it – your own
website…This is a very different market and news organisations are not
even close to being dominant players.” Paul Bradshaw, Online Journalism
Blog8

16. How successful is
digital?
In this section, we will look at a selection of data
provided by Johnston Press and local newspapers in
order to determine the success of digital journalism.
Johnston Press is the UK’s second largest regional
newspaper group and the owner of 300 newspaper
titles.
In 2006, the Guardian published a report detailing a
change in the way Johnston Press was organising it’s
newsrooms.

17. “Media business: Johnston rolls out 70 digital
newsrooms: 20 daily titles and 50 offices go multi-media:
Journalists to file video reports for websites”6
Johnston Press will trial the new- There will be a new structure for the
look newsroom at the Lancashire 50 journalists working at the LEP,
Evening Post in Preston. It hopes which allows them to file video
to complete the renovation of all reports for streaming on the
other offices by June 2007. newspaper’s website. In addition, “A
revamped news editing operation
coordinates rolling news coverage
across the internet, mobile phones
and newspaper.” Dan Milmo, The
Guardian6
Johnston Press Report 2010

18. “Delivering what our
audiences want” 7
Johnston Press say the way in which
their audience chooses to access news
is continuing to change. This includes a
greater demand for mobile services.
5000 people are using the iPhone
application Scotsman.com to access
news on their mobiles.
Johnston Press Report 2010
Johnston Press Report 2010
Johnston Press Report 2010

19. Digital Revenue
"Hopefully, it will have an effect on our
audience and increase our revenues
because we will be selling advertising
to a greater audience reach.” Tim
Bowdler, Chief Executive of Johnston
Press6
Johnston Press Report 2010
Johnston Press Report 2010

20. Newspaper readership vs.
website users
The success of the
websites depends
on the journalists’
commitment to its
quality of content,
depth of coverage
and speed of
updates.

21. Is the Digital Newsroom
a threat or an
opportunity?
http://digitalnewsroomgroup.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/c
onclusion/

22. 1
Sources
eMarketer. (2010) MarketResearch.com: “UK Digital News and Information Convergence”. M2 PressWire
[online]. Available at: http://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis.
2Greenslade, R. (2008) The digital challenge. The Guardian [online]. Available at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/07/pressandpublishing.digitalmedia.
3Anon. (2006) UK Editors Grapple With 'Multiplicity of News Sources' in Changing Newsroom
Environments; Is a Print Background Enough to Lead the Digital Media Revolution? Market Wire [online].
Available at: http://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis.
4 Bradshaw, P. (2007) A model for the 21st century newsroom pt2: Distributed Journalism. Online
Journalism Blog A conversation [online]. Available at: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2007/10/02/a-model-
for-the-21st-century-newsroom-pt2-distributed-journalism/.
5 Anon.(2007) Frontline ‘unaffected’ by the switch to multimedia. PressGazette Journalism Today [online].
Available at: http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=39231.
6Milmo, D. (2006) Media business: Johnston rolls out 70 digital newsrooms: 20 daily titles and 50 offices
go multi-media: Journalists to file video reports for websites. The Guardian (London) - Final Edition [online].
Available at: http://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis.
7 Anon. (2010) Annual Report and Accounts 2010. Johnston Press plc: pp. 5.
8 Bradshaw, P. (2008) Making money from journalism: new media business models (A model for the 21st
century newsroom pt5). Online Journalism Blog A conversation [online]. Available at:
http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/01/28/making-money-from-journalism-new-media-business-models-
a-model-for-the-21st-century-newsroom-pt5/.

23. Images and Data
Slides 3-18
Flickr [online]. Available at:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=&l=cc&ct=0&mt=all&adv=1
Slides 20-22
Annual Report and Accounts 2010. Johnston Press plc: pp.
front, 2, 8, 14, 17.
Slide 23
Lancashire Evening Post [online]. Available at:
http://www.lep2.co.uk/mediainfo/category/preston/