What Keeps News Leaders Up At Night?
Each year, we ask our incoming cohort of the Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership the same question: “What keeps you up at night about the news industry?”
These media executives are thinking about everything from new formats and audiences to the disruption of technology and business models.
“Can we rethink what a story is, and is there journalism outside of the act of ‘publishing’? Would this help journalism bridge any of the kind of societal divides we are living with, and become a trusted guide to living better lives?,” asked Cristian Lupșa, the former founder of DoR in Romania. “How can we create a better pipeline for the next generation of journalists to more smoothly integrate into newsrooms? Can we make newsrooms so successful and sustainable that they are able to pay wages that keep people in the profession even as they grow older and start families? Can we create or train or integrate a new generation of newsroom leaders and managers that can achieve the above?”
Several participants mentioned the role that technology, especially artificial intelligence, plays in how they do their jobs.
“AI is disrupting everything, but it’s the disruption to search and distributing content that makes me wonder how this will inform what it is we see and find for news,” said Aimee Rinehart of the Associated Press. “Chatbots have revealed a public appetite to get the answers to their questions, not links. How will journalism look five years from now?”
Joyce Adeluwoye-Adams, who is at Reuters, said AI has the potential to enhance journalism and empower reporters. “Nonetheless, the noticeable absence of diversity in the artificial intelligence sector raises legitimate concerns. The industry’s prevailing demographic, largely skewed towards white men, raises the potential for the perpetuation of historical biases to persist or even escalate. I feel there is an urgent need to address this as AI progressively integrates itself into society and the news sector.”
“Technological change in the media industry is fast,” said Rieke Harmsen of Sonntagsblatt in Germany. “Smaller media companies can hardly keep up because they have neither the financial nor the human resources to adapt to this fast changing scenery. If we do not find a way to keep up with these changes or to cooperate, this will lead to a further reduction in media diversity.”
Diversity, equity and inclusion in the newsroom and with their audiences is top of mind for many media executives.
“If we truly want to get more kinds of people who haven’t had a path into journalism and haven’t had a voice in journalism before now, there needs to be a lot more effort in training them and providing wraparound support so they can be successful and empowered to become a leader,” said Yukari Kane of the Prison Journalism Project.
Eden Fineday of IndigiNews wants to make sure she finds Indigenous reporters and that they are focused on the “mental health of newsroom staff and the mental health of the general public.”
Media executives are also concerned about press freedom and how they hold governments accountable.
“Decreasing press freedom globally and a loss of access is what concerns me more,” said Megan Hess of Bloomberg. “Stricter laws and protest crackdowns, paired with the rise of cult-of-personality leaders, have in part resulted in fewer sources who are willing to talk and more trepidation about coverage and its implications. Even if newsrooms stay aggressive, local conditions in certain countries make it unsafe to send reporters — countries where coverage is crucial. What’s happening behind closed doors that journalists no longer have access to, and how negatively does that impact our understanding of the world?”
“I worry that quality journalism (in Chinese media landscape) will lose its ground — where media professionals grow and support one another, where the audience trusts and understands why and how to support the field,” said Lulu Ning of Initium Media.
“When journalists have to flee from authoritarian countries, local journalism also goes into exile,” said José Nieves of El Toque. “This journalism can still have an impact in its home country, but it must be resilient and overcome enormous challenges. I am very interested in the idea of making journalism in exile an impactful but also sustainable enterprise because I’m seeing firsthand that this is a growing concern for more and more colleagues in different countries.”
Reaching new audiences, innovating, and the focus on original reporting are also what some leaders are thinking about.
“What keeps me up at night is the lack of innovation and risk taking,” said Leezel Tanglao of Dallas Morning News. “I worry we are not pushing ourselves hard enough when it comes to true community engagement. The world has changed, so we as an industry must change along with it while keeping our ethics and values in tact. We are still working in silos and need to really work together more with the communities we cover and serve.”
“I worry about the diminishing impact of that original reporting, along with tight budgets, scant local coverage, and the vanishing line between what is actually newsworthy and what is just rage-inducing,” said Will Storey of Insider. “Lastly, I worry that as really smart reporters, editors, and managers try to solve those problems, the robots will take our jobs.”
“I wonder how we can get more young people to consume our content and care about civic engagement and democracy, while also creating a sustainable business model,” said Coburn Dukehart of Wisconsin Watch. “How can we transform the production, distribution and consumption of local news to make the product useful and meaningful for consumers, while also supporting a living wage for journalists and sustaining the industry as a whole?”
“I both lose sleep from worry and excitement over creating a space for books and readers where people can be informed, but also inspired to learn more in a way that is enjoyable enough that they want to spend more time with us,” said Laura Trujillo of USA TODAY. “I truly believe that the more we read, the more we understand our communities, and the more connected we become.”
The sustainability of the news industry and developing new business models is at the forefront of many leaders’ minds.
“The decline in newspaper subscribers, the necessary transformation of a print daily newspaper into an online medium and the acquisition of digital subscribers keeps me up at night,” said Rosi Gantner of OVB Media Rosenheim in Germany.
“It’s clear that journalism’s old business models can no longer sustain us, at least not on their own,” said Lily Rothman of TIME. “But what I spend just as much time thinking about is how we, as an industry, can uphold the values of the best journalism — integrity; the church/state separation; service to the reader; great reporting, thinking, and writing — while experimenting with the new business ideas being developed to supplement lost advertising and subscription income.”
“I’m concerned about revenue models in general,” said Deanna Buckman of Dotdash Meredith. “Which ones are sustainable and realistic for smaller organizations? How can the industry reduce its dependency on third-party platforms?”
“We have to create more value to make customers consume and pay for journalism,” said Merituuli Saikkonen of Helsingin Sanomat in Finland. “But which is the key to their hearts?”
“Our newsrooms are getting smaller because of decreasing revenue streams. Finding sustainable business models for news organizations is crucial for the industry’s survival and our democracy,” said Thuli Manyathi of News24 in South Africa. It allows us to hire more reporters (get more resources) who can cover more stories of public interest instead of stories that only boost engagement.
“How do we sustain non-profit news organizations that are primarily audience funded as people continually seek out news in new ways?,” asked Julie Crosby of Democracy Now! Productions. “How do we decide which platforms and new technologies to embrace and which to leave behind? How do we make our content widely and freely available and still engage viewers, listeners and readers as subscribers and donors?”
“Local journalism has a grassroots function in our democracy, but I see it in danger. Even though we can make money digitally, it is still not enough to refinance our newsrooms,” said Oliver Haustein-Teßmer of LR Medienverlag GmbH in Germany. “So I ask how we can be more innovative, focusing on new and younger audiences. But what about the people who distrust news? I worry about how we motivate teams and new talent to engage in digital journalism with patience and enthusiasm.”
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