Are newspapers set to become yesterday’s news? Don’t count on it, say editors at some of Europe’s iconic publications.
The pressures on the industry — in Europe as in the United States — are prodigious: tumbling circulation and ad revenue, competition from the internet and the proliferation of free papers. Rapidly changing technology and consumer trends have made adaptation especially difficult.
But European editors interviewed by the Associated Press appear strikingly optimistic about the future. They see the online media explosion more as an opportunity than as a threat, and express confidence they can provide the content readers need — whether it’s accessed on newsprint, a computer screen, a smart phone or a futuristic electronic scroll.
Some European editors predict the media revolution may even allow them to return to the deeper, more sophisticated journalism on which they took pride in decades past, yet in some cases feel they have to dilute under the pressures of the 24-hour news cycle.
There is disagreement, however, on how that new emphasis on quality will play out — whether it will ultimately have its greatest impact online or in print.
Bruno Patino, director of online and digital projects at France’s Le Monde, speaks of an “inevitable fragmentation” between print and online editions in which the newspaper will go “back to basics, even more elitist” — focusing on in-depth investigations. The website, then, will aim at more hurried audiences.
For Marco Pratellesi, online editor of Italy’s leading Corriere della Sera, it is exactly the opposite. The internet, he says, is the medium that opens up opportunities for a return to what he calls long-form traditional reporting.
“In a way we are returning to journalism of 20 years ago, offering more investigative pieces,” Pratellesi says, noting that it costs next to nothing to post a 10 000-word story online compared with clearing space on the printed page and selling advertising to pay for it.
Where the two viewpoints converge is that traditional newspapers will live or die based on the quality of their content — an authoritative perspective that free papers cannot provide.
“Our strategy is quality, to select the themes that interest our readers,” Pratellesi says. “Free newspapers are just quick reads, not newspapers that readers actually seek out.”
Drop in circulation
There is no denying, however, that newspaper circulation is tumbling across Europe, as it is in the US market. The most recent figures available from the World Associated of Newspapers show that daily paid newspapers in the European Union saw a 0,61% drop in circulation in 2005, and a 5,26% fall over the five years through 2005.
Le Monde has taken a particularly steep hit, declining from 416 000 to 355 000 from 2002 to 2007 for a fall of nearly 15%. Most newspapers in Britain — which has an impressive array of national dailies — have seen steady declines as well.
Many European newspapers are investing heavily in online editions in hopes of growth.
Berlin-based Axel Springer, Europe’s biggest newspaper and magazine publisher, is set to spend about â,¬2-billion to expand its digital offerings both in Germany and elsewhere.
In Sweden, Raoul Gruenthal, managing editor of Stockholm-based Svenska Dagbladet, says the daily has started a financial news site, E24.se, in addition to its regular news site, Svd.se. “We are seizing the opportunity to use the position we have to grow in areas where we previously didn’t have a strong position,” he says.
Going online also helps newspapers reach a global audience, a factor that is particularly important for British papers that can count on a massive worldwide English-speaking readership.
Positive signs
Industry-wide in Europe — as elsewhere — it’s not yet clear whether internet growth will soon be able to offset declining print revenues. But there are positive signs: Le Monde‘s Patino says that after recent loss-making years, the paper is expected to break even or make a profit this year entirely thanks to online services making up for print losses.
Peter Wuertenberger, managing director for Axel Springer’s Welt/Berliner Morgenpost newspaper publishing group, says internet revenues are growing 20% to 50% year-on-year, depending on the website. Meanwhile, he says, Germany’s older population is helping keep newspapers going.
“Two-thirds of the population have not been part of the young internet generation. Those people are still used to, and dependent on, paper as one of their information-supply chains. So we don’t see newspapers fading away so quickly.”
Svenska Dagbladet‘s Gruenthal also says it is too soon to write off print editions. “I’m optimistic when it comes to print. Right now there is no hardware that can compete with print … I don’t think print will die quickly, but of course it will be a stagnating market compared to the internet, which is growing explosively.”
A key variable is the speed at which technology might evolve to make electronic content as portable as newspapers.
French business daily Les Echos this month plans to launch a “digital paper” version available on specially dedicated PDA-type “readers”. The next step would be an “e-paper” — a flexible sheet using electronic ink that can be constantly updated wirelessly.
Philippe Jannet, director of Les Echos‘s digital projects, says his paper is trying to boost income by expanding the number of platforms but narrowing their targets.
Newsroom change
All of this has brought about profound overhauls in newsrooms.
Zach Leonard, the digital media publisher for the Times of London, says pressures of the online world are forcing old journalists to learn new tricks and turning black-and-white newspapers into multimedia portals.
Search engines’ tendency to reduce stories to their first 200 characters means writers need to think up ever snappier headlines, he says. “We’re writing very pithy first paragraphs, and making the headlines as packed as we can. It’s important in a newspaper, but it’s even more important for a search engine, where the content is organised vertically.”
The Times is also encouraging its journalists to fill out their articles with video and audio content, and teaching them how to conduct podcasts and upload video from cellphones. In the YouTube age, the quality of material is secondary to the need to put it online in the first place, Leonard says. “The web is very forgiving as far as high-end audio and video goes.”
Still, broadcast-quality video is becoming an increasingly important part of how the Times makes ends meet. The paper is being turned — in part, at least — into a small television studio, fielding pitches from production companies and organising advertising deals.
Without discussing specific figures, Leonard says sponsorships for the Times‘s online video content — such as the TimesOnline TV series Cool in Your Code — are among the top 5% of the paper’s revenue-producing deals.
That is a model, he says, the Times applies to all its online features. “We don’t do anything on the site unless it makes money.”
Extra revenue
As in the US, European media companies have been seeking ways to harness more websites to drive advertising revenue and eyeballs to news-oriented sites.
Many publishers are charging for access to websites, much as they would for subscriptions to their newspapers or magazines.
France’s Hachette, part of Lagardere, sells online subscriptions to 200 of its magazines, a process it started in August last year, for just less than â,¬10 a month, which gives readers complete digital copies of a magazine, including audio and video.
Advertising online is a strong lure for newspapers, too, as more and more advertisers look to the internet to pitch their products, ranging from upscale Mercedes-Benz sedans to new video games.
In Britain, for example, online advertising rose by 41% in 2006 to reach more than £2-billion, giving it an 11,4% share of the market, just higher than that of the newspapers.
That compares with 7,8% in 2005, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau report, which was compiled by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Centre.
“With almost all expenditure on traditional media in decline, the upward momentum of the internet reflects a new era,” the report says. — Sapa-AP
Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris, David McHugh in Berlin, Karl Ritter in Stockholm, Sweden, Raphael Satter in London and Victor L. Simpson in Rome contributed to this report