Digital transformation of journalism: Part 1 - The flow of digital transformation of journalism

The converged newsroom model is applied by many newspapers to scientifically integrate different types of journalism. In the photo: The converged newsroom of Nhan Dan Online Newspaper. Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper

Inevitable trend

Over the past 10 years, technology has undergone major changes, affecting the behavior of internet users and the development trends of modern journalism. The difference between print, television and online newspapers has widened due to the technology factor that allows the presentation of specific press genres on the internet platform with high interactivity. Many older readers still maintain the habit of reading print newspapers, but in the near future, those born in the digital world will be the main readership group.

Mark Thompson, CEO of the New York Times, predicts that print journalism will cease to exist within the next 20 years.

From an economic perspective, according to statistics from From Digital, nearly 70% of the money spent on advertising on print publications has evaporated in the past 15 years. In 2022, advertising revenue on digital platforms will account for more than 50% and maintain impressive growth in the later stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic and the strong development of technology are creating pressure and also opportunities for press agencies in the digital environment.

Digital transformation is the process of using digital technologies to meet changing market demands, creating new opportunities, revenue and value. Digital transformation of journalism is putting technology at the center of development strategy, using technology to create attractive content and conquer new reader groups, distribute content more effectively and generate greater revenue.

The story of digital transformation at the New York Times

The New York Times is one of the most important newspapers in American history with a huge print circulation every day. However, with the development of electronic devices and the trend of digital transformation, the New York Times is not out of this influence. They have made a spectacular comeback by turning the digital challenge into an opportunity. Although print advertising on The New York Times has decreased by an average of 18% per year, this loss has been offset by the increase in subscriptions and digital advertising.

Many newsrooms around the world have found themselves in a similar situation to the New York Times – clearly aware that online newspapers are the future – but most of their current prestige and revenue still come from old products and distribution channels (print, television, etc.). This leads to the question: how much should an organization invest (mechanisms, finance, personnel, etc.) in online newspapers?

Although more than 2/3 of its revenue comes from print, The New York Times still decided that digital newspapers are an important development strategy in the future. Specifically, with a leadership team of 14 people, the majority (including the founder) focused on thinking about the next strategies for the digital plan. Some lessons that can be studied from The New York Times are:

- Leverage your inherent strength in content creation to begin the digitalization process. The New York Times has started its digitalization process with new products - essentially content repositories that leverage the strengths of print newspapers.

- Focus on digital transformation culture within the editorial office: If you want the newspaper to successfully transform digitally, the first thing is to transform digitally within the apparatus, not mechanically applying the management mindset and publishing process from print to electronic newspapers.

- Access new technology trends and new products to serve new needs of readers, especially on mobile devices.

The drastic digital transformation has brought about an opportunity to transform the New York Times, one of the oldest newsrooms in the United States. This timely and strategic transformation has helped the newsroom cope with one of the fundamental core issues of the journalism industry - when technology changes, electronic devices take over, how will traditional print newspapers change. The New York Times pioneered digital transformation with its core value, its fundamental strength is their unlimited content treasure combined with modern technology in production and distribution.

Positive movement from the editorial offices

In Vietnam, many media agencies have made strong changes, promptly grasped the digital transformation trend and taken the right steps, creating a solid foundation to be ready to keep up with the fourth technological revolution. Some press agencies have strongly applied technology to data collection and user analysis. The strategy of collecting reader data will help press agencies clearly identify their readers, thereby opening up opportunities to improve content quality, user experience, and at the same time create attractive segments to increase advertising revenue. Nhan Dan Newspaper cooperates with international partners Chartbeat to develop tools to measure and analyze behavioral data and reader needs, to help the editorial office provide information that meets readers' needs, optimize the time readers spend on the newspaper (time on site) and pageviews. Data analysis tools also suggest hot topics, suggest headlines, and display direct click-through rates for news articles in the newspaper's featured areas.

Hai Duong Newspaper reporter broadcasts online the 9th session of the Provincial People's Council

Many press agencies in Vietnam have applied technology, using free tools such as Flourish, Infogram... in the production process of visual products and data. Reporters and editors can create highly interactive infographics themselves, in just a few dozen minutes instead of waiting for the technical department to draw by hand for hours as before. In particular, Nhan Dan Newspaper has cooperated with international partners to bring the Shorthand tool into the production of e-magazine and longform articles. This is a tool with many outstanding features that allows for impressive presentation of interactive graphic products, photos, videos, serving press content. Many political contents are selective of readers, but when presented creatively and intuitively, they attract a lot of readers. Thanks to the application of technology, the cost of producing e-magazine articles is very reasonable, saving compared to before.

Many press agencies are also accelerating the implementation of the multi-platform strategy and the social-first trend (prioritizing information on social networks). Information appears wherever there are readers and proactively brings news to readers instead of the traditional approach of readers coming to find information. Not only having one fanpage, many press agencies have fanpages for each column and program on the social network Facebook. Many newspapers and television stations open dozens of channels on social networks YouTube, Tik Tok to bring information further, wider, reaching new readers. The Facebook fanpages of the Government Electronic Information Portal, VTV Digital... are among the strongest channels in Vietnam. VTV Digital also exploits other popular platforms such as Instagram, TikTok. Social networks are not only new platforms for releasing VTV programs but also contribute to attracting many young audiences to return to watching traditional television.

In the picture of digital transformation in recent times, local party newspapers have also had many remarkable changes in digital transformation, strongly applying technology to content production activities, management systems, and multi-platform distribution. According to Editor-in-Chief of Tuyen Quang Newspaper Mai Duc Thong, the digital transformation process primarily focuses on electronic newspapers. Tuyen Quang Newspaper has changed its interface, changed CMS features, and conducted live radio and television broadcasts. Since 2020, Tuyen Quang Newspaper has produced more than 1,400 videos, over 200 radio news bulletins, and over 100 live television programs.

The converged newsroom model is applied by many local party newspapers to scientifically integrate different types of journalism (print, electronic, television, radio) on digital infrastructures, optimize human resources as well as collective intelligence; increase information processing efficiency. Local party newspaper newsrooms stand out in implementing digital transformation, such as: Tuyen Quang, Hai Duong, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Dak Lak, Dong Nai, Binh Duong...

Despite initial achievements, many central and local press agencies are facing many challenges in the process of accelerating the digital transformation roadmap. According to a November 2022 survey by Nhan Dan Newspaper with the local party newspaper system nationwide, 35 party press agencies said that the lack of technology human resources is a major challenge in the digital transformation process, 27 press agencies pointed out the problem of editorial staff lacking digital skills, 26 press agencies said that limited investment funding is a major difficulty, and 7 units do not have a long-term digital transformation strategy.

According to Editor-in-Chief of Ha Tinh Newspaper Nguyen Cong Thanh, Ha Tinh Newspaper is facing three key challenges in digital transformation, including: human resources; limited investment budget, asynchronous technology infrastructure; and an undefined strategy, direction, and destination in digital transformation. Ha Tinh Newspaper in particular and many local newspaper offices currently lack personnel positions with specialized training in technology. Second, investment budget for the digital transformation process of journalism is still limited and has not received due attention. The technical infrastructure of many press agencies is still fragmented and patchy, not meeting the requirements and processes of modern journalism. Third, the goals, strategies, and directions of digital transformation are quite "vague". Should digital transformation start with people, technology, or content? How to solve the problem of budget and human resources? These are big questions that many press agencies are struggling to find answers to.

Index to evaluate and measure the maturity level of digital transformation of journalism

NGO VIET ANH

Next: Digital transformation of newspapers: Part 2 - What benefits do readers get?