THE NEW NORMAL FOR NEWS - HAVE GLOBAL MEDIA CHANGED FOREVER? ORIELLA PR NETWORK GLOBAL DIGITAL JOURNALISM STUDY 2013

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THE NEW NORMAL FOR NEWS - HAVE GLOBAL MEDIA CHANGED FOREVER? ORIELLA PR NETWORK GLOBAL DIGITAL JOURNALISM STUDY 2013
The New
                                          Normal for news
                                                          Have global media
                                                          changed forever?
                                                             Oriella PR Network Global
                                                           Digital Journalism Study 2013

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                               1
THE NEW NORMAL FOR NEWS - HAVE GLOBAL MEDIA CHANGED FOREVER? ORIELLA PR NETWORK GLOBAL DIGITAL JOURNALISM STUDY 2013
the new normal for news
have global media changed forever?
Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013

Executive Summary
The 2013 Oriella Digital Journalism, our sixth annual investigation into the role and impact of digital media in
newsrooms and news-gathering worldwide, in many senses marks a watershed. The study is based on a survey
of over 500 journalists spanning 14 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, New
Zealand, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA), and finds digital media well entrenched in all countries, albeit
in very different ways.
More respondents than ever believe their largest readership is now online rather than off, and their performance is
overwhelmingly evaluated based on digital metrics like unique visitors. These developments reflect the significant
investments proprietors have made in their digital platforms, as the world turns away from print media and towards
digital content.

As a result the way journalists work has changed
dramatically:
• ‘Digital first’ publishing is changing the rules            • For journalists, social media means more
   of the journalism game. A third of respondents                 than blogs and Twitter – in particular, the use of
   believes their title is ‘digital first’ – in other words       Google Plus, widely lampooned in many areas of
   they break news as it happens online, rather than              mainstream media, is remarkably popular, both with
   holding it until the next edition. A quarter say they          media brands and journalists themselves.
   develop multiple versions of the same story as it
                                                              • In spite of all the new technology, traditional
   develops. And, nearly half of the journalists in our
                                                                  values remain. The most prized source of news
   survey say their title now produces its own video
                                                                  and validation are conversations with industry
   material in-house.
                                                                  insiders. Expert spokespeople such as analysts
• Mobile is growing in popularity as a                            and academics are now the first place journalists go
   monetisation model - The models for generating                 to in order to get their news. And the most trusted
   revenue via digital journalism are changing too;               sources are academics and technical experts, rather
   paid-for smartphone apps for rich media content are            than executives, marketers and political figures.
   rising in popularity while the dominant monetisation
   model – ad-supported content – have tailed off
   somewhat.
• Digital media has cemented its role within                      These trends, we believe, indicate the true emergence of
   the journalistic arsenal. The use of blogs and                 digital journalism as a mainstream force in world media –
   microblogs to source and verify news stories is                a ‘New Normal for News’, as we have dubbed it. Media
   broadly in line with last year – but only when the             tactics which just a few years ago would have worked per-
   sources behind those feeds are known to the                    fectly well, can no longer be relied on to the same extent
                                                                  as before. The trend towards ‘digital first’ publishing and
   journalists. Journalists’ personal use of social media
                                                                  mobile content all have big implications for how brands
   is also growing. For the first time, the proportion of         communicate.
   journalists active on Twitter in a personal capacity
   has passed the fifty percent mark, and a third have            We explore the developments, the challenges and the op-
                                                                  portunities they bring, throughout the report, and provide
   their own blogs.
                                                                  some actionable guidance based on our conclusions, in
                                                                  the Summary.

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                                         2
Chapter one:
global media: an
industry in flux
Uncertainty remains
In the last few iterations of the Oriella Digital Journalism    Digital media attract eyeballs
Study, we have seen the machinations of the global
economy playing out in newsrooms and editorial offices.
                                                                and advertisers but lack
Last year, for example, the picture was far more upbeat in      prestige
the developing markets – Brazil, Russia and China – than
in either Europe or North America. More journalists in          One of the goals of this study has been to track the
those countries reported an increase in journalist numbers      relative fortunes of print and digital media formats. We
and higher revenues than the other regions we surveyed.         do this by asking journalists where they believe they
                                                                have the largest audience. This year’s study is in line
This year’s picture is more nuanced. In contrast the            with our findings in 2011 and 2012: roughly half of
country whose journalists are most bullish about revenues       respondents globally agree their largest audiences are
is the USA, where 52 per cent of the media surveyed             online.
believed their revenues would increase – with one in three
anticipating revenue growth of ten per cent or more. This       Journalists are however dubious as to the financial
sits in stark comparison with the global average of 36 per      merits of digital publishing. Only 20 per cent of
cent.                                                           respondents worldwide agree that their publication
The situation is different again when it comes to staffing      earns more money online than from print, and 44
levels. This year, Germany was the only country where           per cent disagree. This is likely a reflection of the
those predicting staff levels would increase was higher         substantial investments by media groups in digital
than those predicting a decline. In all other countries,        depressing their overall revenues. The New York Times
including China, India, Brazil, the USA and Canada, those       Company and Axel Springer in Germany are examples
predicting a decline in staff numbers outnumbered those         of companies which have announced reduced profits
who disagreed by at least two to one.                           recently – partly as a result of increased investment
                                                                in digital platforms. As we will see later in this report,
Indeed, the operating environment for media globally is         digital metrics have become the chief means used
challenging. In developing markets, broadband internet          by publications to track the effectiveness of their
adoption is accelerating: in Brazil, 46 per cent of the         journalists’ work.
population now has internet access, while adoption              India and Sweden are the outliers when it comes to
in China stands at 42 per cent1. As a result, media             print media consumption –69 per cent of respondents
consumption is likely to shift online, away from print –        in Sweden, and 61 per cent in India, think their largest
much as it has in Europe and North America.                     audiences consume their traditional print or broadcast
                                                                format. The UK comes a distant third, at 45 per cent,
Data from the advertising industry supports this view.          while journalists in France, China, the USA, Brazil and
The WARC Consensus Ad Forecast for 2013 predicts                Canada now believe their largest audiences are now
internet advertising will see the strongest growth this year,   online.
with predicted growth rate of 13 per cent2. By contrast,
newspaper display advertising is expected to decline by         However, when asked about the prestige of print media
2.7 per cent.                                                   in their countries, a contrary trend emerges. Globally,
The uncertain outlook for mainstream media is also              over half of the journalists surveyed agreed that print
made clear by a sharp increase in concern among those           media were more prestigious in their countries.
surveyed that their publication may be taken off the market.    It is interesting to note the countries where this view
This year, nearly one in five agreed this was a concern,        was not supported: the USA, 35 per cent, Canada,
compared with one in eight a year ago.                          29 per cent, and Russia, where not a single journalist
                                                                agreed print was more prestigious than online media.
                                                                In all of these countries, online news sites and blogs are
                                                                well-established in the media mix – to an extent due to
                                                                their huge geographical expanse.

1   www.internetworldstats.com; World Bank
2	WARC 2013

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                                      3
‘Digital First’ – where print and                               Measuring success in the age of
broadcast media meet                                            digital media

The past year has seen many respected media groups              For the first time this year, we asked journalists how the
declare themselves ‘digital first’ titles. That is, they will   success of their material is evaluated. Once upon a
publish news online as it breaks, rather than holding key       time, editors would have looked at the number of pieces
stories over to the next print edition. We view digital first   making print, and the number of exclusive articles, as a
as a key catalyst for the new normal for news. In the UK,       yardstick of journalist performance. Today, publications’
both the Guardian and the Financial Times announced             use of social media to promote their own content, plus
shifts to a digital first model; Axel Springer in Germany       the inherent ‘trackability’ of digital content, means
is also investing heavily is this medium. These shifts          publishers have a much wider variety of metrics they
are partly in recognition of the changing nature of their       can look at.
readership; partly to reduce costs.                             The message from this year’s survey is clear on the
                                                                subject: the single most important measure are unique
The survey broadly reflects the trend. Thirty-nine per cent     visits their articles receive – chosen half (50 per cent)
of the journalists surveyed worldwide agree their title is      of the journalists surveyed. This view is most strongly
now ‘digital first’, and the trend is especially pronounced     held in the US and Canada, with 68 per cent and 86 per
in Canada, India, Russia, Italy and Sweden. As a result,        cent respectively, plus Brazil (52 per cent), Sweden (58
more journalists are being asked to work harder: 46 per         per cent), Spain (58 per cent) and Russia (52 per cent).
cent of the journalists surveyed this year agree they are       In the UK, the somewhat cruder measure of page
expected to produce more content, up from 40 per cent           views – highlighted by 51 per cent of British journalists,
in 2012. Further, over a quarter of respondents (28 per         compared with 45 per cent who chose unique visits.
cent) this year say they produce multiple versions of the
same story as it develops – compelling evidence that            Interestingly, France was the only country that
real-time digital journalism is going truly mainstream. The     evidences a deeper model of user engagement – 77
biggest responses here come from China: 64 per cent of          per cent of French journalists say they are measured by
journalists say they cover rolling news in this way, followed   increases in social media followers, 74 per cent by how
by Germany, with 44 per cent. Paradoxically, in the US,         many likes or tweets they get. These figures suggest
just 11 per cent of journalists agree.                          editors are looking beyond sheer traffic volumes to track
                                                                the social media buzz around their coverage.
The growth of digital publishing also means more of
journalists’ work is getting published as practical concerns
over space and pagination become a thing of the past. We
asked journalists roughly what proportion of their output
had been published so far this year, compared with last
year. Overall, 34 per cent of respondents say that nine-
tenths or more of their output made print last year – not a
bad number, until you find out that this year, the proportion
has risen to 43 per cent. The trend is far more marked
in Europe than Asia-Pacific or the Americas – perhaps a
reflection of the tighter resources and competitive media
markets in this region.

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                                      4
How digital media determine
news output

Over the past six years, the Oriella Digital Journalism
Study has charted the emergence of digital storytelling
techniques that are complementing and sometimes even
replacing the written word and photography. For the past
three years, the content type that has grown the fastest is
in-house video. This year, nearly half of the respondents
surveyed – 49 per cent – said their titles published videos
produced in-house. This is an increase of 13 per cent on
2012’s number, and a whopping 30 per cent higher than
2011, when just 20 per cent of respondents said their titles
supported video made in-house.

Demand for third-party produced video material has grown,
but to nothing like the same extent: in 2012, 30 per cent
of respondents said their titles used externally-produced
video; this year the figure is 34 per cent.

Infographics are another content asset that have attracted
a lot of attention in recent years. This year, 28 per cent of
respondents say their titles published infographics, pro-
vided they were developed in-house. This is an increase
on last year’s figure, albeit far smaller than for video. As
with video, when infographics are produced externally, for
example by brands, they prove slightly less popular, with
23 per cent of journalists saying they publish them.

There is, however, evidence that some of these new story
telling assets are losing their lustre in some countries. For
example, 41 per cent of Chinese journalists told us in 2012
they published externally-produced infographics. This
year, the figure has fallen to 20 per cent.

If one could draw any broad conclusion from this part of the
study it is that media are still searching – very hard – for
the keys to success in the new normal for news. In Chapter
Three, we explore how mobile is one monetisation ap-
proach which is growing in popularity as advertising based
business models start to fall from favour.

Yet for all the technological change, some very ‘traditional’
values remain at the heart of journalism worldwide – values
which have important implications for brands wishing to
build relationships with them.

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013         5
Chapter two:
  social media and
  news-gathering – a
  new world order
  emerges
  Over the past three years we have charted the impact                              The UK, Canada (both with 68 per cent), China (64 per
  social media have had on news-gathering itself. Last                              cent) and France (55 per cent) are the countries where
  year, after observing how coverage of the intense politi-                         journalists have most readily embraced social media news-
  cal turmoil in the Middle East and elsewhere had become                           gathering – provided the sources are trustworthy.
  dominated by social media content, our survey showed just                         Use of social media by journalists to verify the stories
  how popular microblogs – and more traditional blogs –were                         they’re already working on is also in line with the 2012
  for journalists looking for new stories, or substantiation for                    findings. Globally, 42 per cent of journalists use trusted
  pieces they were already working on.                                              microblogs (2012, 43 per cent), and 37 per cent use
                                                                                    blogs they know (2012, 38 per cent) to verify stories.
  This year the trend is broadly similar with 51 per cent of                        Compared with other sources, usage of social media for
  journalists worldwide say they use microblogs (e.g. Twit-                         news gathering and verification has changed the least
  ter, Facebook and Weibo) to gather new stories – provided                         since last year, indicating journalists – and their editors
  the source behind those accounts is known and trusted                             – remain broadly happy with the role of social media in
  by them (2012 figure, 54 per cent). As was the case in                            their journalism.
  2012, reliance on these sources falls dramatically when the
                                                                                    As last year, the most important sources of news and
  sources are not known to the journalist: 25 per cent say
                                                                                    validation are conversations with industry insiders.
  they source stories in this way – the same proportion as
                                                                                    In 2012, 63 per cent of journalists said they sourced
  2012.
                                                                                    news through these discussions, 62 per cent said they
                                                                                    used them for validation. This year the figures have
                                                                                    declined, but still outstrip social media channels: 59 per
                                                                                    cent of respondents use them to source news, 54 per
                                                                                    cent use them for validation.

                                     HOW DO YOU  SOURCE
                                            HOW DO         AND
                                                   YOU SOURCE   VERIFY
                                                              AND         THE
                                                                  VERIFY THE   STORIES
                                                                             STORIES      YOUON?
                                                                                     YOU WORK WORK ON?
                  5%
CHANGE ON 2012

                  0%

                 -5%

                 -10%

                 -15%
                  70%
                 60%
                 50%
                 40%
                 30%
                 20%
                 10%
                  0%
                          FAMILIAR     UNFAMILIAR   FAMILIAR      UNFAMILIAR       INDUSTRY          WIRE         CORPORATE     PR AGENCIES   OTHER
                        MICROBLOGS    MICROBLOGS     BLOGS          BLOGS           INSIDERS       SERVICES      SPOKESPEOPLE

                                                          2013 ALL COUNTRIES SOURCING     2013 ALL COUNTRIES VERIFYING

  Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                                                             6
It is no surprise social media have become so invaluable to
journalists: from President Barack Obama to Rupert Mur-
doch and even the Pope, many of the key agenda-shapers
on the world stage make their views public on social
media. Yet when asked which single information source
journalists would look at first when developing a story, a
far more complicated picture emerges (see chart below).
In 2011-2012, we tracked a significant shift away from
pre-packaged stories in the form of press releases, and
towards the one-to-one contact with expert spokespeople.

That shift is continuing in 2013 – only seven per cent of                    “Key agenda-
respondents say their press release in-tray is their first port
of call. But there has been a big fall in use of corporate                shapers on the
spokespeople, too – from 24 per cent in 2012 to 16 per
cent this year.                                                         world stage make
Use of social media has increased substantially, and as a               their views public
first port of call is now just one basis point behind the press
release in-tray. Compare this with the picture in 2011, when             on social media”
press releases were the number one first source of infor-
mation for journalists. Meanwhile use of third-party blogs
and analysts has experienced slight growth compared with
a year ago.

Of all the countries surveyed, German journalists depend
the most on press releases; meanwhile journalists in the
UK, US, Sweden, Russia and China place the heaviest
emphasis on contact with expert spokespeople.

               WHO WOULD BE YOUR FIRST PORT OF CALL WHEN RESEARCHING A STORY?
                               (ONLY WHO
                                     ONE   RESPONSE
                                         WOULD            ALLOWED)
                                               BE YOUR FIRST PORT OF CALL WHEN RESEARCHING A STORY?
                                                                  (ONLY ONE RESPONSE ALLOWED)

         INTERVIEWS WITH CORPORATE SPOKESPEOPLE

                            NEWSWIRES / AGENCIES

                                OTHER MEDIA SITES

                         MY PRESS RELEASE IN TRAY

                             CORPORATE WEBSITES

                     TWITTER / FACEBOOK / LINKEDIN

                                THIRD PARTY BLOGS

                                         ANALYSTS

                                      PR AGENCIES

                   OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT SOURCES

                  VIDEO SITES (E.G. YOUTUBE, VIMEO)

                                CORPORATE BLOGS

                                                      0%   5%     10%          15%           20%   25%   30%

                                                                        2013   2012   2011

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                        7
The secret’s in the source
Who are these ‘trusted sources’? This year we asked                    Interestingly, in the emerging markets surveyed, charities
journalists to state how far they trusted different types              and NGOs do not appear to be quite the beacons of
of people in their research. Overall, the message is very              trustworthiness many would expect. Just 18 per cent of
clear: academics and other third-party experts (such as                Russian journalists, 34 per cent of Indian and 27 per cent
think-tanks) are by far the most respected sources of                  of Brazilian journalists say they trust these organisations.
information for journalists, with 70 per cent of respondents
saying they trust them.                                                The big exception is China, where 54 per cent of journalists
                                                                       say they trust NGOs – and indeed they rank second on the
In second place, with 63 per cent, interestingly, come                 list of Chinese’ journalists most trusted sources. What’s
technical experts drawn from companies’ own ranks. CEOs                more, Chinese journalists place greater trust in their own
and marketing leads, who one would associate more                      readers than any other country surveyed – 58 per cent.
closely with delivering the corporate message, score far               Coming after a succession of natural disasters, which
lower: just 41 per cent of respondents say they view CEOs              caused hundreds of deaths and casualties, the trend is
as trustworthy, while for marketers the figure is a lowly              unsurprising. The implication is that journalists here are
17 per cent. Indeed, more journalists say they distrust                tiring of covering the ‘official versions’ from mainstream
marketers – and only politicians come off worse (even PR               sources, and are ready to pay greater heed to sources that
agencies fare fractionally better)!                                    are closer to the story and have less interest in glossing
                                                                       over the details.
There are some interesting variations in the data. CEOs
are relatively well-regarded in Russia (52 per cent), France
and Germany (both 48 per cent), the UK and Russia
(both 45 per cent). Meanwhile analysts are seen as better
sources by journalists in France (81 per cent), Canada (74
per cent), and Italy (57 per cent).

              HOW FAR DO YOU TRUST THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS IN YOUR RESEARCH?
                                                        HOW FAR DO YOU TRUST THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS IN YOUR RESEARCH?

                            ACADEMIC OR EXPERT

                 TECHNICAL EXPERT IN A COMPANY

                              A PERSON LIKE YOU

                                      ANALYIST

                                  COMPANY CEO

                                NGO OR CHARITY

                                                                                                                           Distrust

             REGULATOR OR GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL                                                                              Trust

                                      A READER

            MEMBER OR PARLIAMENT OR CONGRESS

          PR PERSON – EITHER AGENCY OR IN-HOUSE

                             HEAD OF MARKETING

    AN ORGANISATION’S ONLINE COMMUNITY MANAGER

                                                  -40      -20         0          20         40          60         80

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                                               8
Has the age of the citizen journalist arrived?
   In many countries publications have re-jigged their working processes to give greater emphasis to user-generated content.
   Today, the first images of key events – from the horrific pictures of Syria’s civil war, to the meteorite strike in Siberia in early 2013
   – often come from members of the public.
   Our survey finds that readers enjoy stronger credibility in the eyes of journalists than politicians, PR professionals or marketers.
   Respondents were also asked whether they agreed with the statement: ‘In my organisation, ‘citizen journalism’ carries as much
   credibility as conventional reporting’ – to which 20 per cent of respondents say yes.
   In other words, more than one in five of journalists in our study are prepared to give readers the same amount of professional
   credibility as themselves. Half (51%) disagreed with the statement. Admittedly, there is a huge amount of variety here. Citizen
   journalists get short shrift in the UK
   (3 per cent think they have as much credibility), Sweden (2 per cent), New Zealand (1 per cent) and Russia (0 per cent).
   However in France 58 per cent of respondents gave citizen journalists equal credibility and in Italy 36 per cent. Within BRICs, 43
   per cent in India and 37 per cent in China said citizen journalists were equally credible.
   The implication is that in the new normal for news, citizen journalism is seen as a valuable source of information for journalists,
   particularly where it is hard to cover the story at source, and where there are concerns over the reliability of official information
   sources.

Journalists are publishers,
too!
Journalists also see the value of social media for self-                 The continued growth of social media by journalists in
promotion. Over half (55 per cent) of those surveyed this                almost every country surveyed presents real opportunities
year agree that blogs are a good way for journalists to build            for brands to cement strong relationships with key
their personal profiles – compared to just 14 per cent who               commentators in the new normal for news. The challenge
disagree, and around a third (34 per cent) actually possess              is, of course, precisely how this cementing takes place.
one.                                                                     The study finds journalists overwhelmingly reject the
                                                                         idea of taking pre-formed story ‘packages’ from single
Use of micro-blogs is somewhat more widespread. This                     organisations by nearly two to one. This suggests
year the proportion of journalists worldwide who say they                corporate communicators should concentrate their efforts
use Twitter has reached 59 per cent. Usage of Twitter is                 harnessing their company’s (and their experts’) social
highest in the UK, France, Spain, Canada, Australia and                  networks to help qualify, shape and comment on stories
the US – and it is hardly surprising to see the Anglophone               originating elsewhere.
countries are such keen adopters. It is interesting,
however, to note blogging is far more commonplace among
journalists in India (64 per cent), while in some countries,
notably Germany, social media are still very much a
minority pursuit: barely a third of German journalists say
they have personal Twitter accounts.

                                           47%                                         59%

                                           JOURNALISTS                                 JOURNALISTS
                                            WHO TWEET                                   WHO TWEET
                                              (2012)                                      (2013)

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                                                        9
Google Plus comes of age?

    The search giant’s social media platform has come in for heavy criticism from mainstream user communities, but it has been en-
    thusiastically adopted by a number of media brands and journalists. As in 2012, just over a quarter of respondents (27 per cent)
    say they have a personal Google Plus page – though in two countries , France and the US, far greater proportions are Google
    Plus users (48 per cent and 61 per cent respectively).

    Publications, too, have gravitated towards it – in 2012, 21 per cent of respondents said their titles had a Google Plus page; this
    year the figure is 23 per cent. Some leading titles enjoy significant followings on Google Plus. For example, the Financial Times
    has 1.3m Google Plus followers, compared with a relatively paltry 430,000 on Facebook, and just 18,000 followers on LinkedIn3.

    Considering the vast majority of the journalists surveyed are measured according to visits to their articles, the appetite for
    Google Plus in the new normal for news is hardly surprising. It is well known that Google Search gives priority to results from
    other Google products (such as Google Plus) – so it is a wonder adoption is not higher. We will continue to track the progress of
    Google Plus over the coming years.

                                      JOURNALISTS’  PERSONAL
                                           JOURNALISTS'           USE
                                                        PERSONAL USE OFOF SOCIAL
                                                                       SOCIAL MEDIA MEDIA
100.00%

90.00%

80.00%

70.00%

60.00%

50.00%

40.00%

30.00%

20.00%

10.00%

 0.00%
           UK      France     Germany      Italy    Spain     Russia    Sweden        China       India   Australia     NZ     USA       Canada      Brazil

                                        Personal blog       Personal Twitter handle       Personal Google Plus page

                   WHICH OF WHICH
                            THE FOLLOWING       DO YOU OPERATE ON A PERSONAL BASIS?
                                  OF THE FOLLOWING DO YOU OPERATE ON A PERSONAL BASIS?
70.00%

60.00%

50.00%

40.00%

                                                                                                                                                  Global 2013
30.00%
                                                                                                                                                  Global 2012

20.00%

10.00%

 0.00%
          Personal blog     Personal Twitter   Personal Google Personal YouTube           Other             Pinterest        Instagram
                                handle            Plus page         channel

 3	Global social channels drive FT consumption, infographic, Financial Times, 2012

 Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                                                                 10
Chapter three:
the digital
business model
Since we launched the Oriella Digital Journalism Study six
years ago, the topic of monetisation online has become
the single most pressing issue media organisations face
today, and the driving force behind the emergence of the
new normal for news. Consumption of print media has                    “Paid-for apps
plummeted over the past decade (see chart below); as a
result the business model which has fuelled the media for
centuries has been rendered obsolete. This transition has
                                                                         have almost
wrought havoc on well-established media brands. Time Inc
lost 26 per cent of its revenue between 2008 and 2012,                     doubled in
                                                                          popularity
and laid off six per cent of its workforce4. In Spain, El Pais
was forced to lay off a third of its workforce and impose
a 15 per cent pay cut on the remainder5. This negative
trend is mirrored in the survey with 64 per cent of Spanish
respondents predicting that advertising revenue would
                                                                           since 2012”
decline.

Paywalls have not been a universal panacea. For example,
in the UK, The Times continues to lose around £1m
($1.5m) each week, despite the high-profile adoption of a
paywall in 2010. Nevertheless they are a popular idea with
media bosses looking to staunch the decline in revenues
from advertising. The UK’s Daily Telegraph and The Sun
newspapers both implemented their own paywalls in early
2013.
                                 Source: People Press6

                           ‘i READ A'I NEWSPAPER      YESTERDAY’ (% OF US READERS)
                                       READ A NEWSPAPER YESTERDAY' (% OF US READERS)

 2002                                                                                                    42

 2012                                                        23

4	The Economist, http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/03/time-warners-spin-out-plans
5	The Economist, http://www.economist.com/news/business/21567934-after-years-bad-headlines-industry-finally-has-some-
   good-news-news-adventures
6  http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/27/in-changing-news-landscape-even-television-is-vulnerable/

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                             11
Our study shows overwhelmingly that free-for-all access                   A mobile future beckons for
based on advertising revenues remains the current
orthodoxy, though its popularity has experienced a slight                 media?
decline, from 38 per cent in 2012 to 35 per cent this
year. This trend surely explains the focus on web traffic                 The study finds that premium apps have just edged ahead
and unique users as performance metrics for journalists                   of flat-rate paywalls and ‘freemium’ billing models, to be
explored in Chapter One.                                                  media groups’ top way of charging online-only audiences
                                                                          for content. Though the figures are low – less than 10 per
When it comes to charging for digital content, paywalls and               cent – the overall shift in favour of mobile corresponds
‘freemium’ models of monetising content presented on a                    with changing consumer behaviours. According to the Pew
web browser have given way to the smartphone and tablet.                  Center, half the American population now possesses a
Adoption of these devices has accelerated enormously                      smartphone or a tablet, of whom two in three use them to
over the past year, and has caught the imaginations of                    read the news7. Smartphones and tablets are expected by
proprietors looking for ways of monetising their content                  analysts to be the fastest-growing mobile device categories
other than through advertisements. Our study has found                    globally for the next few years8. It is to be expected that
that paid-for smartphone or tablet apps have almost                       news consumption globally will mirror this trend: moving
doubled in popularity, from five per cent in 2012 to eight                not just from print to online, but from ‘fixed’ desk or laptop
per cent this year, with continental European media groups                computers to mobile devices.
– plus Chinese proprietors - leading the charge.

One in four French journalists, and 20 per cent in Brazil,
said their titles operated premium apps. In Italy, 12 per
cent, Spain, eight per cent and in Germany, nine per cent,
of journalists surveyed agreed. By contrast, in the USA and
Canada, not a single journalist said their title had premium
apps. Indeed, a far higher proportion of respondents in
these countries said their business model was based on
ad-funded free access to content.

                 WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING DO YOU GENERATE ON A PERSONAL BASIS?
                                   WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING DO YOU OPERATE ON A PERSONAL BASIS?
 70.00%

 60.00%

 50.00%

 40.00%

                                                                                                                            Global 2013
 30.00%                                                                                                                     Global 2012

 20.00%

 10.00%

  0.00%
          Personal blog   Personal Twitter   Personal Google Personal YouTube    Other        Pinterest      Instagram
                              handle            Plus page         channel

7	The Future of Mobile News, Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, October 2012 http://www.jour
   nalism.org/analysis_report/future_mobile_news
8	Canalys, February 2013, quoted in Mobithinking Global Mobile Statistics, March 2013 http://mobithinking.com/mobile-mar
   keting-tools/latest-mobile-stats/a

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                                              12
If the new normal for news means that media groups
indeed peg their long-term future to mobile devices, the
ramifications for brands are significant. First, it is prob-
able that news content will be far more interactive than it
has been in the past, as touch-screen interfaces open up
new possibilities for storytelling. One example could be
interactive graphics (or ‘digi-graphics’) which allow readers
to navigate their own path through stories. The New York
Times and The Guardian are two pioneers in this area,
though many other newspaper groups are bolstering their
capabilities here9.

Second, we may see a polarisation of how journalistic
output is published. Short, punchy news updates providing
near real-time coverage of events in print and on video, op-
timised for small screens at could be one end; longer-form
feature and investigative pieces at the other. ‘Shorter but
quicker’ journalism could also afford media brands greater
prominence – and consequently greater traffic - in search
rankings, news readers and ‘social news aggregator’ apps
such as Flipboard and Pulse News10.

The impact on the job
For all the changes playing themselves out in newsrooms
and editorial offices, journalists remain generally upbeat
about their jobs. Thirty-four per cent of respondents say
they enjoy the job more (the same as in 2012), and just 17
per cent disagree (2012: 14 per cent).

Unsurprisingly, in countries where uncertainty is highest,
job satisfaction is lower. In France, where over half of re-
spondents expected editorial teams to be cut, the majority
say their job satisfaction has stayed the same or lessened
over the past two years. On the other hand, in China,
where 38 per cent of respondents said their publications
had hired more journalists, job satisfaction was the highest.
Sixty per cent say they enjoy their job more but not a single
one says they enjoy it less.

The study does find that the ‘New Normal for News’ is cre-
ating new headaches for many journalists. Roughly one
in three surveyed agreed they are finding it harder to keep
abreast of events on social media. The figure is closer to
50 per cent in France and the US, but in the UK, Germany
and Brazil, the figures are far lower.

One conclusion to draw from this finding is that brands
must pay closer attention to ‘trending’ topics – tailoring
their output accordingly. Many brands, particularly B2C
brands and ‘newer’ B2B companies, have embraced this
thinking; more well-established firms however have found it
more challenging.

9	The Guardian’s interactive graphic on the Arab Spring, and NYT’s ‘Mapping the Nation’s Well-Being’ are two stand-out
   examples of digi-graphics
10 The momentum behind news aggregation mobile and tablet apps should not be underestimated. In April 2013, Flipboard,
   one of the most popular of these, announced it

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                              13
Conclusion:
the rule book gets
redrawn
This year’s study has seen the major shifts identified a             Recommendations for
year ago accelerate and become more deeply entrenched.
Journalists are using social media to source information
                                                                     communicators:
and promote their output; harnessing a wider range of
content assets to tell stories; and have embraced real-time          1. Break down the stove pipes separating media,
reporting. They are less keen on pre-packaged news in the               digital, blogger and influencer engagement. In-house
form of press releases, which just two years ago remained               communications leaders should drive their teams
the first port of call for news-gathering.                              to identify and engage with all the influential voices
                                                                        around their brand.
At the same time, the quest for revenues is forcing proprie-         2. Identify who matters – not just media, analysts and
tors to make tough decisions. If the respondents to our                 bloggers, but academics, think tanks and ‘person-
study are to be believed, there will be fewer full-time ‘staff’         alities’ too. Analyse the conversations about and
journalists in 2014 than there were this year. Industry                 around the brand to identify ‘sleeping influencers’,
consolidation – and closures – will continue. One in three              whose interest broadly align with your own, but have
participants in our study agrees that the number of media               yet to be ‘activated’.
globally will shrink. As a result, there will be fewer opportu-
nities for coverage, and far greater competition for space in        3. Train your geeks – identify the most media-friendly
the titles that remain. This state of affairs will benefit ‘sector      subject matter experts at all levels in the organisa-
bellwethers’ but brands with a lesser profile will need to              tion, and train them on messaging, tone of voice,
work harder to gain cut-through.                                        interview management and social media. Let them
                                                                        communicate as employees of the company – and
There are bright spots. If mobile strategies pay off, big               bolster monitoring to evaluate its effectiveness.
changes in the way news media gather communicate                        Even simple actions, like tweeting key items of cov-
the news could be the result. Real-time reporting could                 erage alongside the journalist’s Twitter handle, can
become more commonplace, and indeed we may even see                     have big impacts.
the emergence of ‘news cycles’ which more common to                  4. Think visually, think mobile, think interactive –
broadcast radio and TV newsrooms. Mobile publishing may                 publications’ illustration and media production teams
also accelerate new forms of ‘interactive’ journalism, where            are better-resourced than ever to support an evolv-
users find their own path through the story.                            ing audience. Challenge your teams to explore new
                                                                        ways of telling your story visually – and build ties
One emerging trend not covered in this study is ‘data                   with these teams.
journalism’ – the convergence of data analysis and re-
porting, which has been accelerated by the publication in            5. Add Google Plus to influencer and media en-
many countries of large amounts of government data. UK                  gagement strategies; encourage in-house blog-
newspaper The Guardian’s Data Blog is probably the best                 gers to use the platform to socialise their output and
example of this new discipline, which we plan to explore                build Author Rank scores. The study shows media
further in next year’s study.                                           are enthusiastic Google Plus users: brands wishing
                                                                        to make their voices heard among journalists are
The ‘New Normal for News’ brings with it challenges, in                 advised to mirror them.
the form of a shrinking media pool and dwindling editorial
resources – but also real opportunities. Opportunities to
maintain ongoing dialogues with journalists via social me-
dia; opportunities to feed into breaking news coverage as it
develops; and opportunities to create new kinds of content
assets suitable for audiences on the move.

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                                                                          14
With Thanks

METHODOLOGY
The Oriella Digital Journalism Study was compiled in
March and April 2013 using an online survey of 553 jour-
nalists in 15 coun¬tries from broadcast, national, lifestyle,
regional and trade media and blogs in Australia, Brazil,
Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, New Zea-
land, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
and the United States. On average 37 journalists were
surveyed in each country.

ABOUT THE ORIELLA
PR NETWORK
The Oriella PR Network is an alliance of 20 communica-
tions agencies in 26 countries around the world. Our
partnership is built upon a set of global best practices and
close working relationships not offered by others of its kind.
The network was founded by Brands2Life and HORN to
address a gap in the market for strategic global commu-
nications. Oriella provides globally-integrated PR, digital
communications and social media campaigns for industry
leaders and challenger brands alike. Oriella partners exist
in major and secondary markets throughout The Americas,
Europe, and Asia-Pacific. www.oriellaprnetwork.com

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013          15
CONTACT DETAILS:
Brands2Life, UK
Giles Fraser | +44 20 7592 1200 | giles.fraser@brands2life.com

HORN, USA
Sabrina Horn | +1 646 202 9777 | sabrina.horn@horngroup.com

Botica Butler Raudon Partners, New Zealand
Allan Botica | +64 21 400 500 | allanb@botica.co.nz

Buman Media, Russia
Natalia Bucelnikova | +7 499 922 2401 | natalia@bumanmedia.ru

Canela PR, Spain / Portugal
Deborah Gray | +34 915 230 584 | dgray@canelapr.com

Clipping, France
Jean-Louis Aubert | +33 (0)1 44 59 69 00 | jean-louis@clipping.fr

EastWest PR, China / Singapore
Christian Dougoud | +86 10 6582 0018 | christian@eastwestpr.com

Fink & Fuchs Public Relations AG, Germany
Katja Rodenhäuser | +49 (0) 611 741 3159 | katja.rodenhauser@ffpr.de

LVTPR, Belgium / The Netherlands
Charly Lammers van Toorenburg | +31 (0) 30 656 5070 | charly@lvtpr.nl

Maverick PR, Canada
Julie Rusciolelli | +1 416 640 5525 | julier@maverickpr.com

Arcane, Canada
Bryan Taylor | +1 646 280 2959 | bryan@arcane.ws

MDI Strategic Solutions, Poland
Janusz Leszczynski | +48 606 371 960 | jleszczynski@mdi.com.pl

Noesis, Italy
Giovanna Pandini | +39 02 8310511 | giovanna.pandini@noesis.net

PR-COM, Germany
Alain Blaes | +49 (0)89 59997 700 | alain.blaes@pr-com.de

Vero PR, Thailand / Vietnam
Brian Griffin | + 66851676952 | brian@veropr.com

VIANEWS, Brazil
Pedro Cadina | +55 (11) 3865 9990 | pedro.cadina@vianews.com.br

Westmark Information, Sweden
Mikael Westmark | +46 8 522 378 00 | mikael@westmark.se

Candour Communications, India
Dhrubajyoti Gayan | +91 99101 52352 | gayan@candour.co.in

Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013                 16
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