The Case for Free Dailies
Carlos Oliva-Vélez, Executive Vice President, Metro International, Sweden
The concept behind the Metro chain of newspapers boils down to this: if you can’t beat them, join them.
Faced with information being offered to the public for free, what is a newspaper to do? Some have increased their content, or become more specialized, or offered greater distribution.
"All of which are good ideas," said Mr Oliva-Vélez, but the trends that led to Metro was different. "If massive information is free, why not launch a free daily newspaper?"
Mr Oliva-Vélez presented a case for the free newspaper model. Metro’s goal is not modest -- they want to reach everyone in the world. Consider:
 From zero readers ten years ago to 3.7 million daily readers five years ago to more than 15 million today. An annual growth rate of almost 20 percent. And most of them are new readers of newspapers.
The Metro reader is between 13 and 40, working or studying, and the gender breakdown is 50 percent men and 50 percent women -- a profile very different from traditional newspapers.
"In order to achieve the aim of reaching everybody in the world, we had to think on a global scale. We had to think about cities, cities all over the world. We started in Stockholm 10 years ago, and today we have 56 editions in 78 cities," said Mr Oliva-Vélez.
Repairing the Damage And Restoring Credibility
Alejandro Junco de la Vega, President & CEO, Reforma Group, Mexico
A generation ago, ethics and integrity were foreign concepts to journalists in Mexico.
How Mexican newspapers went about repairing the damage and giving people a powerful reason for reading newspapers was the subject of Mr Junco de la Vega’s presentation -- how to enforce ethics in media and how to reinforce what is the best hope for newspapers’ permanence: credibility
"We made a point of recruiting only young, idealistic and inexperienced reporters, who would listen and learn about journalism and ethics, about what was expected in their working relationship with their news sources, and about their first concern being the reader’s interest," said Mr de la Vega.
Paying wages equal to those of other professional fields is also essential.
Other steps include: throwing out the system of news people reporting and selling advertisements at the same time to the same source; banning bribes and gifts, which were traditionally accepted, and even expected, by Mexican reporters and editors; asking readers to join "editorial councils" which scrutinise internal editorial processes.
Thanks to this approach, the Reforma group has gone through an astonishing renaissance. From number two position in a provincial city, Reforma has become number one in the whole nation, and is now described as one of the most powerful newspaper conglomerates in Latin America.
Focusing on the Customer to Generate Growth
Michael Golden, Publisher, International Herald Tribune
There are many challenges facing the written press -- pressures on press freedom and new economic, competitive and technological developments, said Mr Golden.
One in particular, he says, will transform the newspaper business: "this opportunity is to move much closer to our audience, to become much more customer-focused."
"For news organizations, this means we should be working harder than ever before to make sure that we are providing the content that these consumers want," he said. "We should be working harder than ever to give consumers a choice of which platform they prefer to read or view or listen to or log on to."
Mr Golden said the New York Times Company, which owns the Herald Tribune, set out on a reader research project nine years ago.
"On the basis of this research, The Times was able to define a group of loyalists who are committed readers of the paper as well as a group of like-minded non-readers who are good prospects to convert to readers," he said. "That research has become the basis for the newspaper’s plan to expand nationally."
Since the national expansion launch in 1998, the Times has seen significant gains. Mr Golden’s presentation examined those gains and how The Times and the IHT have changed as a result of that research. These include:
2005 Global Report on Innovation in Newspapers
Juan Senor, Claude Erbsen, Juan Antonio Giner, Innovation International Media Consulting Group
This year’s Innovations report, by the Innovation International Media Consulting Group for the World Association of Newspapers, focused on these critical issues facing the newspaper industry:
WHY family-owned newspapers need to have succession plans in place.
WHY traditional newspapers cannot ignore threats from a new generation of quality popular free papers.
WHY changes in the distribution system of newspapers can help improve circulation.
WHY integrated multimedia newsrooms are here to stay and grow.
WHY front pages are the best marketing tool of any newspaper.
WHY collateral sales boosting newspaper profits and circulation.
WHY a little newspaper in Kansas (USA) can provide a great lesson for much bigger newspapers in larger markets.
WHY a new Asian newspaper is INNOVATION’s Newspaper of the Year.
WHY pre-printed advertising inserts are playing a growing role for newspapers.
WHY circulation, circulation, circulation, must be the first strategic priority of newspaper publishers and editors.
WHY the best newspaper websites combine editorial excellence and profits.
The 2005 World Report, in English, Spanish and Italian versions, are available from the World Association of Newspapers. To order or for more information, contact achourre@wan.asso.fr. |
