WAN-IFRA Global Advisory

Newsroom Efficiency

We often get the same questions: can we improve efficiency in the newsroom? How do we bring better relevance, quality, and of course user experience to the audiences? 

In our view:

• The right technology and analytics can empower the newsroom and improve performance
• The tools and workflows support great journalism
• A good platform & content strategy is aligned around the reader
• Digital requires another, more agile mindset to deal with rapid change
• It’s time to tear down the walls between the newsroom and the rest of the organisation
• Great journalism ultimately drives growth in subscriptions (print & digital)

At WAN-IFRA we’ve been thinking multi-platform since we designed the Telegraph newsroom in 2004. We publish the annual Trends in Newsrooms report, and we run the World Editors Forum and the Newsroom Summit. In the week’s before Trump’s election, we took editors to meet social media experts in the top pure player and traditional newsrooms in NYC and Washington. That’s just part of the training we have organised for hundreds of journalists around the world. 

We believe:

The news production process is changing far too slow
The culture gap is still too big between legacy newsrooms and modern digital processes
Newsrooms should think content-first! As opposed to print-first or even mobile-first
...but start with mobile on newsroom product development
Editors & journalists need to understand how and why their stories drive online payment (not just clicks)
Stay close to your DNA - be selective on core platforms - test but don’t embrace all