THE FUTURE OF NEWS is online — and journalists are ready to embrace it.
A web survey carried out in March 2008 reveals editors are prepared for the multi-media revolution that will see online news overriding newspapers.
The second Newsroom Barometer Survey, organised by the World Editors Forum and Reuters across 120 countries, shows nearly 90 per cent of editors and executives envisage newsrooms of the future to be print and online integrated.
Of the 700 who responded, 83 per cent believe in five years journalists will produce content across all media platforms.
“The survey shows that editors-in-chief are already multi-media minded and that they have the capacity to carry out the transition from print-only to print and online,” said WEF Director and Interjunction advisory panellist Bertrand Pecquerie.
The survey results, published today at the Reuters headquarters in London, show 44 per cent believe news is headed online, and that print will be left behind: 28 per cent said circulation has fallen since last year, with nearly 60 per cent adding the decline in young readers is the biggest threat to newspapers.
The majority of 56 per cent — up from the 48 per cent of last year — also expects news to be free in the future, signalling a growing acceptance of the decline in paid-for news.
To prepare for the change, more than 80 per cent felt newsrooms need redesign. A significant proportion of editors — 53 per cent — said they already have newsrooms that facilitate staff interaction, a requirement for online and print to run smoothly side by side.
WEF President George Brock said: “Editors have quietly got on with the business of integrating newsrooms, but this is tempered by anxiety that newspapers are not investing enough in recruitment and training for the future.”
Emphasising this anxiety, respondents felt they need to hire more journalists in preparation for the required changes: 35 per cent said their main priority was to train existing journalists to cope with multi-media journalism.
Despite a consensus on the imminence of multi-media production, two-thirds said some editorial functions will be outsourced to keep up with an online and print product.
Respondents also expressed concern over how the increased demand would affect the quality of journalism. Sixty-five per cent said they didn’t think quality would improve — of which 28 per cent felt quality would in fact worsen.
Zogby International CEO John Zogby, whose marketing research team carried out the online survey, said: “For these editors the future is self-evident and our survey shows that they see the writing on the newsroom wall. The evolution of the fourth estate is no longer questions of if, when or how, editors now know the solution: Innovate. Integrate. Or perish.”
ALSO READ: The Newsroom Barometer results
Amy Blyth is an Interjunction staff writer.