How newsroom leaders can influence their businesses and create journalism products that serve audiences while meeting business objectives is the focus of a new INMA Newsroom Initiative announced on Tuesday by the International News Media Association (INMA).

The scope of the INMA initiative, which aims to put journalism at the heart of publishing, focuses on three pillars: 

• Business models for journalism: Exploring drivers of reader-revenue models, advertising, and user-centric thinking in journalism and news products.

• Creating high-value journalism: How to turn journalistic principles of quality and trust into core business values that create loyalty and generate revenue. 

• Impact and influence: How to get beyond the power struggle and influence strategy across your publishing businesses and take the newsroom with you. 

Veteran journalist, media executive, and consultant Peter Bale will lead the INMA Newsroom Initiative. Bale has previously served in editorial and management capacities at Reuters, News Corp, the Financial Times, CNN, and others. He is the former volunteer president of the Global Editors Network (GEN). 

The Newsroom Initiative emanated from strategic planning sessions of the INMA Board of Directors in 2021 around how to connect editorial departments to digital, data, and business trends for which they today are increasingly being asked to lead. 

“Newsrooms are the beating heart of publishing and with a global shift to subscriptions, reader revenue models, and more effective advertising, journalists and editors are at the center of their businesses and the relationship with readers,” said Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and CEO of INMA. “Already a leader in training and sharing best practices in the rest of the media business, INMA is proud to be moving into the newsroom with this new programme.” 

“New business models focused on audiences and reader revenue put newsrooms at the center of a stronger relationship with consumers,” Bale said. “It’s an exciting time to launch this initiative at INMA to learn from those already on this journey and share the best expertise and ideas from across the world.” 

The new initiative will kick off with a master class March 8-22, focused on “Putting Newsrooms Into the News Business,” which includes nearly eight hours of programming over three modules.  

Planned Newsroom Initiative deliverables include newsletters, meet-ups, master classes, reports, a Slack channel, and Ask Me Anything sessions for INMA members.

Inaugural members of the Newsroom Initiative Advisory Council include Miriyana Alexander, head of premium for the New Zealand Herald, NZME, and Espen Egil Hansen, an international advisor for JP/Politiken in Denmark. More council members will be added.

More information about INMA’s Newsroom Initiative can be found at INMA.org. More information on Peter Bale, INMA’s initiatives, and the initiative leads can be found here.

For more information on the Newsroom Initiative, contact peter.bale@inma.org.

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