This marks my final blog as the lead of INMA’s Newsroom Transformation Initiative — a role that has taught me lessons about such subjects as user needs and data insights, as well as introduced me to our industry’s best and brightest.

Over the past two years, with your input, I’ve delved into such subjects as newsroom structures that center audience, effective strategies for change management, the evolving role of metrics in newsrooms, and the intersection of the newsroom with all facets of the business.

Newsroom transformation isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s also not a process with a start and end point. As our news consumption habits and technology evolve, so must our newsrooms.

Our industry is continuing to experience seismic shifts. Transformation is no longer print-to-digital — we’re rapidly confronting a future where search diminishes and GenAI is ubiquitous. To adapt, we need to deepen relationships with our audiences, become essential, and look toward a platform agnostic world. 

With that backdrop, I wanted to share six key themes intertwined with newsroom transformation: 

1. Culture change is hard — really hard

Newsroom transformation is impossible without change — and not simply incremental change. We need to inject our newsrooms with strong change management muscles that are constantly flexing. 

It’s easier said than done, of course. The No. 1 question I’ve been asked during the initiative is how to break past resistance and get newsrooms to change. 

This isn’t exclusive to our industry: Studies show about 70% of change initiatives fail, and only 50% of leaders actually know whether their recent organisational changes succeeded. Why is this? Research indicates employees mistrust their organisations, feel excluded from the change, and fear it.

To be successful, leaders must involve employees from the outset, be transparent, and articulate future success. This process is more comprehensive and time-consuming, but studies also show change success increases by 24% when employees primarily own implementation planning.

2. We can’t be all things to all people

Most legacy news organisations have proud histories of serving as generalists for their audience, covering everything from breaking news to obscure sports to lifestyle topics like beauty and fitness.

In this fragmented media ecosystem, consumers aren’t looking for one-stop shops. The data makes this clear: At many organisations, about 20% of the content drives 80% of the audience. 

We can win by being more niche and narrowing in on our franchise topics. Mediahuis and Gazeta Wyborcza are good examples of this approach.

3. Audience must be central to all that we do 

Audience-centricity isn’t just a trendy term to add to a presentation. It’s a business imperative that we’re too frequently failing to achieve. 

The user needs framework exposes the disconnect between what consumers want and what we provide. As one of many examples, Dutch broadcaster Omroep Brabant discovered 70% of its content fell into the “update me” category yet generated just 22% of its pageviews. And the DRIVE initiative zeroed in on “ghost articles,” a concept that exposes articles that fail to find an audience.

This quote from Sophie van Oostvoorn of the Audience Dispatch, whom I spoke to earlier this year, is poignant: “To change this, news organisations need to ask: What is our role from the public’s perspective? What do people do with journalism, how does it feel to them, what do they need to enrich their lives, and which problems could journalism help solve? Because let me be clear: They won’t come, even if you build it.”

4. It’s past time to think beyond text

In a world of endless Instagram Reels and TikTok videos, too many news organisations still default to text stories. I believe this approach immediately makes us irrelevant to many people, especially younger consumers. 

We simply cannot expect people whose primary media consumption habits are short-form audio and video on mobile to be attracted to lengthy text stories. I’m a fan of the concept of liquid content and believe AI and automation can help us with different storytelling formats.

I take inspiration from Newsday’s approach to story formats and the DevHub at Hearst. 

If your newsroom isn’t already fully on board with multimodal storytelling, set a goal and begin measuring the results.

5. Data is a great guide, teacher

How to effectively use data in newsrooms was a significant focus of the initiative this year, as newsrooms are evolving their key metrics from pageviews and unique users to more sophisticated measurements like quality reads and subscriber attention time. 

This year, I published original research on the topic in my report Beyond the Dashboard: 14 Case Studies in Newsroom Metrics. The report also found that media organisations are iterating on how they present data, with simplified dashboards, clear targets, and regular reviews designed to inform rather than overwhelm journalists.

Last month, I also had the honour of joining the OphCon gathering in London, where data experts delved into such topics as how to get editorial teams excited about data, what makes people into loyal/repeat customers, and how we should measure impact beyond traffic.

The data we monitor will constantly evolve, and successful newsrooms will continue to connect what they learn to their editorial and business strategies.

6. The rise of content creators isn’t a fad

Talk of content creators is seemingly everywhere lately, following research showing consumers — especially younger ones — increasingly turn to them for news and context and trust them more than legacy brands.

Updated research from Pew Research Center this month shows 38% of those ages 18 to 29 in the United States say they regularly get news from news influencers on social media.

Yet many news brands have not considered what this means for them or how to respond to the growing reliance on individual social media personalities.

Creators excel at several things, including: building authentic connections with their audiences, engaging in two-way conversations, providing formats that audiences want, and contextualising the news. 

I’d argue it’s incumbent on every media organisation to both consider collaborations with news influencers and to grow content creators within their own newsrooms.

If you’d like to subscribe to my bi-weekly newsletter, INMA members can do so here.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .