Prior to the pandemic, Bergens Tidende considered itself digital-first — but still hung on to print mentality, said Liv Solli Okkenhaug, managing editor of Bergens Tidende, part of Schibsted. Breaking news was handled by the same few people.

But when the pandemic hit, everyone became a breaking news journalist, she said. 

“That’s when we started this transformation,” Okkenhaug said. “That’s where we learned a lot. A lot of journalists were rusty and did not know how to keep up. Many of the workflows were ineffective.”

Bergens Tidende soon reorganised its newsroom with multiple goals, including becoming more urgent. All 100 or so journalists cycled through breaking news shifts and received training.

“We realised we needed to change the culture, too,” she said. “We needed to make winning the news battles, both big and small, more prestigious.”

Bergens Tidende launched mandatory boot camps to instill a breaking news mentality, covering everything from how to approach sources on a scene to what equipment to bring to how to get news out quickly. Leaders also were trained in running breaking news coverage. 

Supporting that culture: tools. The data journalists created a breaking news bot that helps journalists who are covering breaking news.

The end results: month-by-month increases in Bergens Tidende’s key metric of daily active subscribers. Breaking news also appeals to younger readers, Okkenhaug said.

Beyond breaking news, the initiative spread across the newsroom. Reporters overall are more urgent, more focused on user needs and more attuned to metrics, Okkenhaug said. 

“The leaps we have taken in competence and tools means we’re ready for anything.” she said. “What I’m most proud of is changing the culture.”  

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