Canada’s Globe and Mail is listening to its readers’ needs and using content to combat news fatigue by changing the news experience. (You can read more about the problem of news avoidance — and potential solutions — here).

Instead of featuring mainly hard news about politics and business on its landing pages and in its alerts, as it traditionally has, The Globe and Mail is now focusing on delivering a more pleasant, balanced news experience to its readers by incorporating more positive lifestyle content in prominent places.

“I really think of it as how we live,” Executive Editor Angela Pacienza told me. “We really tried to think about putting those stories next to the hard news, because … I think that that stuff actually means a lot more to people. 

“It’s what you talk to your friends about at brunch. It’s what you and I would talk about. We’re not going to talk about the Strait of Hormuz. Wars are very long and don’t always impact people day to day. But how their kids are living or whether their kids should get a cell phone at 12 or 16 — those are the things that are keeping people up at night.”

The news brand has hired 29 journalists over the past 18 months, most of them to provide a more positive, visually appealing experience to its readers. It has also changed the names of the beats its reporters cover, such as calling its “mental health” beat the “happiness” beat — to signal to readers that they should expect solutions rather than more grim news.

The Globe is also borrowing an idea from social media platforms to give its readers the serendipity of discovering more positive content even as they face the inevitable deluge of negative news. 

“Social media has always been so good at the surprise and the delight, the little hit of dopamine that just gives you hope in the world. And news has never been good at that,” Pacienza said, pointing out that “if going to our Web site always makes people feel horrible, they’re not going to go to our Web site all the time.”

It has seen great success with its push notifications on lifestyle content, such as sending an alert on Fridays on what to watch this weekend. The average open rate is 5%-6%, compared with 3%-4% for general news alerts, Pacienza said, and readers have flooded the site with positive comments on the brand’s emphasis on this sort of content.

“Traditionally, a lot of news sites rank content according to what they think is the most important news story of the day and then at the very bottom is like what TV you should watch and maybe relationship advice. But the reality is, what you watch is probably more important to you on a Friday night going into the weekend than something else.” 

The Globe has always taken pride in holding institutions to account and writing about public policy. “But we’re not always good at speaking to the heart of who you are as a person every day when you’re outside of working hours, and this was an effort to tap into that — and our numbers have been stronger than ever,” she said.

What about the problem of focusing on softer content in an era where AI answer engines can blithely provide a wide range of information about precisely such content, such as sleeping better or devising a more effective running routine? The Globe’s answer is to emphasise evidence- and science-based information and present it with a Canadian perspective. 

“So much of what’s out there has a very American sensibility, and Canadians are very different in our cultural and societal values, like the way we raise our kids or in our social networks,” Pacienza said.

“We hired a health science reporter to really highlight the Canadian breakthroughs that are happening every single day. I don’t think you’re going to get that through AI in the same way, with the same context and the same storytelling.”

These articles are not written in an inverted pyramid style but instead feature longer, more visual narratives, as well as The Globe’s reporters talking about their own experiences. (You can read more about other news organisations’ efforts to put their reporters front and centre here.)

“You’ll see a lot more of real people because I think people are really desperate for other people and companionship but also relatability to other people,” especially amid the anonymity of AI, Pacienza said. “I think people want the realness.”

Banner photo: Adobe Stock by Mojahid Mottakin.

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