The second day of conference sessions during INMA World Congress of News Media featured CEOs from The Atlantic, NPR, and CNN, sharing their vantage point of the news industry today, while other speakers highlighted successful revenue models, content strategies, and independent journalists.

The day ended with the Global Media Awards gala at the Edison Ballroom, where the Association of Independent Regional Press Publishers of Ukraine won the evening’s top award.

Highlights from Thursday’s programme include:

Winners announced at INMA Global Media Awards

The Association of Independent Regional Press Publishers of Ukraine took home the global “Best in Show” prize at the INMA Global Media Awards Thursday evening.

During the awards ceremony at the Edison Ballroom in New York, the winners were unveiled across 20 categories aimed at surfacing innovation and best practices in news brands, optimising the use of media features, subscriptions, product, advertising and commerce, Artificial Intelligence, and newsroom innovation.

The Association of Independent Regional Press Publishers of Ukraine’s won the association’s top prize for its “Rescuing Freedom: The Campaign to Save Ukrainian Regional Journalism” initiative.  

A complete list of winners can be found here.

Atlantic CEO on the questions AI poses for media

Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, kicked off the Thursday conference with a keynote speech on the biggest questions AI poses for the media.

Thompson addressed the existential threat that faces the Web as a result of AI. Given the dependence of news outlets on search engines to pull visitors into their Web sites, media companies are being forced to reassess their business models as consumers switch from searching for Web sites on Google for information to simply asking ChatGPT.

“This is the most important question that we’ve been dealing with on the business side at The Atlantic,” Thompson said. “In a world where the Web is fundamentally different, how do we develop direct relationships with our readers? How can we make our business resilient in a world where the fundamental thing that we use to drive our business doesn’t exist?” 

News revenue models that work

Greg Piechota, INMA’s Researcher-in-Residence, shared findings from the INMA Financial Benchmarks 2024 report, which analysed 60 major media companies and revealed a troubling trend: a 1% median decline in revenue across the industry.

“The business remains profitable, but margins are modest,” he said. “The average operating profit margin is around 6%. The best performers reach 11%. Of course, there are outliers, one publisher in Australia, for instance, posted a 28% margin.”

He noted top-performing companies saw revenue growth of just 4%, while the bottom quarter experienced a 6% drop. The data underscores a key shift: media companies are relying less on advertising and increasingly turning to consumers as their main revenue source.

Case studies in news revenue models

The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones: Emma Tucker, editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, and Sherry Weiss, chief marketing officer of Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, shared insights on how the WSJ approaches revenue and subscription growth. 

Both have held their positions since 2022, and their strategy so far includes:

• A reader-first approach to journalism, shifting from an inward-looking to an audience-focused model.

• A revamped brand campaign emphasising distinctive storytelling and leveraging data-driven decisions.

• Close collaboration between editorial and marketing teams, resulting in faster marketing turnaround times and aligned KPIs.

Bloomberg Media: Colm Murphy, global head of consumer brand marketing at Bloomberg, spoke to attendees about the role of marketing in news media and how it can be used to support the mission of the newsroom.

Murphy identified key up-and-coming revenue streams and explored how Bloomburg diversifies its “mood” under one brand to reach a wider audience.

The New York Times: Tusar Barik, senior vice president of marketing at The New York Times, spoke to attendees about diverse ways to create and implement ad revenue streams.

Barik discussed the exciting developments in AI and their new inhouse, brand matching programmes’ capabilities to identify what content works best for advertisers.

Condé Nast: Patrick Gray, head of commerce at Condé Nast, spotlighted the company’s fast-growing affiliate commerce business, calling it “the new kid on the block” in publishing revenue. 

“We’re helping our audiences make better purchasing decisions through service journalism,” said Gray, citing successful commerce content across titles like GQ, Vogue, Architectural Digest, and Condé Nast Traveler.

In 2024, this content drove US$600 million in sales, accounting for 37% of Condé Nast’s total unique U.S. visitors.

Media24: Jerusha Roth, News24 publisher, emphasised the persistent challenge of sustaining journalistic enterprises. She commended her peers for their resilience in an environment where editorial imperatives often clash with commercial realities.

To navigate a market in which publishers compete for “less than 0.5%” of more than 88 billion available ad impressions, Roth unveiled a new sales framework centred on four audience needs: Know, Learn, Feel, Act. 

By mapping advertiser objectives onto these quadrants, News24 has shifted from ad‑hoc pitching to offering “pre-packaged solutions” that align seamlessly with editorial content and reader motivations. 

CEO of CNN on reinventing the global news model

CNN’s CEO, Mark Thompson, said the network is doubling down on original journalism and audience engagement, aiming to transform compelling reporting into long-term value. 

“Your future is in platforms which you can expand, and there's a whole set of challenges around how you do that,” he said. “But I think if you mean owned and operating in a broader sense, I think if you've got to be a relevant brand, it still can still count.”

A prime example was CNN’s viral coverage of El Salvador’s mega-prison. 

“We made a big deal of it, and it was viewed over 56 million times,” Thompson noted, emphasising the importance of leading with impactful content instead of chasing reactive headlines.

CEO of NPR on stregthening democracy

In a very relevant discussion, NPR CEO Katherine Maher discussed the current threat against public media in the United States by the current Trump administration. 

Maher stood firm on the necessity of not only NPR but all public media, as it is sometimes the only source of information in the most remote parts of the United States. 

Maher emphasised the importance of public support if the administration’s requests to defund public broadcasting goes though, both financially and through their local politics. 

The rise of the independent journalist

Noor Tagouri, award-winning independent storyteller, shared her experience in the context of the evolving landscape of journalism and the rise of the independent storytellers.  

“This idea of people trusting people, not institutions, reminds us that the relationship between the storyteller and the community is the new foundation of journalism,” she said.

Tagouri, 31, was shadowing a journalist 13 years ago, when she took a picture sitting at the anchor’s desk and posted it as her Facebook profile photo. She told herself: “This is what my dream looks like, and I'm going to make it happen.”

Her dream was to be the first Muslim woman in a hijab as an anchor on a mainstream American network.

Once she entered the industry, she started facing challenges in the kind of stories she wanted to tell, which eventually propelled her to found her own production and consultancy company, At Your Service Media, which focused on telling stories through a lens of service and collaboration. 

“I know that a lot of media executives find that independent journalists and independent journalism may be a threat to the traditional way we've told stories,” Tagouri said, “but I believe that is a false dichotomy, and I really believe that that collaboration is the way forward because we need each other.” 

Global editors on how journalists can stand out in the crowd

Editors at leading publications from around the world gathered for a panel on how journalists must adapt their content strategies for an era in which the way audiences consume news is radically evolving. 

Panelists included Sally Buzbee, news editor/USA and Canada at Reuters; Lotta Edling, editorial director at Bonnier News; Zuraidah Ibrahim, executive managing editor at the South China Morning Post; and Gerold Riedmann, editor-in-chief at Der Standard. 

Edling spoke about how media companies can strengthen their local reporting during a time of rising doubts about the financial viability of local news.

“Decentralise editorial leadership,” Edling said. “Even if a local newsroom only has two or three reporters, they should have their own editor-in-chief. Everyone in the local community should know who it is, they should feel a connection.”

Photos by Robert Downs Photography.

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