Dear Earl, the newspaper media are in the process of transforming from print to digital - and many of them are in crisis about how to deal with these tasks.With your global experience, how do you see ways of publishing the indispensable newspaper media as a companion to free, breathing democracies with print and digital?

The crucial point in a digital world flooded with content is to realize that news is a commodity and journalism is a service. Democracy requires a free press, and the market’s answer to that is branded journalism that not only reports but explains and contextualizes. Democracy is poorly served without that “hidden hand” of a free press – however people choose to consume. 

Digital revenues are currently not sufficient to finance quality journalism in the future without print. Print will no longer be financially viable in the very short term. How do you see a positive development from this?

I disagree with the premise of the question. 

It is being proven around the world that digital revenues – digital subscriptions combined with reach portals, digital services, digital marketing, corporate publishing, digital classifieds, and e-commerce platforms – can more than sustain the quality and quantity of journalism that societies require for functioning democracies. 

It is the great race against time to develop these digital revenue streams, perhaps combined with non-media investments, before print reaches a tipping point of non-viability that is the great challenge of the modern era of news media. 

I think journalism-focused national news brands will likely convert readers to digital faster and at higher rates because of the high percentage of journalism in their customer value propositions. Regional publishers can have subscriptions, but it may not be as dominant  in the new digital business model.  

How will artificial intelligence influence the work of media houses without loss of value?

What we’ve learned from 18 months of experimentation with generative AI is that this is a tool for productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency. It allows great leaps forward in tasks that people don’t otherwise want to do or are less efficient at doing. It allows great leaps forward in tasks for which we’ve always wanted to do but can’t – for example, advances in automated translation quality and speed of transcriptions.

Of course, any program can be used for bad means. You could use a computer program to write something destructive, but you don’t ban the computer program. We are still developing the “road rules” for deploying generative AI for content creation and what to do to disallow it from polluting the information ecosystem.

GenAI also will have unintended consequences. It is already having an impact on search, which is the lifeblood of discovery for news brands. Yet instead of a pendulum swing between search and GenAI, we now are seeing the GenAI pioneers in Silicon Valley get into the “search business” and produce GenAI/search hybrid solutions that may threaten existing market leaders in the space. 

The “hype cycle” for GenAI is coming to an end. Now that we know what it is, we are beginning to have a conversation about what it isn’t. Now we will start focusing on return on investment (ROI). Where should we prioritize our efforts with GenAI, and where should we de-prioritize based on 18 months of experimentation? 

PreMedia: 

What should media houses do today for the future of their media?

Invest in the things that won’t change or that you don’t want to change. That means investing in your brand and your journalism. The news industry assumes that old brands will be consumed by new generations, but we’re learning the hard way that that is not true. It’s not enough to do good; you have to constantly tell the market what you did and the motivations behind what you did. You have to constantly send signals to markets to tell your mission and your values. Don’t assume the consuming public will “figure it out.”

Then experiment like mad in digital distribution and monetization models. Some will work better than others. Success is not guaranteed. Failure is part of the journey. So let’s stop the caution and invest your balance sheet into things that will sustain your brand and your journalism.

Earl, it is great to work with you on the future of newspapers.

It is always a pleasure, Karl.