Media convergence: dare to make mistakes

“90 per cent of newspaper reporters can become good TV or radio journalists. It is not difficult. Don’t make it a rocket science,” says Ulrik Haagerup, Head of News at Danish Broadcasting Corporation and former newspaper editor.

Mr. Haagerup spoke about change in media companies at the INMA Outlook 2009: European conference in Vienna in October 1-3, 2008. Before joining the television and radio company, he edited Nordjyske, a local newspaper in Aalborg in Denmark and the best selling Danish nation-wide daily Jyllands-Posten.

Nordjyske has often been lauded as “the most futuristic newspaper in the world.” The company founded in the 18th century at the beginning of this millennium was facing a crisis. Revenue was falling, staff morale was low.

“What did Darwin really say?,” asked Ulrik Haagerup his staff at Nordjyske in 2002 and repeated the same question to the INMA audience in 2008. As Mr. Haagerup predicted, people always answered: “The strongest survive”. “No,” he corrected. ” Darwin actually said that those with the ability to adapt to change in their environment would survive”.

Nordjyske started a restructuring in 2002 that entailed launching new services like 24-hour local news channel, a website, a radio station and a mobile news service and teaching editorial and advertising sales staff to work across all media.

For example: they no longer have newspaper reporters or radio reporters. They just have reporters who create stories for all media. (However, not all stories are created for all media, as they have different strengths: TV is rather for emotions, and the net is searchable and can provide deeper information).

The transformation is believed to be very successful. Between 2002 and 2006, revenues of Nordjyske Medier rose from about $54 million to about $100 million. In 2000 the newspaper generated 62% of company’s revenue and in 2007 this share dropped to 46% (they predict that in 2015 it will go down to 25%). People from all over the world come to Aarlborg for tours and training sessions and they even pay a couple of thousands dollars per visit.

An interview with Ulrik Haagerup

(Here is a short and edited version of this interview made by Artur Karda, multimedia reporter at Media Regionalne, Polish part of Mecom Group.)

Artur Karda: What is the hardest thing to transform a newspaper into a multi-media house?

Ulrik Haagerup: To tell people that they have to change and why. Habits are extremally powerful. So people have to understand why and have to go through the change process and try to make mistakes and dare to be a failer which you always are when you start something new.

Does you believe that all newspaper reporters can become good TV or radio journalists?

No, not all of them, but 90 per cent of them can. It is not difficult. Don’t make it a rocket science.

What is the next step that newsmedia companies have to make after changing its one-medium focused organisation into a multi-media house?

The next step is to recognize that there is a paradigm shift. We have lost a monopoly to tell stories to people. Now everybody can do it and we have to make sure that all these people who come up with videos, sound, blogs, will be involved with our news factory in order to make that content available to people.

More information about Nordjyske transformation and its organisation

• Read Ulrik Haagerup’s article for Nieman Report: Media convergence: “Just do it.”
• Read Newspaper Association of America and American Society of Newspaper Editors‘ case study written by Katherine Goldstein and Paul Berger: Growing audience: innovation in action (in PDF).
• Read an analysis by Dietmar Schantin of IFRA Newsplex about “Organisational types of newsrooms in a media convergent environment“

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