The news media is in a crisis. Already struggling with falling revenues and eroding credibility, the media has been left to battle for survival by the Covid pandemic and its economic fallout. Is there a way of this crisis? If there’s, where does it lead?

To discuss the challenges facing the news media and how they can be dealt with, Newslaundry organised a webinar in partnership with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Abhinandan Sekhri of Newslaundry is joined by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and political communication professor at the University of Oxford; Ritu Kapoor, co-founder of the Quint and a member of the board at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism; Anant Goenka, executive director of the Indian Express; and Avinash Pandey, CEO of the ABP News Network.

In his presentation, Rasmus talks about the annual Digital News Report published by the Reuters Institute. Speaking about the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the news media, he says there has been a surge in news consumption from trusted sources.

Talking about the business of news, he argues that “it is clear that advertising is growing harder and harder” and publishers are increasingly turning to reader subscription. There is one problem, though: the bulk of the subscriptions are going to Big Media, especially in the UK and US.

He highlights the report’s findings regarding why people are subscribing to media outlets and what could make them pay for online news. “The premise of getting people to pay often is trust,” Nielsen says.

Pandey explores whether a subscription model could work for TV news, while Goenka talks about the print media, remarking that he won’t be surprised “if print readership ends up growing next year”. He wonders, however, whether newspapers can increase cover prices substantially.

Kapoor says, “Your brand should be built around the mission.”

They also discuss how the news media reconciles the principle of objectivity with dependence on government ad money, the relationship between political alignments and subscriptions, the quality of news in an increasingly competitive media, the importance of local news, and much more.

Watch!

You can also listen to this webinar by clicking the play button below.

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