- In this section, we discuss four prerequisites that we believe must be in place for editorial media to regain a strong ability to defend liberal democracies. Three of them must be addressed by the media themselves, while the fourth involves political support.
- We believe that a stronger focus on understanding and improving trust in the media, along with a much greater emphasis on innovation, are the most important factors for strengthening media’s position.
- We discuss eight cases stemming from both legacy media and start-ups. A defining feature of many is their rethinking of focus topics and their extensive efforts to improve communication with their users.
- Regarding regulatory conditions, we emphasize that political authorities must help remove obstacles that hinder the financing of the editorial mission in society. It is crucial to ensure that digital regulations, motivated by the need to rein in the tech giants, do not inflict collateral damage on editorial media.
The ambition in this section is to explore what can help strengthen editorial media in their role as active contributors to liberal democracies. We do this by introducing four prerequisites we see as necessary and drawing inspiration from eight concrete cases. In the final chapter, we assess the political framework conditions that we believe are needed for success.
In this part of the analysis, we discuss four fundamental prerequisites that we believe must be present for editorial media to have a substantial impact on the level of democracy. Only the media can address the first three conditions: relevance/trust, reach, and innovation, while political authorities must remove obstacles and ensure that media has the right conditions to succeed. This is why the first three points on our four-point list focus on the media themselves, while the fourth addresses the role of decision-makers in supporting the success of this massive transformation:
- Producing credible and relevant content: Editorial media must produce relevant, engaging, and high-quality content that builds trust. They need to demonstrate, in practice, the value of free, editorial media. Building greater trust by enhancing relevance for users, among other things, is a fundamental prerequisite for all other necessary improvements.
- Ensuring reach: The content must reach people, both physically and mentally. The greatest challenge is strengthening the relationship with young people. However, a significant portion of the media also face substantial challenges in reaching socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, regardless of age, who do not perceive the editorial media as relevant. Good content is useless if it is not consumed.
- Innovation: Editorial media must pursue greater innovation, including so-called radical innovation, especially given the rise of AI. They need a deeper, more fundamental understanding of their potential audience, with the ambition to adapt to the changing media landscape and remain relevant.
- Regulatory framework to protect editorial media: There is a need for policies that support free editorial media. This includes ensuring media freedom, including the protection of journalists and editorial institutions from attacks, threats, and unacceptable interference.
This also involves measures that incentivize both editorial start-ups and innovation within established media. Within the framework of this analysis, we focus on what is required at the EU level. This mostly involves removing obstacles and ensuring that digital market regulations do not unintentionally impact editorial media.
Further in this chapter, we take a closer look at our four proposed prerequisites for a greater democratic contribution from editorial media. Regarding the first three prerequisites, we present specific editorial initiatives. The fourth and final point, ”Regulatory framework to protect editorial media”, will be covered under “Regulatory conditions” in the chapter Regulatory conditions.
The four prerequisites for a strengthened democratic contribution constitute a model. When evaluating the category to which specific innovations belong, it quickly becomes apparent that most exhibit characteristics of multiple prerequisites. We mostly view this as a strength in the cases discussed.
Producing credible and relevant content
Insights from Schibsted’s study on drivers of media trust
A unique Schibsted Media study highlights four key drivers of media trust, offering insights that are vital for sustaining trust and revenue in today’s fragmented information landscape. The study shows links between trust, use, and willingness to pay, and stresses the importance of personal relevance.
Surveying 3,000 media users in Sweden and Norway using representative national panels, the Schibsted study, “Drivers of Media Trust” (2024), aimed to understand the drivers influencing trust in editorial media.
The four key drivers identified are:
- Credibility of Process: Trust in how the content is created and in the people behind it.
- Credibility of Content: The perceived reliability and accuracy of the information.
- Personal Relevance: The degree to which users find the content useful and aligned with their needs.
- Selectivity: The choice of topics and facts covered (or omitted) by media outlets.
The study also examined how trust affects both usage of media and willingness to pay for content. Notably, the factors driving trust do not always correlate with those that drive usage. For instance, while attributes like “accountable editor” foster trust, it seems to have little impact on how frequently users want to engage with certain media. Conversely, “user-friendliness”, which strongly influences media usage, appears less important for trust. These findings underscore the need for media companies to focus on different aspects depending on their goals—whether it be fostering trust or encouraging usage.
The link between trust and willingness to pay is more obvious: users who trust a media outlet are more likely to pay for its content. This highlights the importance of maintaining and evolving trust as a key strategy for securing user revenue.
Personal relevance a critical driver
Personal relevance stands out as a critical driver in our study, with a high impact on both trust, use, and willingness to pay. Interestingly, our study highlights how “content that aligns with my worldview” seems to drive trust, and especially among consumers aged 50 and above.
This finding may not be surprising for an age group often associated with filter bubbles and polarization, but it is one that media companies must explore with caution. Schibsted’s media strategy has long prioritized personal relevance, not least through algorithmic personalization of editorial content. However, we caution against relying solely on aligning with user perspectives, as this could undermine the broader social function of editorial media. Maintaining a balance between personalized content and coverage of shared, major stories is crucial to the role of editorial media in fostering a common understanding of current events.
On the topic of personal relevance – especially concerning young news consumers – the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2024 showed a growing audience interest in partisan commentators, influencers, and young news creators on social networks.
The report describes how, in France, mainstream media faces challenges on social platforms from young news influencers, with particular emphasis on Hugo Travers (known online as Hugo Décrypte). With 2.6 million subscribers on YouTube and 5.7 million on TikTok, the 27-year-old has become a major news source for young French people, receiving more mentions than Le Monde, Le Figaro, and Liberation combined, according to the Reuters Institute study. Understanding how profiles like Travers’ maintain relevance with their audiences will provide key insights for editorial media – if only to understand their new playing field.
Two challengers in the Greek media market
Solomon is an independent investigative outlet, established in 2015, around the same time as two or three other similar independent journalistic initiatives in Greece. Focusing on transparency and accountability, migration, environment, and food systems, Solomon is one of the initiatives that Professor Lambrini Papadopoulou highlighted with optimism in chapter about Media Pluralism. What makes these new initiatives particularly interesting is their emergence in one of the EU’s most challenging countries for independent journalism. Greece also has the lowest public trust in the media among EU countries.
We met Danai Maragoudaki, journalist at Solomon in chapter about journalistic blindpsots, where she explained what she believes is the history behind the challenging media situation in Greece. She notes that Greek oligarchs were poised to take over key parts of the Greek media industry after it was severely weakened by the financial crisis several years ago. However, this shift also opened up space for new ventures, she explains.
”The oligarchs and other major owners of Greek media use their outlets to promote their own private interests and to attack their competitors. It is known in Greek newsrooms that the media you work for will be serving someone’s interests. So, no matter what you write, it has to be in favor of some party and negative towards their opponents. The journalists practice self-censorship – everyone has to adhere to this,” says Maragoudaki.
The economic crisis in Greece led to significant political changes. The New Democracy party took power in 2019 and was re-elected last year. Maragoudaki says that this government is supported by four private TV channels and a public service channel, among others, and there is little to no critical journalism against the government.
Lowest trust in media
This story has led Greece to become the EU country with the lowest trust in the media, and it also forms the backdrop for the establishment of several independent media outlets in 2015-2016. Solomon is one of these, established in 2015.
“We publish relatively infrequently—1-2 times a month—and use social networks, Facebook, Instagram and X(Twitter) and newsletters to distribute our content. This results in a limited audience, making it challenging to keep our own website active.”
Maragoudaki shares that Solomon is financed by the users, preferably via regular monthly contributions, and that they do not publish ads as a matter of principle because they believe this could compromise their independence.
“However, the most important source of income remains grants from various funds, such as the European Journalism Fund, organizations, and charitable foundations.”
“These small, independent startups are financially weak and have relatively little influence. At the same time, they are behind some of the biggest revelations in Greece in recent years, including the Greek surveillance scandal (revealed by inside story), which involved the illegal surveillance of numerous public figures.”
What do you think is the most important step for these small, independent Greek media outlets to grow in size and strength?
“I will give you both a personal and professional answer…. I believe the only ones who can effectively contribute to such development are the readers. The hope is that they will take their share of the responsibility, both by recognizing that independent journalism costs money and being willing to pay for it, and by speaking positively about the importance of the kind of journalism we produce, says Danai Maragoudaki, journalist in Solomon.”
FYI News is another challenger in the Greek media landscape. Founded in December 2022 by CEO Irodion Savvakis, the platform aims to connect with an audience often overlooked by traditional news outlets.
What was your motivation for starting FYI News?
“I am a news junkie, with a background in political science and public policy, and I have always been frustrated when meeting people who aren’t following any news at all. Over time, I realized that many of these people are actually socially engaged individuals – they just don’t want to consume news from traditional news providers. This large group, ranging from around 18 to 45 years old, is the group we wanted to appeal to. The team as a whole is also motivated by our collective frustrations with Greek journalism, which tends to be overly polarized. There’s no middle ground.”
After a year-and-a-half, fyi.news has grown to 14 employees, and Savvakis explains that they remain true to their concept. Rather than chasing breaking news, the team focuses on curated, fact-checked news.
“We give them their daily 5 – the five news stories they need to know to stay informed and be an engaged part of society, and we do this in a user-friendly way. Social media are our primary channels, with Instagram and TikTok being our primary channels. Our ambition is to become the leading news source for our target groups.”
The founder explains that they organize their content in the categories 1) General News (Politics & Society), 2) Science & Technology, 3) Economy & Business, 4) Culture, and 5) People (interviews, and soon, podcasts).
“On weekends, we offer explainers – in-depth explorations of topics that have come up during the week. For example, a ”lexicon”clarifying the key players and conflicts in the Middle East. We use images, illustrations, and video interviews to make our content as accessible and engaging as possible for users.”
Are there any particular socioeconomic characteristics of your target audience? For example, is fyi.news a service for the highly educated?
“No, we are focused on and committed to making all our content accessible and understandable for everyone – no one should be excluded. The only common trait of our users is that they have a mobile phone, and almost everyone has that,” says Savvakis.
He emphasizes their significant investment in technology to optimize the user experience on fyi.news and underscores the importance of striking the right tone of voice.
“We aim for content that is easy to understand, presented in a friendly and often humorous style. However, accuracy is our priority. That’s why we invest time and resources on fact-checking, and we would rather be correct, than first to report, explains Irodion Savvakis, CEO of the Greek news challenger fyi.news.”
Ensuring reach
“We’ve got your back” – The Belgium newspaper De Standaard’s quest to be on the side of its readers
“The discussion started in our newsroom about two years ago. The news was all about war, inflation, the energy crisis, migration, and the threat to democracy, and we realized that in the midst of these multiple crises, we rarely broke away from negative newsframes. We had to acknowledge that we were good at describing and analyzing the threats, at pointing out all the dangers and the failures.”
“But where in this gloomy world do we leave our reader? Is there a way to be on the side of the reader in her/his attempt first of all to make better sense of it all, to equip the reader to navigate the unsettled world and to deal with the practical and emotional fall-out? Could journalism, while not forsaking its truth speaking, also be a shelter?”
This is what Karel Verhoeven, Editor-in-Chief at De Standaard since 2010, says. De Standaard is a 106-year-old Dutch-language newspaper of record based in Brussels, politically centered, primarily focused on politics, economy, and culture. Verhoeven explains the newspaper’s initiative.
“One afternoon early in the fall of 2023, we gathered with the heads of the newspaper sections for a lengthy seminar on how to invigorate our reporting. We came up with the slogan “We’ve got your back”. This should define how we relate to our readers, we said. We’re at your side. We’ll first of all uncover the most important stories and facts that need to be brought to light. But we’ll also help you to understand the world, and we’ll find out what you can do, how we can act, and how some of the problems could be resolved. And we also wanted to listen better.”
Many readers are experts
“Many of our readers are experts, as teachers, lawyers, nurses, politicians, artists, administrators. How could we tap into this collective wisdom and knowledge? So we built a new initiative that allows for readers to engage with other readers in a constructive way. Central to this endeavor is the quest for practical solutions to longstanding issues about which regular politics are out of breath, about which are too divided, or stuck in stereotypical debates.”
“In this tool, we launch, during five consecutive weeks, one debate per day, and support this debate with journalism. Then it is up to the readers to take up the debate, launch solutions, seek approval, discuss amongst themselves, and favor some of the solutions above other proposals. Every day we publish journalism in some form of a solution, and at the end of the week we select some of the more remarkable suggestions and publish them to all readers.”
De Standaard launched this with a national advertising campaign in November 2023. We were then seven months away from the June 9, 2024 general elections for the regional, federal and European parliaments. They invited their readers to discuss topics like education, health, mobility, societal tensions, and climate. To ensure a respectful, coherent, and interactive discussion and organize the debate, the newspaper is using a newly developed digital, AI-based tool.
“To give you an idea of the engagement generated through the tool we use: we have had 3,500 readers who have submitted suggestions for specific solution-oriented news stories. This has created reactions and engagement from 89,000 others, either in the form of a short comment or a vote. We are very pleased with that, Verhoeven says. DeStandaard reaches 400,000 readers on a daily basis.”
The professional journalistic discussions about more solution-oriented journalism usually revolve around the role and credibility of journalism. One concern is that solution-oriented journalism should not stand in the way of the honest and unvarnished portrayal of reality as it truly is.
Verhoeven believes that there are no contradictions in this.
“Of course, you can’t write daily about the war and bloodshed in Gaza in terms of what the solution could be of what readers themselves can contribute. But readers are at a loss, first of all in how to truly understand the bitterness of the conflict. One of the ways to do ‘We’ve Got Your Back’ is to make a podcast series on the history of the conflict, so that you tend to have a real profound insight into the politics and emotions that are at play both in Israel and in the West Bank and in Gaza. And this is a way of helping readers to deal with the world.”
Politics stuck in trenches
Verhoven says that politics in Belgium is stuck in the trenches of a linguistically and ideologically divided nation. Regional and federal politics are often at odds, and the squabbles of party politics paralyze governments.
“The initiative De Standaard undertook, was an attempt to free the discussion on important issues from this stalemate and bring about a positive political vibe in the face of three elections – regional election, federal and European. The polls indicated that in Flanders, the far right was on the rise and had a good chance of winning the elections and coming out as first party with close to 30 percent of the vote. This chilling prospect dominated the campaign from early on,” he says.
A prominent survey conducted by De Standaard early in the campaign, in collaboration with a public broadcaster and two universities, indicated a deep mistrust in democracy.
“Only one percent of Flemish people think that democracy is functioning ‘very well’ in Flanders. One percent. A quarter of the population thinks democracy functions ‘reasonably well’. That’s really problematic and one of the reasons we launched the “Save the Future” campaign in November 2023.”
“We selected five different themes and invited readers to suggest solutions – and they really did. They brought us to more original stories which were more solution driven, asked interesting questions and came with interesting reflections. And – this stories was very intensely read, says Karel Verhoeven at De Standaard.”
Exploring news futures at IN/LAB
- 39 percent of media consumers now report that they sometimes or often avoid the news, with countries like Brazil, Spain, Germany, and Finland showing significant increases compared to previous years.
- In Sweden, 35 percent of people avoid the news due to its negative tone, with young people and women, in particular, avoiding the news as they feel that the content negatively affects them.
- People with relatively lower cultural and economic capital are significantly more likely to avoid news, suggesting a link between news avoidance and social inequalities.
What can editorial media companies do about this? We turned to Agnes Stenbom, Head of IN/LAB and Trust initiatives at Schibsted, to learn more about these innovative programs. On IN/LAB’s website, the trio that forms the core of IN/LAB define themselves as a “small team on a big mission.” This is no exaggeration.
IN/LAB is just one of several big missions Agnes is involved in. She is also an industrial PhD candidate in AI and Journalism at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and co-founder of the Nordic AI Journalism network consisting of 500 Nordic media professionals for shared explorations. Here, she tells the IN/LAB story in her own words:
A dedicated lab for inclusive exploration
IN/LAB, a joint initiative by Schibsted Media and the Tinius Trust, addresses issues related to low-to-no news consumption and trust. We prefer the term “news outsiders” over “news avoiders,” recognizing that systemic factors, not just individual choices, contribute to disengagement. Since 2022, our work has focused on groups who find themselves and their needs overlooked in the mainstream news narrative and/or product offering. IN/LAB navigates news futures by listening to these communities and identifying solutions to make news more relevant, accessible, and representative – all with the aim of supporting newsrooms to meet the needs of future consumers.
Co-creation is central to our work, involving people aged 15 to 30, who are often critical to how news media serves them. We’ve partnered with youth centers, tech hubs, and local influencers, working directly with target groups to imagine future news experiences.
Our co-creation outputs are speculative prototypes that highlight multiple possible futures for the media industry. Examples include a news service that adjusts sentiment in real-time and a chatbot that helps users manage emotionally challenging news. Artificial intelligence is often a key element in these imagined futures.
News as music: One possible future?
In our News Changemaker program, ten young innovators aged 15 to 18 worked with us to identify challenges and prototype solutions. One key insight was that traditional news formats, like long, text-heavy articles, don’t always resonate with younger audiences. Our collaborators asked a straightforward question: what if news was shared through music?
In partnership with Aftonbladet, we explored this idea by using generative AI to convert written news into music, including rap songs and melodies. We live-tested an experimental feature and received positive feedback, particularly from younger users.
Is news as music the future? We don’t know, but it is a possibility that media companies need to consider as they strive to engage future generations. As suggested by Kleis Nielsen et al., exploring non-traditional formats offers a chance to meet audiences where they are—culturally and technologically.
Personal reflections
After roughly two years of IN/LAB explorations, I find that a few key tensions keep resurfacing in our conversations about what journalism could and should be. Below are three areas where I believe there to be a considerable gap between the preferences and attitudes of our target group – young people with criticism about how media functions today – and the logic of traditional media companies.
- Wanting clarity in our mission
People in journalism often describe themselves as serving a democratic function. But to the young people I meet through IN/LAB, “democratic” means that everybody gets to have a say. Again and again, I hear our collaborators call for the public to be allowed to co-shape the news flow, with ideas not far from a “people’s court” deciding what is and isn’t trustworthy. Our industry seems to take for granted that journalism speaks for itself; that the institution is self-explanatory and our working methods crystal clear to (and appreciated by!) the public. In my experience, that is not the case. - Questioning the idea of consequence neutrality
With a number of parallel global crises shaping their upbringing, Gen Z (born 1996-2010) are said to be more health and security-seeking than previous generations, and they put much greater emphasis on the individuals’ responsibility to contribute to a more sustainable and just society. With this as background, it is not surprising that many of our collaborators express concern about journalists not taking into account the consequences of publication, such as who it gains or hurts, or how it makes people feel. To a generation seeking security, mental health and contributions to a “better” world, this does not seem to find much relevance. - Assuming and trusting AI growth
Many of our collaborators express optimism regarding development in AI. They expect digital infrastructures like large language models to help them make sense of the sea of information that floods their lives. They talk about technology as neutral and journalists as biased. What if clarity in our mission could help instill the same degree of trust in human processes?
Overall, I believe we must take seriously the future audience’s greater need to feel seen and be given agency. Gen Z is growing into adulthood during a time when issues related to identity and self-expression have shaped much of public discourse, and they have come to appreciate that there is value in their point of view.
Further exploring these tensions will be critical for publishers seeking relevance in the coming century. Safeguarding journalism and its function in democracies cannot solely rely on upholding traditions, but should also encompass daring to reconsider our ways of producing and disseminating news.
Educational news service for young people – News Decoder
News Decoder is a nine-year-old program for high school students worldwide. It is run by the French non-profit organization Nouvelles-Découvertes, whose mission is to “inform young people about international relations with tolerance, objectivity and broad vision”,as they describe themselves.
News Decoder has an ongoing partnership with between 17 and 23 high schools, in addition to running a professional journalistic service aimed at young users, supported by 50 affiliated journalists from around the world. They further describe the WHAT as: “Our educational services include mentoring by professional journalists, training workshops in pitching and interviewing, webinars on global issues, e-learning courses and handbooks on reporting and writing.”
And the WHY: “By supporting young people to think like journalists — interrogating information sources, considering all sides of an argument and examining context and precedent — we help them to become critical-thinking, responsible media consumers and creators.”
Marcy Burstiner is editorial news director of News Decoder, after having been a journalism teacher for many years, and before that, a practicing journalist. She explains how they work with the students.
“We help students get involved in journalistic projects, find stories, usually based on their own local environment, and encourage them to connect this to what is happening in other countries and continents. The aim is to learn to see many different perspectives – different ways of looking at things.”
News Decoder is a small organization with a team of eight people located in different countries across Europe. The schools they collaborate with are situated in both Europe and Africa, and currently, they also have partnerships with 36 schools in India as part of an editorial climate project.
What is it that you primarily aim to achieve?
“We can say that we have a dual mission: to teach/encourage global perspectives in journalism by working with young people and helping them build relationships with each other across borders and continents. Additionally, we have a news service with 50 journalists from various parts of the world who write for us, and we publish this content with a young audience in mind. These are topics that otherwise don’t receive much attention, especially issues with cross-border implications and themes that focus on truly large and complex questions, which we break down and present in a way that makes them understandable for young people. These stories from professional journalists are presented in the same environment as the stories created by the students, says Marcy Burstiner.”
She is critical of much of today’s journalism.
“We know that many young people “are moving away from journalism” – we are trying to find a way to bring them back by engaging them. As a journalist, I have always believed that you must write as if the audience knows nothing beforehand. I think many newsrooms are so focused on what they perceive as their core readers that they ignore those who fall outside this group, especially young people. Many young people don’t find these stories engaging. Large parts of the press are telling the same stories in almost the same way – and then we wonder why young people are not paying attention…”
Burstiner explains that they hold the student-produced journalism to the same standards of accuracy as the journalism from News Decoder’s professional journalists. She believes this is important, in part to give students a fundamental understanding of journalism.
Don’t young people around the world know what journalism is?
“No, they don’t. They haven’t grown up with newspapers, and they don’t know that credible journalists work according to ethical codes. They don’t know that many journalists are highly educated and have undergone specialized training in journalism. That’s precisely why we emphasize the fundamental qualities that turn information into journalism in our projects with young people. We teach them, among other things, why it’s important to verify the information they want to use,” says News Decoders Editorial News Director Marcy Burstiner.
Innovation
Zetland
“TED talk meets cabaret.. It’s a little bit of magic” (Lea Korsgaard – Editor-in-chief – about Zetlands live shows)
“Zetland is a digital publisher dedicated to journalism as a force for good. Guided by our members, we fight for a public conversation motivated by insight and curiosity. We reject the present-day cynicism and polarization that paint the world in black and white, that undermine our ability to overcome important challenges together.” (From Zetland’s website)
“I’m a strong believer in fair and objective journalism, but I’m not a strong believer in the neutral voice. It doesn’t exist. I want a human to tell the story in a tone of voice that’s friendly and relaxed and funny also. So, we were like, okay, there’s a need out there. Maybe we should actually, you know, solve that problem.”
This is how Lea Korsgaard, Editor-in-Chief of Zetland and one of its three founders, describes the thought process behind the establishment of this new publication.
She explains how the initial ideas formed while she was working as a journalist at the Danish newspaper Politiken, around 2010.
“And I could just see that the kind of journalism that I really love deeply, the in-depth stories, the narrated stories, the feature writing kind of journalism, where you can really sense there’s a person with an intention behind the story – that kind of genre is going to die before I die. Right? Because at that point, that genre was closely linked to paper, and to paper only.”
Consists of entertainment
She reflects on how strange it is to think that, at that time – at least in Denmark – digital journalism mostly consisted of entertainment.
“So, that was the initial push. I was like… I need to help this industry reinvent itself. Otherwise, I’m not going to have a job when I’m old. And really, the kind of genre that I like, and the journalism that I think is fundamental in order to really get context, get perspective, really understand what’s going on in society, that will die and everything will become super short breaking news, dumbing down the conversation, not enhancing the public conversation.”
Zetland can be described as a radical innovation within the field of publishing and journalism. The risk was high, and the founders had to change their strategy multiple times to achieve their goals. Today, Zetland has 40,000 members, half of them under 35 years old, and the publishing house has approximately 60 employees.
Korsgaard says that Zetland is not a publisher only for intellectuals, and highlights that people in “ordinary” professions, such as nurses and police officers, are well-represented among their members.
Lea Korsgaard explains how journalism’s primary task used to be delivering information to people that they otherwise would not have access to. Now, this role has changed:
“People who used our nonfiction stories say to us, ‘I’m standing on this mountain of information, but I need context. I need an explanation on why the information is important. I’m drowning.’ They also say, ‘I’m sick and tired of everything being a scandal and a sensation. What about stuff that works? I also need hope and solutions.”
Zetland operates according to six principles. One of these principles, “We explain without simplifying,” focuses on giving users the opportunity to understand a topic from the ground up. Another principle is expressed as, “We fight cynicism and look for solutions.”
Solution-oriented journalism is emerging as a clear trend in Denmark and has also garnered some interest in other countries. At the same time, this approach to journalism is controversial and raises questions about what journalism’s role should be.
Zetland is committed to offering its content in the formats that users prefer. Initially, most of their content was based on written communication, but over time, audio has become increasingly dominant. Now, 75% of the Zetland content is consumed through the ears.
In addition to delivering daily stories in various formats, personally narrated by Zetland’s journalists, and fostering a community with its members, Zetland also regularly organizes events where stories are presented on stage in different ways.
The Editor-in-Chief explains:
“It’s a 90 minute show on a theater stage, with 10 to 15 stories told. It merges journalism with theater. So, it’s TED talk meets cabaret meets Danish Folk High School tradition. It’s a little bit of magic. It could be a jazz band playing development in economics, based on economic curves. It could be me or our journalists telling a story, or one of our members telling a story about being a gangster and sitting in a wheelchair. And there’s always some kind of element of engagement with the audience, you know, that their body, their voices, or something play a part in that. So anyway, people really like that.”
Journalism misses people
Lea Korsgaard is more concerned with the journalistic function in society than with the traditional institutions that have historically produced and disseminated journalism.
“People don’t miss journalism, but journalism misses people.”
This quote from Lea Korsgaard has been noted in media academia. It is hardly a bold guess to say that not everyone in the industry is equally enthusiastic about such a view, but Korsgaard explains what she means:
“The battle that we must fight is not about preserving the institutions that are now there. It’s preserving the mission. And for instance, when you look at France, apparently the most known media in a sense today among young people is a guy called Hugo Décrypte, more known than Le Monde, more known than any other traditional legacy newspaper. And he makes fantastic journalism on a YouTube channel with 25 people around him. That’s it. But he is huge and really doing an important job providing people with information. Journalism can look like that. So, it’s not about preserving the institutions. It’s really about making sure that the job of giving people information that they need to be enlightened is there, ” says Lea Korsgaard, Editor-in-Chief of Zetland.
AI improves journalism in JP/Politiken
The Danish media group JP/Politiken has gained international attention with its innovative focus on AI-supported journalism. Their AI concept, MAGNA (Monitoring and Assisted Generation of News Artefacts), can assist in many phases of journalistic work, from idea development to headline selection.
The examples below are taken from JP/Politiken’s own presentation at the Nordic AI in Media Summit 2024:
The system is a chatbot tailored to journalistic needs, where, for example, during the research phase, you can ask a question like: “How can I find out how many electric cars were sold in Denmark in 2023?” or “Where can I find the annual report for…?”.
More advanced research assistance is available if you upload a press release and ask what unanswered questions it contains that could be relevant for a journalist to follow up on. Another feature that can contribute to the idea phase is asking, for example, “What are FC Barcelona’s most important highs and lows in the past year?” MAGNA can also offer more specialized services, such as finding the right tone of voice for headlines and similar tasks. So far, the tool is primarily used to improve texts, proofread, shorten articles, and retrieve information from the archives.
Transformation comes in waves
Kasper Lindskow is Head of AI at JP/Politikens Media Group, and he explains that their AI journey began as early as 2019.
“The transformation has come in waves over the past 20 years – first from analog to digital, then from web 1.0 to web 2.0, to cloud storage, to the shift from desktop to mobile, and so on.”
“So, in 2019, we believed that the next wave to hit us in the transformation would be AI. A qualitatively new form of digitalization. As a result, we started working with machine learning already back then, but in a different way than what was common. We primarily focused on creating a better news experience that would be more informative, engaging, and relevant to users. We aimed to achieve this with AI systems aligned with our own values, under our full control.”
Lindskow explains that the ambitions are changing along the way.
“From the idea that journalists, with the help of AI, should be able to do the job they’ve always done more efficiently, to now also getting assistance to do new things. In the first 2-3 years, it is about telling stories in various ways and simplifying versioning. In the medium to long term, 3-4 years, AI can take on a larger role in versioning, such as ensuring the right tone in different channels, while journalists can focus on telling the story in a basic format.”
What are the key innovative steps that need to be taken for AI to contribute more to the creative part of the journalistic process?
“To enrich journalism, we need to experiment even more. In the long term – which is the truly interesting part – we need to reinvent journalism within a different information ecosystem. But for now, we have no idea what this information ecosystem will look like.”
In the media industry, some refer to AI as potentially either the best or the worst thing that has ever happened to journalism. Kasper Lindskow comments:
“In a 5-7 year perspective, there are massive opportunities – both for efficiency and for the enrichment of journalism. The condition is that we manage to do this correctly…. We need to formulate good values and norms, and remain loyal to them. However, even if we do it right, AI could become the worst thing that happens to journalism if the large platform companies that we compete against use AI in a way that puts editorial media under destructive pressure.”
What is the biggest mistake we can make?
“The biggest mistake is failing to align AI with our values – journalistic values and our mission. Because this is what makes us unique and defines our role in society.”
You work for a media corporation with a very long history. Do you think it’s easier to pursue AI initiatives within this type of corporation, or is it easier for a startup?
“It’s easier for a startup, and that’s why new players might win, but I believe it’s right to do it in a legacy media company. We may not be as quick to adapt, but our history helps ensure that we ask the right questions along the way.”
In which areas should editorial media collaborate, and where should they compete when it comes to further AI development?
“They should collaborate on value alignment – share knowledge and learn from each other, even while competing. We need to discuss what healthy values for AI are in our type of business, and we must do this together, says Kasper Lindskow – head of AI at JP/Politikens Media Group.”
