During there recent INMA World Congress of News Media in London, I also had an opportunity to host a workshop on newsroom transformation, featuring four leading journalists who are innovating and tackling important challenges, such as how to bring in younger readers and break down silos within organisations.

We covered a lot of ground during a panel discussion at the Newsroom Transformation workshop, where I was joined by Ros Atkins, a broadcast journalist with the BBC and author of Ex-plan-ation; Edward Roussel, head of digital at The Times and The Sunday Times in the UK; Rochell Bishop Sleets, managing editor of Newsday in the United States; and Rodrigo Muzell, digital journalist manager of Grupo RBS in Brazil. 

Some takeaways and highlights:

The biggest news event they’re preparing for this year? The elections, of course.

How big of an issue is news fatigue? “It’s a huge issue,” Atkins said, noting that getting people to turn to the news is a much more pronounced challenge than it once was. About 40% of people in Britain identify as news avoiders, Roussel said, adding that he thinks context is important to getting people more engaged with news.

Beyond news avoidance, what is the industry’s biggest challenge? Atkins: Providing context, while also understanding how to provide it in a world where people spend less time with news. Muzell: Making money. Roussel: The business model. Sheets: Agreed, noting the decline of local journalism in the United States and the implications of that.

How do we spend less time with legacy platforms — newspapers or broadcast shows — to spend more time on digital innovation? Roussel said it’s important to force it by doing things like changing the morning news conference to stop talking about the print product. Sheets said Newsday has done much of the same and said talking about metrics and digital audience is important to those conversations.

What kinds of storytelling formats are you investing in? “We’re looking a lot at vertical video,” Sheets said, noting investigative videos ranked highly among focus groups. Muzell said explainers work well for Grupo RBS, especially in breaking news situations. And Atkins added that being flexible and changing formats based on audience response is key.

How do we address the challenge between meeting audience needs by personalising vs. making sure consumers see important news? Rousell said editorial hierarchy and news judgment will remain paramount — but may be supplemented by other experiences (such as more easily surfacing topics of interest). “It’s super important that we give people the news to live their daily lives and make important decisions,” Sheets said. “We also should be creating products that meet their personal needs. It has to be a mix.”

Why can’t we use AI to tell our journalists whether something is worth doing? Sheets said she believes AI has its place but may not be the best predictor: “To lean on something that’s a recycling bin of information to predict the future may not be the best idea.” Muzell said as AI continues to improve, it may be useful in this area: “I’ll be more open to use AI for predictions when it proves more right than it is now,” he said.

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