SFN report: Journalism and sales skills; convergence of multimedia operations top possible developments for publishers

Posted by Erina Lin on February 22, 2010 at 2:12 PM

The first annual World Newspaper Future & Change Study is a global research study about newspaper publishers' business strategies moving forward for the next five years, with the key objective to inspire newspaper executives to invest and innovate their business units and business practices, the latest SFN's report, Charting the Course for Newspapers, reported.

The purpose of the study is to pinpoint the business and strategic challenges of the world's newspapers, and then to identify the publishers' strategies moving forward to turn the challenges into opportunities.

One section of the study is about organisational and people development in the face of extraordinary change. Asked to rank areas for possible development from 1 (lowest) to nine (top), respondents prioritise areas that would shore up existing operations by addressing areas identified as of concern in previous questions: journalism skills (1st, mean of 6.69 ) and sales skills (2nd, mean of 6.65 ). The third highest priority was "convergence of multimedia operations" (mean of 6.09), which is typically considered a way to become not only more effective in engaging audiences, but also a way to ensure greater efficiency in operations.

The lowest priorities were: competencies and composition of the board (7th, mean of 3.44); building relationships with competitors (8th, mean of 3.15); and a more diverse workforce (age, gender, ethnicity) (9th, mean of 2.99).

As the question asked respondents to rank the items, the findings also illustrate that as executives work to balance what is urgent with what is important, they are prioritising operational-level activities above broader, sector-wide issues. Addressing challenges that affect the industry in collaboration with traditional competitors is not yet high on most executives' agendas.

The report, released by SFN and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, details the results of the Future & Change Study, completed in partnership with the Norwegian School of Management and the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom, which shows a majority of the 653 respondents around the world are looking to businesses outside the printed newspaper in order to grow revenues and revamp structures along the value chain that are no longer functioning at full throttle.

Click here to complete the 2010 World Newspaper Future & Change Study.