Some viable models for digital public-interest journalism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2021.ene.18Keywords:
Public interest journalism, Business models, Media transformation, Digital journalism, Audience engagement, Press's business, Paywalls, Subscriptions, Freemium, Low cost, Nonprofit, Newspaper industry, Opportunities, Online journalism, Transformation of journalism, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Covid-19 impactAbstract
The supply of public interest journalism that serves the needs of citizens in a democratic society has always been scarce in the media marketplace when compared with sensationalism, gossip, entertainment, propaganda, and misinformation. This scarce commodity, whose market value lies in its credibility and depends on costly investments of time and money in professional research, has frequently required a subsidy, which for more than a century was provided by advertising. Now that this subsidy has mostly been devoured by technological platforms such as Google and Facebook, the industry and profession are developing new models focused on user needs and wants with a trend toward public service rather than profit. This paper uses deductive and critical methodologies to identify the most promising business models used by media companies to counteract the decline in public-interest journalism. Our proposal is that an appropriate business model can be the best way to revitalize media companies. The research is based on Chesbrough´s business model framework applied to 20 leading digital news publications from 16 countries. In addition, we analyze how Covid-19 has impacted those business models.
Downloads
References
Abbé-Decarroux, Franí§ois (1994). "The perception of quality and the demand for services. Empirical application to the performing arts". Journal of economic behavior and organization, v. 23, n. 1, pp. 99-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-2681(94)90100-7
Afuah, Allan; Tucci, Christopher L. (2001). Internet business models and strategies: text and cases. McGraw-Hill Irwin. ISBN: 978 0 071151238
Anderson, Chris (2006). The long tail: Why the future of business is selling less of more. New York: Hyperion. ISBN: 978 1 401309664
Arrese, Ángel (2016). "From gratis to paywalls. A brief history of a retro-innovation in the press´s business". Journalism studies, v. 17, n. 8, pp. 1051-1067. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2015.1027788
Bardoel, Jo (1996). "Beyond journalism: A profession between information society and civil society". European journal of communication, v. 11, n. 3, pp. 283-302. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323196011003001
Benson, Rodney (2019). "Paywalls and public knowledge: How can journalism provide quality news for everyone?". Journalism, v. 20, n. 1, pp. 146-149. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918806733
Casero-Ripollés, Andreu; Izquierdo-Castillo, Jessica (2013). "Between decline and a new online business model: The case of the Spanish newspaper industry". Journal of media business studies, v. 10, n. 1, pp. 63-78. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2013.11073560
Cerezo, Pepe (2019). Suscripciones, "the new black". Los modelos de pago emergentes. Madrid: Evoca. https://es.scribd.com/document/399188204/dosier-evoca-07-pdf
Cestino, Joaquín; Berndt, Adele (2017). "Institutional limits to service dominant logic and the servitisation in innovation efforts in newspapers". Journal of media business studies, v. 14, n. 3, pp. 188-216. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2018.1445163
Chesbrough, Henry W. (2010). "Business model innovation: opportunities and barriers". Long range planning, v. 43, n. 2-3, pp. 354-363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.010
Chyi, Hsiang-Iris (2013). Trial and error: U.S. newspapers´ digital struggles toward inferiority. Pamplona: Servicio de publicaciones. University of Navarra. ISBN: 978 84 80814447 https://dadun.unav.edu/bitstream/10171/42076/1/201610%20MMM%2014%20%282013%29.pdf
Chyi, Hsiang-Iris; Ng, Yee-Man-Margaret (2020). "Still unwilling to pay: An empirical analysis of 50 U.S. newspapers´ digital subscription results". Digital journalism, v. 8, n. 4, pp. 526-547. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2020.1732831
Chyi, Hsiang-Iris; Tenenboim, Ori (2019). "What if the future is not all digital? Trends in U.S. newspapers´ multiplatform readership". In: Eldridge, Scott; Franklin, Bob (eds.). The Routledge handbook of developments in digital journalism studies. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 157-171. ISBN: 978 1 315270449
Cifras y Conceptos (2017). Panel de opinión. http://cifrasyconceptos.com/productos-panel-de-opinion
Cook, Clare; Sirkkunen, Esa (2013). "What´s in a niche? Exploring the business model of online journalism". Journal of media business studies, v. 10, n. 4, pp. 63-82. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2013.11073576
Cornia, Alessio; Sehl, Annika; Nielsen, Rasmus-Kleis (2019). "Comparing legacy media responses to the changing business of news: Cross-national similarities and differences across media types". International communication gazette, v. 81, n. 6-8, pp. 686-706. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048518808641
Costera-Meijer, Irene (2001). "The public quality of popular journalism: developing a normative framework". Journalism studies, v. 2, n. 2, pp. 189-205. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700120042079
Costera-Meijer, Irene (2012). "Valuable journalism: A search for quality from the vantage point of the user". Journalism, v. 14, n. 6, pp. 754-770. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884912455899
Deuze, Mark (2005). "What is journalism? Professional identity and ideology of journalists reconsidered". Journalism, v. 6, n. 4, pp. 442-464. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884905056815
Deuze, Mark; Witschge, Tamara (2018). "Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of journalism". Journalism, v. 19, n. 2, pp. 165-181. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884916688550
Díaz-Noci, Javier (2019). "Cómo los medios afrontan la crisis: retos, fracasos y oportunidades de la fractura digital". El profesional de la información, v. 28, n. 6, e280625. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.nov.25
Doyle, Gillian (2013). "Re-invention and survival: Newspapers in the era of digital multiplatform delivery". Journal of media business studies, v. 10, n. 4, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2013.11073569
Engelke, Katherine M. (2020). "Enriching the conversation: Audience perspectives on the deliberative nature and potential of user comments for news media". Digital journalism, v. 8, n. 4, pp. 447-466. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1680567
Evens, Tom; Raats, Tim; Von-Rimscha, M. Bjí¶rn (2017). "Business model innovation in news media organisations - 2018 special issue of the European Media Management Association (emma)". Journal of media business studies, v. 14, n. 4, pp. 167-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2018.1445164
Fila, LukáÅ¡ (2019a). "Letter to subscribers: Dennik N is experiencing the best time, the profit in 2018 was € 276,000". Dennik N, 1 February. https://dennikn.sk/1368599/list-predplatitelom-dennik-n-zaziva-najlepsie-obobie-zisk-v-roku-2018-bol-276-tisic-eur/?ref=tema
Fila, LukáÅ¡ (2019b). "We have 35,000 subscribers, we unlock 35,000 articles". Dennik N, 28 March. https://dennikn.sk/1422595/mame-35-tisic-predplatitelov-odomykame-35-tisic-clankov/?ref=tema
Foer, Franklin (2019). "Viktor Orbán´s war on intellect". The Atlantic, June. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/george-soros-viktor-orban-ceu/588070
Gebauer, Heiko; Saul, Caroline; Halidmann, Mirella; Kramer, Sahsa (2017). "When one business model is not enough for a social business". Strategic direction, v. 33, n. 1, pp. 10-12. https://doi.org/10.1108/SD-06-2016-0096
Gelles, David (2018). "Billionaires can seem like saviors to media companies, but they come with risks". The New York Times, 19 September. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/business/media/newspapers-billionaire-owners-magazines.html
Graves, Lucas (2016). Deciding what´s true: the rise of political fact-checking in American journalism. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN: 978 0 231175074
Grieco, Elisabeth (2018). "Newsroom employment dropped nearly a quarter in less than 10 years, with greatest decline at newspapers". Pew Research Center. FactTank. News in the numbers, April 20. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/07/30/newsroom-employment-dropped-nearly-a-quarter-in-less-than-10-years-with-greatest-decline-at-newspapers
Hamel, Gary (1996). "Strategy as revolution". Harvard business review, v. 7/8, pp. 69-82. https://hbr.org/1996/07/strategy-as-revolution
Harlow, Summer; Salaverría, Ramón (2016). "Regenerating journalism. Exploring the "˜alternativeness´ and "˜digital-ness´ of online-native media in Latin America". Digital journalism, v. 4, n. 8, pp. 1001-1019. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2015.1135752
Holm, Anna B.; Gí¼nzel, Franziska; Ulhí¸i, John P. (2013). "Openness in innovation and business models: Lessons from the newspaper industry". International journal of technology management, v. 61, n. 3-4, pp. 324-348. http://www.inderscience.com/offer.php?id=52674
IREX (2018). Media sustainability index 2018: The development of sustainable independent media in Europe and Eurasia. https://www.irex.org/resource/media-sustainability-index-msi
Jenkins, Joy; Nielsen, Rasmus-Klein (2020). "Preservation and evolution: Local newspapers as ambidextrous organizations". Journalism, v. 21, n. 4, pp. 472-488. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884919886421
Kafka, Peter (2018). "TheSkimm is raising $12 million from Google Ventures and other investors to build its subscription business". ReCode, March 15. https://www.vox.com/2018/3/15/17125870/skimm-google-ventures-funding-12-million-newsletter-millennial-women-subscribers-revenue
Karimi, Jahangir; Walter, Zhiping (2016). "Corporate entrepreneurship, disruptive business model innovation adoption, and its performance: The case of the newspaper industry". Long range planning, v. 49, n. 3, pp. 342-360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2015.09.004
Kelly, Tara (2020). "Two months, a 30% price rise and 18,000 new paying readers: what eldiario.es did after Covid-19 struck". European journalism centre, May 28. https://medium.com/we-are-the-european-journalism-centre/two-months-one-price-rise-and-28-000-new-paying-readers-89be4ccd2a1a
Konieczna, Magda (2018). Journalism without profit. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978 0 190641900
Lambeth, Edmund B.; Thorson, Esther; Meyer, Philip (eds.) (1998). Assessing public journalism. Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press. ISBN: 978 0 826211583
Magretta, Joan (2002). "Why business models matter". Harvard business review, May. https://hbr.org/2002/05/why-business-models-matter
Márquez-Ramírez, Mireya; Guerrero, Manuel-Alejandro (2017). "Clientelism and media capture in Latin America". In: Schiffrin, Anya (ed.). In the service of power: Media capture and the threat to democracy. Washington: National Endowment for Democracy, pp. 43-58. ISBN: 978 0 9818254 2 7 https://www.cima.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CIMA_MediaCaptureBook_F1.pdf
Media Development Investment Fund (2018). Investing for impact. https://www.mdif.org/impact
Mioli, Teresa; Nafría, Ismael (eds.) (2018). Innovators in Latin American Journalism. Austin, Texas: Open Society Foundations and Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. https://journalismcourses.org/ebook/innovators-in-latin-american-journalism
Mí¼tterlein, Joschka; Kunz, Reinhard E. (2017). "Innovate alone or with others? Influence of entrepreneurial orientation and alliance orientation on media business model innovation". Journal of media business studies, v. 14, n. 3, pp. 173-187. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2018.1445162
Nafría, Ismael (2017). La reinvención de The New York Times: Cómo la "dama gris" del periodismo se está adaptando (con éxito) a la era de los móviles. Amazon Digital Services. ISBN: 978 1 544822792
Nel, Franí§ois (2010). "Where else is the money? A study of innovation in online business models at newspapers in Britain´s 66 cities". Journalism practice, v. 4, n. 3, pp. 360-372. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512781003642964
Newman, Nic (2019). Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2019. Oxford: Reuters Institute. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/journalism-media-and-technology-trends-and-predictions-2019
Newsguard (s.f.). https://www.newsguardtech.com/ratings/criteria-for-and-explanation-of-ratings
Nixon, Brice (2020). "The business of news in the attention economy: Audience labor and MediaNews Group´s efforts to capitalize on news consumption". Journalism, v. 21, n. 4, pp. 73-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917719145
Olsen, Ragnhild-Kristine; Pickard, Victor; Westlund, Oscar (2020). "Communal news work: Covid-19 calls for collective funding of journalism". Digital journalism, v. 8, n. 5, pp. 673-680. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2020.1763186
Olsen, Ragnhild-Kristine; Solvoll, Mona-Kristine (2018). "Reinventing the business model for local newspapers by building walls". Journal of media business studies, v. 15, n. 1. pp. 24-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2018.1445160
Osterwalder, Alexander; Pigneur, Yves (2010). Business model generation: a handbook for visionaires, game changers, and challengers. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN: 978 0 470876411
Osterwalder, Alexander; Pigneur, Yves; Tucci, Christopher L. (2005). "Clarifying business models: Origins, present, and future of the concept". Communications of the Association for Information Systems, v. 16, n. 1. https://doi.org/10.17705/1CAIS.01601
Pattabhiramaiah, Adithya; Sriram, S.; Manchanda, Puneet (2019). "Paywalls: Monetizing online content". Journal of marketing, v. 83, n. 2, pp. 19-36. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242918815163
Picard, Robert G. (2010). Value creation and the future of news organizations. Why and how journalism must change to remain relevant in the twenty-first century. Lisbon: Media XXI. ISBN: 978 989 8143 27 3
Picard, Robert G.; Dal-Zotto, Cinzia (2006). Business models of newspaper publishing companies. IFRA Report, May 2006. http://www.robertpicard.net/PDFFiles/IFRAbusinessModels.pdf
Ramírez-de-la-Piscina, Txema; Gorosarri, María; Aiestaran, Alazne; Zabalondo, Beatriz; Agirre, Antxoka (2014). "Periodismo de calidad en tiempos de crisis: Un análisis de la evolución de la prensa europea de referencia (2001-2012)". Revista latina de comunicación social, n. 69, pp. 248-274. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2014-1011
Rappa, Michael (2000). Managing the digital enterprise. http://digitalenterprise.org/index.html
Reuters Institute (2016; 2017; 2018). Digital news report. Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/research/files/Digital%2520News%2520Report%25202016.pdf
Salazar, Diego (2019). No hemos entendido nada: Qué ocurre cuando dejamos el futuro de la prensa a merced de un algoritmo. Barcelona: Debate. ISBN: 978 84 17636258
Schiffrin, Anya (ed.) (2019). Fighting for survival: Media startups in the global South. New York: Columbia University School of International and Political Affairs. https://www.cima.ned.org/resource/fighting-for-survival
Schiffrin, Anya; Santa-Wood, Beatrice; De-Martino, Susanna; Pope, Nicole; Hume, Ellen (2017). Bridging the gap: Rebuilding citizen trust in media open society foundation´s program on independent journalism. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VRIMmdmvsRp2r2q7ttexe3Ccn36hc3oz/view
Schmidt, Christine (2019). "Three years into nonprofit ownership, The Philadelphia Inquirer is still trying to chart its future". Nieman Lab, August 22. https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/08/three-years-into-nonprofit-ownership-the-philadelphia-inquirer-is-still-trying-to-chart-its-future
Simon, Felix M.; Graves, Lucas (2019). Pay models for online news in the U.S. and Europe: 2019 update. Reuters Institute. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-05/Paymodels_for_Online_News_FINAL.pdf
Soloviev, Vladimir I.; Kurochkin, Pavel A.; Rendiuk, Anton V.; Zazuk, Anton V. (2010). "Innovative business models in the media industry". Annales universitatis apulensis series oeconomica, v. 12, n. 2. https://doi.org/10.29302/oeconomica.2010.12.2.21
Soria-Martínez, Carlos (1993). "Algunas heterodoxias para mejorar la calidad de la información". Communication and society, v. 6, n. 1-2, pp. 49-58. https://revistas.unav.edu/index.php/communication-and-society/article/view/35560
Teece, David J. (2010). "Business models, business strategy and innovation". Long range planning, v. 43, n. 2-3, pp. 172-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.003
Vara-Miguel, Alfonso (2016). "La marca como elemento diferenciador de los medios tradicionales y nativos digitales". In: Bel, Ignacio (coord.). La prensa digital en España. New York: Institute for Media and Entertainment, pp. 123-138. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312174125_La_marca_como_elemento_diferenciador_de_los_medios_tradicionales_y_nativos_digitales
Warner, Janine; Iastrebner, Mijal (2017). Inflection point. Impact, threats, and sustainability: A study of Latin American digital media entrepreneurs. Los Angeles: SembraMedia. https://www.data.sembramedia.org
Zott, Christoph; Amit, Raphael; Massa, Lorenzo (2011). "The business model: Recent developments and future research". Journal of management, v. 37, n. 4, pp. 1019-1042. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311406265
Zott, Christoph; Amit, Raphael (2010). "Business model design: An activity system perspective". Long range planning, v. 43, n. 2-3, pp. 216-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.004
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Dissemination conditions of the articles once they are published
Authors can freely disseminate their articles on websites, social networks and repositories
However, the following conditions must be respected:
- Only the editorial version should be made public. Please do not publish preprints, postprints or proofs.
- Along with this copy, a specific mention of the publication in which the text has appeared must be included, also adding a clickable link to the URL: http://www.profesionaldelainformacion.com
- Only the final editorial version should be made public. Please do not publish preprints, postprints or proofs.
- Along with that copy, a specific mention of the publication in which the text has appeared must be included, also adding a clickable link to the URL: http://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com
Profesional de la información journal offers the articles in open access with a Creative Commons BY license.
