Despite the encroachment into the traditional news space from the likes of Facebook, Twitter and BuzzFeed, newspapers – yes, the ones that leave ink on your fingers – are right to feel commercially positive, at least according to the Independent and Evening Standard’s multi-media head of business, Chris Blackhurst.
However, ‘traditional newsbrands’ should still be taking risks in the digital realm if they want to reach new audiences and they must maintain a strong investment in quality journalism – particularly longer-form, investigative reportage, analysis and opinion – to ensure a bright future.
Speaking at the Future of National Newspapers event on Monday, Blackhurst said: “As long as it remains the case that people still remember the good that journalism does – that our job is to dig, investigate, to get inside things, to put the story into context – then long-form is here to stay.”
“No one so far, to my knowledge, has won the Pulitzer for a 140 character tweet.”
While the likes of BuzzFeed and Facebook have become increasingly popular among younger people – and are often their first port of call for news – Blackhurst was adamant that traditional newsbrands still have a strong role to play in modern society.
“People need that trust,” he said. “This is an increasingly fast and increasingly complex world; we need people to make sense of it and that’s our job.”
Watch the five minute video interview, above, in which Newsline editor David Pidgeon speaks to Blackhurst about the threats to long-form journalism, the value of content and whether it’s possible to keep advertisers happy in a multi-channel world.
