Integrated Print And Online Newsrooms To Become The Norm

The results of a new survey reveal that 86% of editors around the world believe that integrated print and online newsrooms will become the norm, and 83% believe journalists will be expected to be able to produce content for all media within five years.

The 2008 edition of the Newsroom Barometer, an annual survey of editors around the world conducted by Zogby International and commissioned by the World Editors Forum and Reuters, gathered the answers of more than 700 editors and senior news executives from 120 countries.

A plurality (44%) believe online will be the most common platform for reading news in the future, compared with 41% last year. Thirty-one cited print (down from 35% last year), 12% mobile and 7% e-paper. The rest were unsure.

A majority of editors (56%) believe news in the future will be free, up from 48% from last year’s survey. Only one-third believe the news will remain paid for, while 11% were unsure.

In addition, 58% think the decline in young readership is the biggest threat for the future of newspapers.

“The survey shows that editors-in-chief are already multi-media minded and that they have the capacity to carry out the transition from print-only to print and online,” said Bertrand Pecquerie, director of the World Editors Forum.

World Editors Forum: www.wan-press.org/wef