Reuters Institute tracks digital transition at HT, Jagran, Malayala Manorama

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism  has released a report that examines the digital transition underway at three leading newspapers in India – the Dainik Jagran in Hindi, English-language Hindustan Times, and Malayala Manorama in Malayalam. The focus is on how they are changing their newsroom organisation and journalistic work to expand their digital presence and adapt to a changing media environment. 

The report is based on over 30 interviews conducted with senior management, editors, and rank-and-file reporters from the three newspapers, as well as other senior journalists and researchers who have wider experience in the Indian news industry, plus secondary sources, including industry reports and academic research. 

The study found that all the three newspapers are proactively investing in digital media technology and expertise, and adapting their editorial priorities, parts of their daily workflow, distribution strategies, and business model to the rise of digital media. Tools like Chartbeat and Dataminr are now commonplace; search engine optimisation, social media optimisation, and audience analytics are part of everyday work; and some are experimenting with new formats (Hindustan Times was a launch partner for Facebook Instant Articles; Manorama Online has produced both Virtual Reality and 360-degree videos, an Apple watch app, and is on Amazon Echo). 

Short-term, reach and profits come from print, but longer term, all have to build a strong digital presence to succeed editorially and commercially. All three newspapers aim to do this by building on the assets they have as legacy media organisations, and trying to leverage their brand reputation, audience reach, and editorial resources to maintain an edge over digital news start-ups and international news providers. 

They do this in different ways. At Dainik Jagran and Malayala Manorama, the focus has been on building up separate digital operations at Jagran.com and Manorama Online, apart from the printed newspaper itself. At the Hindustan Times, in contrast, the aim has been to integrate print and digital in a joint operation working across platforms and channels. Dainik Jagran and Malayala Manoroma have thus focused mostly on building up new digital assets, whereas the Hindustan Times has been transforming existing assets to work across platforms. At Dainik Jagran and Malayala Manorama, much of the push for change has come from management, whereas there has been a stronger editorial involvement at the Hindustan Times, and a greater attempt to engage rank-and file reporters through training sessions and other initiatives designed to demonstrate not only the commercial importance, but also the editorial potential, of digital media. 

All three newspapers have found that expanding their digital operations requires investment of money in new technologies and in staff with new skills. But it is also clear that this is not enough. Investment in technology has to be accompanied by a change in organisation and culture to effectively leverage existing assets in a digital media environment. In their attempts to do this, the most significant barriers have been a perceived cultural hierarchy, deeply ingrained especially in the newsroom, that print journalism is somehow inherently superior to digital journalism, and a lack of effective synergy between editorial leaders and managers, often combined with a lack of technical know-how. 

The convergence pursued at the Hindustan Times aims to integrate print and digital operations. An important aspect here has been the physical transformation and reorganisation of the print newsroom. Senior editors say that it played an important role in communicating the organisation’s vision and ‘hacking’ organisational culture to reflect their new vision. This also involved making space for programmers and product developers in the newsroom and creating a space where journalists, designers, and developers could work together, an approach also pursued by leading digital news operations elsewhere.