The UK newspaper, The Guardian, is a prime example of how a traditional print media group is trying to evolve for a digital age.
Its senior executives offered an insight into the plans for its shift from print to web at the Online Publishers’ Association Forum in London.
At the core, is a £15m investment in its websites over the next 18 months. Its sites are looking dated so this is sorely needed.
In the words of Guardian Media Group chief executive, Carolyn McCall:
What we’ve done so far is our own version of web 1.0, but we want to continue to web 2.0 and what comes after that. We need to be agile and ready to change.
Among the planned changes, more online video because its executives “there’s quite a lot of revenue associated with video online“. I have doubts about this rush by newspapers into video on the web. Putting moving pictures online is barely scratching the surface of the net’s interactivity.
But other things it has planned make sense. One is to move to a 24/7 news operation. At the moment, the site is only covered for 16 hours a day. This is a no-brainer. News is all about speed. The audience wants it now. And the internet does not respect borders or timezones. The internet means your deadline is always now.
In a further sign that The Guardian sees itself as an international service, rather than just a UK newspaper, it is launching an American version of its Commentisfree op-ed portal. This is a smart move, especially since visitors from abroad outnumber those from the UK two to one.
The Guardian is seizing an opportunity to become the voice of liberal opinion in the US at a time when most American newspapers would shirk from labelling themselves as liberal. Yet there is an audience for these views, and a market which the newspaper could dominate at the expense of the US press.
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