Reports

Private Sector Media and Digital News

How are legacy news organisations dealing with the business of digital news? How are they addressing recent developments such as the rise of social media, the move from desktop internet to an increasingly mobile web, and the growing importance of online video?

A new Reuters Institute report explores how 25 different newspapers and commercial broadcasters in six European countries are adapting to an evolving media environment.

Based on 54 interviews conducted with executives, senior managers and editors in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the UK, the report shows how legacy news organisations are investing in a wide variety of digital news initiatives to reach new audiences and build new business models, but most of their revenues still come from traditional print and television operations, even after almost 20 years of investment in digital news. 

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Meet the authors

Dr Alessio Cornia

Dr Alessio Cornia is a Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. His main area of research interest is the comparative research of journalism, with a focus on news industry developments, digital news, EU journalism,... Read more about Dr Alessio Cornia

Prof. Annika Sehl

Professor Annika Sehl holds the Chair of Journalism with a Focus on Media Structures and Society at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt and is a Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) at the University... Read more about Prof. Annika Sehl

Prof. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen is a Professor at the Department of Communication of the University of Copenhagen and a Senior Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Before leaving Oxford in 2024, he worked at the Institute,... Read more about Prof. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Authors

Dr Alessio Cornia

Research Associate

Prof. Annika Sehl

Research Associate

Prof. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Senior Research Associate