Our competition is not another news outlet in Philadelphia, it’s the 24 hour clock, it’s Netflix, it’s YouTube, it’s scrolling through Instagram. So how are you going to break through in someone’s day, so that they feel compelled to read your content, and further compelled to pay for that content. We think about this in terms of our content strategy in the newsroom, we strive to be useful, revealing and responsive, that’s the lens that we look through what we produce.

– Lisa Hughes, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Guest: Lisa Hughes, Publisher, The Philadelphia Inquirer

How can magazines and newspapers innovate to attract and keep subscribers in an increasingly competitive landscape? What must news and magazine publishers do to continue to keep their readers engaged over the long-term?

In this episode of News Take, Lisa Hughes, the first female Publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer, joins News/Media Alliance VP, Research & Insights, Rebecca Frank, for an insightful conversation about the evolution of magazine and newspaper media during a time of rapid change. Hughes shares how she’s led with innovation at top magazine and news publications to introduce successful new products and brands that have kept readers and subscribers coming back for more. She talks about her very first experiences working in the magazine publishing business, and how she rose through the ranks to become a top executive at The New Yorker and Condé Nast Traveler before making the transition to Philadelphia’s flagship newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer, where four weeks in she found herself brand new and having to adapt and respond amid a nationwide shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She shares how innovative strategies and products, including live blogs, newsletters and gamification have been successful in driving audience engagement, as well as the potential of new platforms such as TikTok for meeting audiences where they are. She also talks about the risks and opportunities that come with new technologies such as generative AI and where she sees the technology having the most potential to optimize the reader experience.

Listen or download the audio file to listen offline:

Don’t forget to subscribe to the News Take podcast by clicking “Follow” and selecting your preferred podcasting platform, or click on your preferred platform: Spotify, Apple, Google.

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Speaker bio:

Lisa Hughes is Publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer. As Publisher, Hughes brings to the role an impressive track record, having successfully transitioned an iconic print brand into a multi-platform, profitable business. Hughes is the first woman Publisher and Chief Executive Officer in The Inquirer’s 190-year history. Hughes is known as a skilled business executive who values and respects journalism. Under her nine-year leadership, The New Yorker, owned by Condé Nast, grew from a largely print-only magazine into a multimedia enterprise. Over the past decade, The New Yorker revamped its website and paid digital content strategy and built award-winning mobile apps. Hughes launched the acclaimed New Yorker Radio Hour and Podcast, and restructured The New Yorker Festival into a profitable business. She left the company at the end of 2017. Prior to The New Yorker, Hughes served as VP Publisher of Condé Nast Traveler for 10 years, steering that magazine through the most successful period in its history.

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Send us your suggestions

Send your suggestions for future News Take guests to Alliance VP, Research & Insights Rebecca Frank at rebecca@newsmediaalliance.org.

News Take Production Team:

Host and Executive Producer: Rebecca Frank, VP, Research & Insights, News/Media Alliance

Production Support, Editing & Distribution:

Georgi-Ann Clarke, Social Media & Content Manager, News/Media Alliance
Rachel Fox, Manager, Membership & Events, News/Media Alliance
Lindsey Loving, Director, Communications, News/Media Alliance

Audio & Video Engineer: Current Media Group

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The post News Take Episode 203: Pioneering Innovation at Legacy Magazine and News Media Brands appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

Guest: Feli Carrique, Executive Director, News Product Alliance

“Anything that you build or create for an audience to solve a user need and support your organizational mission, is a product.”  

– Feli Carrique, News Product Alliance

What is news product and product thinking, and why is it important in journalism? How can newsrooms begin to incorporate product thinking into their content? What are the challenges to adopting a product mindset?

On this episode of News Take, News Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern talks with Executive Director of the News Product Alliance, Feli Carrique, about news product and the increasingly popular practice of product thinking in journalism and news publishing. In this informative discussion, Feli explains what news product and product thinking is, as well as how having a product mindset and putting the reader first can help improve content engagement and performance. She also shares some of the biggest challenges to adopting product thinking, as well as some of the things that excite her the most about the use of product thinking and where it has the potential to make the biggest impact.

Listen or download the audio file to listen offline:

Don’t forget to subscribe to the News Take podcast by clicking “Follow” and selecting your preferred podcasting platform, or click on your preferred platform: Spotify, Apple, Google.

Watch with video:

Speaker bio

Feli Carrique is the Executive Director of the News Product Alliance, a community for people who strategically align business, audience and technology goals while integrating journalism ethics. Feli is an Argentinian journalist and product thinker working at the intersection of media, technology, and sustainability. In her previous role as Innovation Director at SembraMedia, she worked with news organizations across Latin America, Spain, and the United States to promote innovation and led product design and systems development for the organization. She was also the lead analyst on the recent “Inflection Point International” report published by SembraMedia, which analyzed the innovations, challenges, and threats facing news entrepreneurs across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.  Feli is also a Professor at the Catholic University of Argentina, where she co-created the first news product class in Latin America.

Related:

News Product Alliance Product Kit

Watch the next episode: Print, Logistics and Delivery in a Transitional Age 

Watch the previous episode: Tapping Into the Potential of Blockchain for News Publishers

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Send us your suggestions

Send your suggestions for future News Take guests to Alliance VP, Research & Insights Rebecca Frank at rebecca@newsmediaalliance.org.

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The post News Take Episode 107: Committing to Product Thinking in the News Industry: Putting Readers First appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

So, what’s this award all about? See our breakdown of what we’re looking for and how to apply!

What is the John P. Murray Award for Excellence in Audience Development?

Established in 2019 in memory of the Alliance’s long-time colleague, the award recognizes three Alliance member news organizations each year that have demonstrated exceptional innovation and sophistication in understanding content strategy as part of audience development.

What info do we submit?

Nominations can center around any audience development efforts you undertook in the last year. Share how you embraced the Table Stakes capacities of modern news publishing to achieve your goals. And don’t forget to share notable measurable outcomes! For example, the number of new members, subscribers, email registrations; percent increase in engagement; percent increase in subscriber retention; event attendance; number of new social media followers, etc. that resulted from your efforts. Links to examples of successful content and visuals are also great! Here are some questions to consider as you think about your efforts from the past year. 

Who is eligible?

Alliance newspaper members can nominate their own organization or other Alliance member news organizations for consideration for the award. Each nomination should be for an individual newspaper title – newspaper publishing groups should specify which newspaper they are nominating. The three recipients, one in each newspaper size category (small = 50 or fewer employees, medium = 51-250 employees, and large = more than 250 employees), will be announced in the Spring of 2022.

What’s new this year?

We have doubled the prize money! Each recipient will receive a $1,000 cash prize. In addition, each *qualifying nomination that is submitted before the January 28 deadline will be entered to win a $50 Starbucks gift card!

*Please note that you must be an Alliance newspaper member to be eligible. 

When is the deadline?

Nominations will be accepted through Friday, January 28, 2022. 

Can I submit the same nomination again this year?

Yes! We receive many great nominations each year and unfortunately, it is not possible to select them all. If you submitted a nomination last year and weren’t selected, we encourage you to submit again. Just update the submission with what has happened in the last year to move the program forward, and include metrics.

Who were last year’s recipients?

The Arizona Daily Star’s #ThisIsTucson (Small category), The Keene Sentinel (Keene, NH) (Medium category), and McClatchy (Large category) were the recipients of the 2020 John P. Murray Award for Excellence in Audience Development. Read the details in our 2020 press release and get inspiration from their presentations on the John Murray Best Practices webinar (member login required)! 

Can I see the full rules?

Sure! Read more on our website.

Ok, this all sounds great! Where do we submit our nomination?

Complete this form! And make sure to hit “Submit” when you’re done!

The post Get the Facts on the John P. Murray Award for Excellence in Audience Development! appeared first on News/Media Alliance.