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EJO European Journalism

Observatory
Taking to the Wire. Agencies and the Future of News
Yasmin Schulten-Jaspers Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013

The German media is struggling, but the death of Germans second largest news
agency dapd, which ceased operating on April 11 201, raises a whole new set of
questions about the future of news.
Are news agencies still needed? Can their functions be taken over by blogs and social
media? Do they still provide the backbone of news reporting? Can they adapt to the
changing needs of newsrooms?
One study, part of a PhD project supervised by Professor Klaus Meier at the Technical
University of Dortmund, tried to answer some of these questions
The author interviewed members of the management boards, editors-in-chief, and the
editorial board of news agencies, newspapers, radio and TV stations, online
newsrooms, and academics about the prospects and challenges facing news agencies
in the next ten years. The first round of the survey took place in the summer of 2011
and included 111 participants, while the second round took place in the autumn of
2011 and included 74 managing board members from the media outlets who took part
in the survey.
News agencies as gatekeeper
The study shows that news agencies will remain a key anchor for the media industry
in Germany and 75 percent of participants say they believe news agencies will
continue to play an important role in the future. Survey respondents justify this
forecast by saying that news agencies play a gatekeeping role pre-sorting the news
while also making judgements on the value and reliability of the material produced.
This view is widely held by those working in traditional media. One member who
serves on a newspaper management board said: Only a news agency can collect,
structure and provide timely pieces of texts, that we can use without having to verify it
in any other way. The news agencies also provide multimedia. The staff in editorial
offices have been reduced so much that newsrooms need the material produced by
news agencies.
The backbone of reporting

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By contrast, people working in online news departments believe that news agencies
will diminish in importance. They argue that there is a shift towards more regional
and local topics, and there will be more demand for exclusive content rather than the
more broad ranging material produced by news agencies. They do however value
news agencies as the backbone of reporting, the safety net, and a reliable
source. Participants from radio and TV stations especially regard news agencies as a
corrective factor and provider of ideas for their own stories.
According to the head of a television news station, social media and other online
sources are a strong supplement and competitor for news agencies. They provide the
stations with immediate impressions, partly even in eye-witness-quality. But news
agencies still provide a baseline of reliability.
dpa: the favorite agency of the editorial offices
Until the demise of dapd, the German news agency market was one of the most
competitive in the world, with two full service-providers and two complimentary
providers. Most other countries have only one news agency. The majority of
respondents particularly radio, newspaper, and online newsroom professionals
believe the main full service provider dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur / German Press
Agency) will remain the medias favourite in the future, but a quarter of respondents
stated that dpa will become less essential over time.
The respondents had also been optimistic about dapd before it collapsed. Television
and radio journalists and managers were overall more positive than those from print
and online newsrooms.
The two complimentary agencies AFP and Reuters did not perform particularly well in
the survey, with the majority of respondents predicting that they would become less
useful over time. Roughly 63 percent of all respondents assumed that AFP would
become less essential, and 55 percent expected the news agency Reuters to become
less essential.
The war of news agencies
In 2010, a huge change occurred in the news agency market when the news agency
Deutscher Depeschendienst ddp merged with the German subsidiary of the American
world news agency Associated Press (AP) to become the full service provider dapd.
Instead of one full service provider and four complimentary providers, two full service
and two complimentary providers competed in the market. The war of agencies had
begun. What followed were several legal disputes and arguments over agency staff.
The war ended when dapd first filed for bankruptcy in October 2012.
Respondents to the study anticipate another reduction in the market within the next
ten years. Roughly 65 percent of participants said the three agencies will downsize;
one in five respondents forecasted there will be only two agencies left on the German
market within ten years. The collapse of dadp proved them right.
Customer portal and quality of journalism

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Dpa and dapd have already developed new outlets, such as customer portals and other
tools similar to a news website, where customers can see the most important stories at
a glance. At the same time they can directly see which kinds of texts, pictures and
video the news agency offers on different topics that appear on that site. Almost 90
percent of respondents say that customer portals like these will improve the quality of
the products . In particular, respondents from print news outlets expect quality to
improve as it will be much easier for customers to requesting specific stories and
information from the news agencies.
Agencies will still produce most of their work on their own initiative. But respondents
believe 20 percent of all products offered by news agencies will be based on particular
requests by particular customers, thus changing news agencies into a more
on-demand service provider.
Searching for new ways of financing
Respondents were also asked about future economic and financial developments.
There will be no one model and respondents expect lots of different methods of
financing to co-exist. The majority of respondents believe that news agencies benefit
most from being run as either a co-operative or as a private company. The
respondents are less convinced that a news agency will thrive as a publicly listed
company, but believe financing through charitable donations could be an option. Only
one out of every ten respondents felt that financing through state subsidies would be
suitable or at least somewhat suitable.
Additionally, roughly 52 percent of all respondents expect news agencies to grow
through subsidiaries and equity interests away from their core business.
Changes in the newsrooms
Agency newsrooms are changing. Around 80 percent of respondents approve of the
idea of open newsrooms as it means journalists are more likely to work in temporary
work groups than in permanent departments.
Speed will no longer be the prime concern in future. But a news-oriented language
will continue to be the standard.
Agencies as multimedia service providers
The studys results also agencies will become multimedia service providers with
content that will be produced and offered in many different formats, including on
mobile devices.
Nearly 90 percent of all respondents predicted a rise in the coverage of odd news,
crime, and others; 80 percent believe for celebrity and lifestyle coverage will rise. The
coverage of politics, economics, and sports will remain important, however more than
half of all respondents expect coverage of art and culture to become less important
with about 32 percent of respondents expecting it to remain important. Nine out of ten
respondents say that social media and weblogs will become more important as
additional sources for media coverage.
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This article was translated by the author from the German Das Geschft mit den
Nachrichten

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013 at 10:34 am and is filed under
Media Economics, Newsroom Management
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