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Ros Atkins reveals how publishers can fix the news industry
BBC News presenter Ros Atkins is arguably the corporation’s most viral asset. His video explainers regularly light up social media, regularly getting hundreds of thousands of views. His February explainer on the invasion of Ukraine got over three million views on Twitter.
Speaking at the opening of the Society of Editors annual conference last week he spoke about the need for news innovation, saying, “News is not a given in people’s lives… when we think about the need to innovate, reimagine, to restructure what we do, it’s not because change is fun, creative or exciting… this feels like a necessity.”
He went on to list the things he works through when planning a story, from clarifying what problem is being solved to providing evidence that the things being reported have happened. He also drew attention to the digital and social dimension of content creation, saying that making it is not enough and there has to be a social media plan that will encourage sharing. Smart man that Ros Atkins.
Is audio the least stressful medium for news?
News avoidance is on the rise, but audio consumption is rapidly growing, with 41% of UK residents aged over 16 listening to at least one podcast in the last month. John Crowley of the ‘Behind the Headlines’ podcast is wondering if listening to news content is less taxing, and therefore more rewarding, than reading it? The answer is a definite yes and no.
The Economist’s Podcasts have been downloaded over a billion times
Underlining those growth figures, The Economist podcast network has had over a billion downloads since it launched in 2016. With a portfolio of five podcasts, its overall advertising revenue for podcasting grew 30% year-on-year. Ad revenue from audio accounts for roughly 11% of the group’s media advertising revenue overall.
Polish media adds Ukrainian sections amid war
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. Poland, which had over 1 million Ukrainians working in the country prior to the war, has now taken in over 3 million Ukrainian refugees. Polish media is responding to the crisis by delivering news and culture reporting in Ukrainian.
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