The death - and potential revival of publishing
The Internet isn't simply a new form of media: it is governed by fundamentally different economics than the analog world, resulting in a shift in power — and profits — from publishers to aggregators. Why did this happen, what are the implications, and what sort of publishers will survive or even thrive in this new world?
With Ben Thompson from Stratechery.
This session is brought to you in partnership with:
From Friday Night Lights to Vanity Fair
Pulitzer prize winner Buzz Bissinger is a celebrated American journalist, writer and TV producer. Some 25 years ago he wrote the NYT bestseller Friday Night Lights - a Town, a Team and a Dream, where he chronicled high school football in a small Texas town; how small town identity influences the people who live there – and how the people influence the town.
The book made a huge impact and was subsequently the inspiration for both a film (2004) and TV series of the same name.
Friday Night Lights rapidly won critical acclaim. The award winning series is commended for its scrutiny of small-town racism, social climbing and its emotional power with characters who are fallible in their eagerness to live out their dreams.
Buzz Bissinger has for many years been a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, where he has written many revealing and personal portraits including Tiger Woods, Stephen Glass and Bradley Cooper. It was also Buzz Bissinger who wrote the powerful and provocative interview with transgender Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner. He is currently writing Jenners, Caitlyn’s biography.
How to reinvent the media business
Tech is fundamentally changing the world around us at an exponential rate. Being at the forefront of the media business does not only mean adapting to survive, it means reinventing our core digital products.
Rian Liebenberg, Chief Technology Officer from Schibsted Media Group will talk about how a 177-year legacy company catches warp speed digitally and pushes the boundaries beyond transformation.
Winning the moments that matter
At war for journalism
When war broke out in Syria, the Syrian journalist Zaina Erhaim did not flee her country. Quite the reverse, she travelled to Aleppo in order to report on the gruesomeness of war, and since then Erhaim has worked for media such as The BBC, The Guardian and The Economist. She has also taught over a hundred native journalists and contributed to the establishment of a number of new magazines and newspapers in the war-torn country. Erhaim currently resides in Aleppo and is Syrian coordinator for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.
In 2015 Erhaim was awarded both Reporters Without Borders Journalist of the Year and the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism. Zaina Erhaim visited The Nordic Media Festival to share her experience of being a journalist in a homeland ravaged by civil war, and why she chooses to stay – and the role of journalism in covering what Amnesty has called «The world’s biggest humanitarian crisis», which has forced over 12 million people to flee.
Can Google save journalism?
Google has to date in 2016 supported Norwegian journalism projects with funding of NOK 4,7 million. The funding is part of the technology giant’s Digital News Initiative (DNI).
The stated goal of the DNI is to support quality journalism and to build a technological infrastructure that will secure a sustainable future for journalism. With a fund of 150 million Euros which, over three years will contribute to the advancement of innovation within traditional media, Google has entered into a collaboration with media organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. So why is Google doing this and what has been accomplished so far?
Matt Brittin, President of EMEA for Business and Operations will attended The Nordic Media Festival to answer these questions and speak about elements he considers significant to the development of journalism.
Making sense of Ad Tech
From Readers to Members: Inside the Guardian’s new relationship strategy
With Facebook and Google vacuuming up an ever-larger share of digital ad revenues, programmatic buying driving CPMs to bottom-basement levels and ad blocking becoming a global phenomenon, publishers are increasingly turning to readers to sustain them — usually via a paywall. The Guardian’s newly launched ‘relationship strategy’ depends on reader revenue, but not via a traditional pay wall. Inspired in part by a small Dutch startup, the Guardian’s strategy is about membership, and placing readers at the core of everything it does, from its journalism to commercial. With Aron Pilhofer, Chief Digital Officer, The Guardian
The man who founded the Internet
Few people have influenced our lives and our daily routines as significantly as this man. The creation he was instrumental in forming, has in recent decades turned both world economy and the realm of media upside down, and he has changed communication and social codes irrespective of land borders and status.
Vinton Cerf is recognised as one of the founding fathers of the Internet. He was one of the developers of TCP/IP protocols and the architect of the innovation. In December 1997 President Bill Clinton honoured Cerf and his colleague Robert E. Kahn with The U.S. National Medal of Technology for laying the foundations for the Internet we now take for granted. So how on earth does one follow that?
Since 2005 Cerf has been chief evangelist at Google. In this role he has influenced a continuing standardisation and expansion of a global internet
We invited Cerf to reflect on his creation. Did the first innovators realize the magnitude of their concept? What has internet done for mankind? Has it become a treasure or a monster? And what are his future predictions for the next 50 years?
BuzzFeed: Mobile only!
Stacy-Marie Ishmael is the Managing Editor for Mobile at BuzzFeed News, and a member of the News Curation Team. She discusses how BuzzFeed News approaches mobile, what life is like in a ~ distributed ~ world, and cover the challenges faced by an all-digital 24-hour news approach.
Panama papers – the most crucial journalistic collaboration of all time
«Hello. My name is John Doe. Are you interested in data?»
This was the start of what would become the world’s largest document leak. When journalist Frederik Obermaier from Süddeutsche Zeitung realized the extent of the encrypted material he received from his source, he broke his laptop and iPhone. He was suddenly sitting on information revealing the extensive role of the tax haven in the global finance industry.
People in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, world leaders, the Icelandic Government, top bosses in DNB Norway and footballer Lionel Messi were amongst those with major roles.
The documents were eventually distributed via the organization The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and around 100 other media organizations – including a Norwegian media organisation. For the past 6 months, Nina Selbo Torset has worked with Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten in a metaphorical goldfish bowl. She headed the small group through the top secret editorial work, and on 3rd April this year unveiled the biggest document leak ever.
376 journalists, 76 countries, 109 different media organizations, 11,5 million documents. In one year.
Obermaier and Torset tells us about the quite unique and hugely comprehensive work with the Panama Papers – the greatest journalistic collaboration ever.
Togetherness
In the critically acclaimed HBO series Togetherness we see how adult life isn’t exactly as we imagined, how family life isn’t quite as idyllic as we are told, how our friends aren’t exactly the coolest, and how we suddenly long to be somewhere else. The comedy drama series created by brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, has gained a huge following both in the USA and in Norway. It started humbly in 2003 when the two brothers bought a 3-dollar film cassette from 7-Eleven and shot a seven-minute short-film in the kitchen, which eventually lead to current success as scriptwriters, directors and producers for movies and TV. From low-budget and extensive use of friends, they currently control a budget which allows them to help promote projects other than their own. In addition to season 2 of Togetherness, in early March they released their production of Animals, also with HBO.
Meet Mark Duplass, who in addition to creating Togetherness, plays the main role as the disillusioned father of two, Brett Pierson.
Top Secret Doping
In November 2015 the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) made the decision to ban Russia from participating in athletics for an indefinite period. The background for this was the documentary, "Top-Secret Doping: How Russia Makes its Winners “by journalist Hajo Seppelt, shown on the German TV channel ARD the previous year. He exposed how in Russia it is possible to buy a negative doping test, and how, not just athletes, but the Russian support network of mangers, doctors and training staff have participated in systematic doping over a number of years. In the wake of the documentary, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) ordered a report to confirm Seppelt’s accusations, which directly resulted in a Russian ban from participating in international athletics. In September 2015 the follow-up documentary Doping – Top Secret: The Shadowy World of Athletics, revealed that doping abuse within international athletics is certainly not unusual, and that disturbingly, this is well-known deep into the ranks of IAAF.
So how did he gain access? What were his methods? Hajo Seppelt will tell us about the work behind these disturbing revelations.
The road to (high) digital incomes
The Financial Times (FT) is a pioneer in digital subscription. As early as 2012, the number of digital subscribers exceeded its print sales. Behind this success is fearless product development, journalism of uncompromising quality, advanced web analytics and consumer insight, reader participation and continually updated services
Managing Editor James Lamont is a traditional editor with an extremely positive attitude towards change. He speaks about FT’s digital strategy and business model, how to create positivity towards digital subscription through journalism, and about the FT’s future in media.
VOX – world class digital publishing
Free from the history, traditions and transitions of paper newspapers, the VOX media company entered the arena as a purely digital form of news publishing.
Few have been more skilful in the utilization of new technology in order to create and distribute premium content. Or as they say themselves: “The mission is simple: Explain the news.”
Utilizing the entire digital toolbox, everything is covered from journalism, politics and public policy, to sport and light entertainment - all of it irresistibly beautiful, smart and efficiently told. The New York Times has described them as “A technology company that produces media” as opposed to a media company that uses technology.
With their eight distinct editorial brands established, the company is currently advancing even further with online video through VOX entertainment.
Chad Mumm, VP of VOX Entertainment and Creative Director of Vox Media is leading the company’s focus on video communication. Mumm shares his knowledge and his visions for the future of media.
From Readers to Members: Inside the Guardian’s new relationship strategy
With Facebook and Google vacuuming up an ever-larger share of digital ad revenues, programmatic buying driving CPMs to bottom-basement levels and ad blocking becoming a global phenomenon, publishers are increasingly turning to readers to sustain them — usually via a paywall. The Guardian’s newly launched ‘relationship strategy’ depends on reader revenue, but not via a traditional pay wall. Inspired in part by a small Dutch startup, the Guardian’s strategy is about membership, and placing readers at the core of everything it does, from its journalism to commercial.