'The Washington Post' and 'The Times': "We have to do our job well and ask to be paid for it"

Martin Baron and John Witherow , directors of 'The Washington Post' and 'The Times', offered a conference on Monday at the Auditorium of the Editorial Unit in which they explained the keys to success in the digital transformation that their respective newspapers have given, and Both agreed on two priority concepts: maintaining the quality of the content and promoting the subscription of the readers. "We have to do our job well and ask to be paid for it," the American summed up. «People are willing to pay for good journalism; trusting it is essential, ”added his British colleague.

Baron and Witherow are in Spain to collect this Monday the award of the International Journalism Awards 2019 that the newspaper EL MUNDO has granted to the directors of 'The Washington Post' and 'The Times'. The director of EL MUNDO, Francisco Rosell , highlighted in the introduction of the conference the work that both journalists have achieved in front of their respective newspapers and for which they have been recognized in the XVIII edition of these awards: «They direct historical headers that have maintained their personality and have been able to adapt to the digital transformation ».

"Over time it became clear that free content did not provide a sufficient financial basis to support a new model," said Witherow, who recalled the moment of confusion that newspapers across the world have experienced in their first phase of adaptation to the new ecosystem that brought internet. "We now have 350,000 digital subscribers," he said as proof of the success of the historic British newspaper's decision not to offer its contents for free on the web. Baron, on the other hand, stressed that approximately 50% of the total income currently obtained by 'The Washington Post' comes from its digital edition.

Martin Baron also highlighted the importance of experimentation in new formats, with the trial and error strategy applied to journalism. As explained by the American director, the key is to take steps to undertake new projects, but with the ability to correct if they do not work. "We had a couple of initiatives that did not go well, had few readers and cost a lot of money, so we removed them after six months," he confessed. Witherow agreed on the commitment to this path of innovation, and announced as an example the project 'Times Radio' that the British newspaper is finalizing to launch shortly.

The irruption of the internet was seen at times as a danger to journalism, but in the end it has revealed itself as an unparalleled opportunity for the profession as evidenced by the successful digital transformation undertaken by 'The Washington Post' or 'The Times', followed by other prestigious international media such as EL MUNDO in Spain with its Premium model. "The Internet improves journalistic coverage and that is good for readers and our businesses ," Baron said. "We can show the stories in greater depth and without having to wait the next morning to offer them," he said.

'The Washington Post' and 'The Times' have opted for different but fundamentally consistent models: journalism must be of quality to survive and readers must pay for it. In this environment, the British newspaper's bet is for "less is more," Witherow said: "If too much news is published about something, it is not read. You have to put less content but higher quality . That works better for us, ”he said.

In the case of 'The Washington Post' an important part of its strategy goes through the in-depth analysis of its readers to convert them into subscribers thanks to the new data processing tools that the new technologies have brought. "We measure what kind of content makes our readers become subscribers and to those stories we give them more value and importance." In this regard, he added that, against other types of strategies that were enhanced in the past, "subscriber traffic is now given more value than that of readers."

"We test and measure everything: the keywords, the colors of the formats, the placement of the news on the pages, we segment our audience to identify what works best for us and we charge accordingly," explained the director of the newspaper of the US capital. "It is important to have readers committed to payment," he reiterated.

The current moment of bonanza that goes through 'The Washington Post' started in 2013 when Amazon owner Jeff Bezos bought the historic header for 250 million dollars. Baron emphasized the importance that the business vision that the owner of the e-commerce giant brought to the newspaper. The new strategy was based on a basic premise: the Internet had brought many problems to the newspapers and destroyed many of its traditional pillars, but instead introduced the opportunity to have a global reach and without any cost.

«A lot has been lost; why not take advantage of the good that he has left », was the reflection that Bezos transferred to Baron and on which they have rebuilt 'The Washington Post'. "We have been profitable for four years and we use the benefit to reinvest it," said the director. In that way of adaptation to the new digital reality, Baron also stressed the importance of going step by step. "It's the small gestures that end up changing things," said the journalist, who supported this argument with a reflection: "The man managed to reach the moon before thinking about putting wheels on suitcases . "

John Witherow, on the other hand, said that one of the initiatives that has worked best for 'The Times' to retain their paying subscribers is 'Time Plus', a category that allows its members, among other advantages, to participate in forums of debate and meetings with personalities from different fields. Recently its subscribers were able to participate in a colloquium with former British Prime Minister David Cameron . "95% of those attending this type of event renew their subscription every month," said Witherow.

Both journalists insisted that the new digital paradigm has transformed the information business. "It is not a simple written press put on the Internet," Baron warned: "This is not the same journalism as before," he added to highlight the use of all new formats, audios, videos, interactive graphics .... "The The way to tell the stories now is much more visual and we must understand and accept that, ”he said.

But even with all the new keys that the digital world has brought, both directors reiterated that the master beam of any business transformation model in a communication medium is to maintain fidelity to the principles of classical journalism: rigor and professionalism. "Reporters and editors have to continue to develop their role as journalists because that is why they are there," Baron said, at a time when certain powers try to call into question concepts such as that of the truth itself and in which relativism of the "alternative facts" has contaminated the social debate.

Martin Baron warned, however, that "it makes no sense to do an excellent job that nobody is going to read," so he insisted that other variables also have to be taken into account in modern journalism: "We must pay attention to the keywords , to the URLs that work, to the Google search engines ... ». He concluded: "We live in a digital world and we have to accept it." His colleague Witherow delved into that analysis: "Digital transformation is necessary and must be done quickly."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Internet
• Jeff Bezos
• media

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