Digital Expert Roland Mitterbauer: How Digital Is a Newspaper?

Roland, you were deputy editor-in-chief at Mediengruppe Bayern and have been at Augsburger Allgemeine for ten months. So you know the local journalism industry very well. Where do local print media currently stand in terms of digital development?

Roland Mitterbauer: Local daily newspapers no longer see themselves as print media, but as multimedia media houses. Daily newspapers have been present on the Internet for many years, use social media, create newsletters, podcasts and videos. Of course, sales of printed newspapers still dominate, but almost all media companies have realised that sustainable growth is only possible in the digital sector and that this is where the higher margins are often achieved –  for example with the digital counterpart, the ePaper.

From the print shop to the editorial office: digital change has arrived in everyone's minds

For you as Head of Digital at Augsburger Allgemeine, the digital transformation is very present. What is the level of understanding in the individual editorial teams?

Roland: Of course, there are various branches in the publishing industry, some of which are very print-orientated. But if I look at the print shop, for example, a lot has changed in recent years and decades in terms of digitalisation and automation. Here in Augsburg, the change has also reached everyone's minds in the editorial offices. I would say that we have a good separation between editorial and editorial: Our journalists concentrate on researching their topics, on writing, on creating videos, photos and so on, while other units focus more on layout and newspaper production. In my opinion, this specialisation is a good basic prerequisite for tackling the digital transformation.

What exactly do you do as Head of Digital?

Roland: Like the Südkurier in Constance and the Main-Post in Würzburg, the Augsburger Allgemeine is part of the Pressedruck media group. There are a lot of digital minds here – together with my colleagues in the editorial team at Augsburger Allgemeine, I am responsible for the editorial contribution to the further development of reach, digital subscriptions and digital revenues. To do this, we consider: How can we reach more people with our content? What topics do we need to focus on? How do we need to adapt our strategy to make it successful? Together with the other locations, regional television and radio stations as well as the Group-wide pd digital hub, we continue to develop our journalistic brands on all channels and coordinate Group-wide projects. Our work is important because the transformation is of course far from complete. We have the two pillars of print and online and are constantly in the process of continuing the change process.

What strategy is Augsburger Allgemeine pursuing in order to be well positioned in the future?

Roland: We naturally want to generate a good reach and advertising revenue. We want to continue to reach our readers and new target groups and, ideally, get a subscription from most of them. We realise that there are many people who don't want to pay for journalism online. In order to reach these people as well, we don't want to focus entirely on a revenue strategy, but rather position ourselves as broadly as possible. For example, we offer a good mix of freely available articles and texts behind the paywall.

Which new technologies make sense for a local newspaper, and what is better to stay away from? What do you look for when testing new tools?

Roland: In my opinion, a good tool is needed for four different areas: topic planning, content creation, playout and analysis. Basically, new technologies have to help make work more efficient or offer a new product. You always have to think about it: What do I need this technology for and does it really solve a problem? In addition to the price-performance ratio, the decision criteria for me include user-friendliness, data protection, the roadmap, support and the provider's company structure as well as reports from reference customers. However, you should abandon the belief that simply buying technology will make things better. As a rule, structures and working methods also need to change so that a new tool can be successfully integrated into everyday working life.

Use of AI: useful in some areas, not in others

What role does AI play in local print journalism and specifically in your media company?

Roland: AI seems to be everything at the moment. In some areas it certainly makes sense to use it, in others it should be avoided. What I think is good and right are the so-called no-code and low-code applications, i.e. automation solutions. I think there is a lot of potential there, but of course it has little to do with AI. For me, the use of artificial intelligence in itself also makes sense for spell and grammar checks, editing, finding SEO-relevant headings or to support research. We have set a clear limit for AI-generated images within the publishing house. We only use AI-generated illustrations in exceptional cases and only with a very clear declaration. The editors-in-chief of the media group have formulated clear guidelines for the use of AI: Humans are always responsible for journalistic content and AI can at most be the co-pilot.

I could imagine AI playing a greater role in the future in the construction and layout of pages. Or also for personalisation, for example by automatically displaying paywalls and subscription offers based on content and user behaviour. Then it will no longer be the editors who decide whether an article is behind the paywall, but the AI.

Is there an example of a technology that you have been able to successfully establish in the company?

Roland: I've been in Augsburg for less than a year and there are some great projects that Lena Jakat, my colleague in the editorial team, for example, has been working on for much longer. I don't want to adorn myself with other people's feathers. One great success in recent weeks was that we jointly defined a Group-wide article score, i.e. a measurement that shows how well an article performs. It will be further developed and rolled out over the coming months and years. Each location is currently still working with its own score. Standardisation in the future will improve comparability, we will be talking about the same data situation, there will be no need to further develop different scores and instead all the necessary data will be summarised in one score. I was able to coordinate the content of this project.

Subscription figures for print media have been falling for years. Does the newspaper industry need to accelerate its digital transformation in order not to be left behind?

Roland: The digital transformation will accelerate even more and we have to make sure that we can keep pace. The decline in print subscriptions will not stop, but media companies can gain time by operating in larger groups and creating synergies. In this way, you can maintain profitability while continuing to develop technologically. The bigger the media company, the more time you have - but you also have to make good use of that time.

The great hope: people are willing to pay for journalism

What is the best way to utilise it?

Roland: It is important to raise awareness everywhere that this change is needed. Even if the basic idea has already been accepted by most people, there are always conflicts of interest. You need a clear strategy on how to get people on board. Motivated, well-educated and trained employees and colleagues are extremely important. It would also be ideal if you manage to have a low staff turnover in the company so that you don't have to keep rebuilding this change culture, but can start the future together.

Let's take a look into the future: what is your vision for local print media?

Roland: It is becoming increasingly important to continue to focus on quality. In-depth research that fulfils user needs will also be required in the future –  readers must get added value from the content we publish. As far as the corporate structure of media companies is concerned, the trend is towards ever larger publishing houses and co-operations. This ensures financial viability and allows media companies to better deal with shortages of skilled labour and staff. In terms of content, the work of local journalists will change significantly: Video and moving images will play a bigger role, and in the long term, we may be in front of the camera more.

My great hope is that the willingness to pay for journalism on the internet will increase in the future. When I was a child, for example, nobody would have paid for music online – and now I hardly know anyone without a Spotify subscription. A generation is growing up that is learning to pay for high-quality content. The next few years will set the course: Will readers remain loyal to us, is there a market we can tap into? I personally believe so.