Media outlets must find ways to stay relevant

AMMAN — “Going back to printing newspapers is plausible. Assuming that this will solve their financial difficulties, however, it is not,” said Nidal Mansour, executive president of the Centre for Defending Freedoms of Journalists (CDFJ).

Amid coronavirus-induced measures that have required local newspapers to halt printing and thus cut off their main source of income, which are advertisements, a number of local newspapers have announced that they are facing hard times.

Some newspapers have announced that they are unable to pay their employees’ March salaries, while others said they have to start executing mass-lay-offs.

“It is my understanding that the government has allowed papers to go back to printing, but they have chosen not to, at least not until after Eid Al Fitr. Either way, attributing newspapers’ financial difficulties to the corona crises both oversimplifies and belittles it,” said Mansour in a phone interview with The Jordan Times.

Mansour pointed out that newspapers have been facing a decline in their importance for decades, and that to go back to being the main source of information is now “impossible”.

However, upholding a high set of standards for their content and turning to specialised coverage could lift newspapers both financially and prestigiously, added the CDFJ’s executive president.

Mansour added: “For a while now, newspapers have not been the fastest or most recent source of information. To make up for that, they have to offer specialised content that offers analyses, investigations and solutions that social media cannot.”

Media and communication specialist Bayan Tal echoed Mansour’s argument. In a phone interview with The Jordan Times, Tal said that since social media has taken the trait of instant reporting, a newspaper thus needs to focus on “infographics, pictures, cartoons and good, objective content”.

She added: “People still need official newspapers for in-depth analyses of recent events written by professional journalists. That is something that immediate reporting and shallow outlets cannot offer.”

Mansour highlighted that the reason papers such as The New York Times and Washington Post survive is that they “charge their viewers for content. They can ask for a $30-a-year subscription because they are offering unique content by skilled journalists”.

He added: “Even if newspapers go back to distributing their daily papers, they need to have a strong presence both online and on social media.”

In that regard, CDFJ’s executive president advised newspapers to “reverse the publishing cycle” by advertising part of their content on social media, then publishing it on an online website, then offering it on printed paper.

“If an in-depth report is announced by posting a teaser video on the newspaper’s social media platforms, then is published in full on the website, then printed online, readers can be more engaged and intrigued on all these platforms,” he added.

Tal also said “if a paper wants to survive and thrive, it must go online. All print media will face extinction and must go digital”.

The government announced in previous weeks that it will be offering newspapers support amid the stoppage of printing, with all government dues being paid to several official newspapers.

The on-going debate in the Kingdom about local newspapers being offered government support should be based on an independent-media criteria, according to Mansour.

“All media outlets, whether an official newspaper or an online website, should be offered government support, because that is the only way to ensure a diversity of content and the right of people’s access to correct information,” said CDFJ’s executive president.

He added: “That is not to say, however, that the media should be government-controlled. All these outlets should be independent, but the government’s support should stem from their need to provide people with access to information.”