Designing the newsroom of the future

The news industry is perpetually exposed to change. From new business models at the dawn of digital advertising, evolving reader habits and technological transformation, the news industry and its beating heart — the newsroom — are constantly challenged to adapt to new environments. Today, in the age of AI, content creators and declining loyalty for traditional news organizations, this challenge to adapt is greater than ever.

This article explores two of these changes:  emerging audience habits and a splintered news ecosystem. We then put this into perspective for newsrooms by examining the strategic, structural and operational shifts that are needed to remain sustainable and relevant in a volatile climate.

For a deeper exploration of these themes, get in touch with our deputy managing director, Aled John, who discussed this topic with Lea Korsgaard at the recent International Journalism Festival in Perugia in their session "Designing the Newsroom of 2025: Rethinking Structure, Culture, and Leadership.”

What just happened? Putting the consumption evolution into perspective

The way “readers” (and that in itself is a reductive term for a news consumer) experience news has shifted. The one (of many) graphs that haunts news executives from the annual Reuters Institute Digital News Report is the percentage of people coming directly to news sites, apps and the like. The answer is less and less (although the 35+ cohort does buck this trend somewhat). 

Instead, audiences stumble upon news as they scroll, swipe and stream across a kaleidoscope of platforms and formats. The homepage that a news editor lovingly curates? Well, fewer and fewer are visiting it (especially the home pages riddled with pop-up ads and with barely one story above the fold). If they do reach the homepage, it’s likely through a side door: a newsletter, a WhatsApp forward or a podcast. “This will change when these people age” is a response we often hear. That statement might turn out to be a myth — Pew Research Center has previously shown that young people typically exhibit the behaviors that older age groups later adopt.

Secondly, the ecosystem is splintering. As John Burn-Murdoch writes in the FT, rather than misinformation,  “media fragmentation and the erosion of shared sources of truth are bigger threats.” From legacy publications and digital-first startups, to TikTok explainer-influencers, newsletter soloists and podcasters, audiences now get their news from an ever-growing constellation of sources.

Of course, this means that attention is more diluted and loyalty is harder to earn.  Newsrooms require more than just a new approach to writing or a redesign of the homepage. It means deep strategic, structural and operational transformation. 

What’s next for newsrooms?

1. Strategic shift: The newsroom moves from a content generator to a community builder

Yes, content is still king. But in the age of AI-generated summaries and algorithmic aggregation, connection with audiences is finally taking its rightfully royal place in conversations. 

What publishers are still finding challenging though, is how to translate this concept of audience connection into their own newsroom operations. The advent of the user needs framework is definitely a step in the right direction, as it connects the story ideation process more closely with commissioning and production. However, even more radical thinking is required to invigorate the well-trodden production processes.

One of the challenges of AI, is that it now allows users to access, summarize and interpret information directly (see this post from Ezra Eeman on the new anatomy of information). The more structured and widely available the information, the more easily it can be commoditized. 

This leaves publishers with a pressing cultural awakening: what can we offer that goes “beyond” content? How can we turn our writing into an experience that connects more deeply with our audiences? The answer is connections and community. This year’s “State of Create” report from Patreon evidenced that 86% of core fans of a creator are likely to join a dedicated online community and 80% of them are likely to pay creators, disproportionately higher than casual fans. 

Newsrooms need to build these authentic relationships with their audiences, whether that means: 

• Increasing interactivity (think comments, Ask-me-anythings, WhatsApp/Discord groups)
• Creating content experiences that feel less like broadcast and more like conversations
• Prioritizing “formats” that allow deeper engagement (like podcasts, live events, newsletters)

The question to ask is: How do you create space in your newsroom for those kinds of connections to happen?

2. Structural shift: Finding your newsroom’s innovation model 

Frankly speaking, as their name suggests, traditional newsrooms struggle to incubate new ideas. They’re built to maintain the status quo: often the biggest revenue generator, which is (or used to be) print. But experimentation isn’t optional anymore. To navigate this landscape and foster a sense of innovation, newsrooms are looking to adopt new structures. There are three models worth a closer look:

1. The “Third Newsroom” Model: WP Ventures at The Washington Post
   
   Everyone is talking about  The Washington Post lately, mostly for reasons beyond its actual coverage. Its WP Ventures, launched publicly at the end of 2024 and formerly known as the “Third Newsroom,” is the WaPo’s attempt to explore new avenues for growth in audience reach and relevance (and where possible, revenue). This new pillar’s mission is to create content that is authentic and tailored to the topic and distribution, whether that’s lifestyle journalism on the website or expanding video and audio on social media. While the scale or focus of this reorg may not be applicable to everyone, the idea of creating a strategically designated newsroom “hub” can be useful for those exploring new ways of content generation and audience growth. 
   
   
2. Centers of Excellence: The FT’s visual storytelling team
   
   Other publishers have gone down a slightly different route — weaving together parts of the existing teams and structures in a “centre of excellence” who are “primarily specialists in how to tell stories,” as Sam Joiner (FT Visual Stories & Investigations Editor) told us a couple months back. These teams focus on writing just as much as collaborating with editorial staff to integrate exciting aspects such as data journalism, graphics and multimedia to push the boundaries with new formats. The FT has doubled-down on visual investigations investments, with esteemed hires like Alan Smith (OBE) and Alison Killing in 2023 to lead the Visual Investigations Team. Stories like China’s housing market being propped by the state or Ukrainian children on Russian adoption sites are successful examples. 
   
   
3. Networked Creator Model: Puck’s journalist-centric approach
   
   Puck represents a modern media startup that centers on individual journalists as a collection of brands. Founded in 2021, it treats its reporters like social media influencers, and, importantly, provides them with ownership stakes. This is to foster a network of journo-influencers, each owning a direct line with their audience, blending reporting with personal commentary more seamlessly than an “opinion” section. The compensation model also ties bonuses to growing subscription numbers, where for every thousand subscribers a writer brings in, they receive a $10,000 bonus, as well as a “retained” subscribers bonus. Broadly, this helps align the incentives of the creators with the aims of the business and the needs of the audiences.

3. Operational Shift: Empowering teams and aligning incentives

Roles and responsibilities. Perhaps, two of the more problematic  words for any newsroom to think about, yet absolutely fundamental.. Operational transformation requires a holistic approach that goes beyond tweaking teams or job specs but encompasses the entire organizational structure. As noted above, building the right incentives for Puck helped build the core structure of its newsroom. Ultimately, the key operational considerations are: 

• The right people: Building cross-functional teams that combine editorial expertise with data analytics, audience development, product management skills, and, more importantly, skills beyond the traditional ones. An emerging asset in newsrooms are those people who perform the so-called “bridge roles” — such as the FT’s Hannah Sarney, who was fundamental to leading the FT’s newsroom’s acceptance of metrics and the understanding of engagement. Read our interview with Sarney here for more insight into what makes an audience engagement team a newsroom’s powerhouse.
• The right metrics: Shifting focus from traditional metrics like page views to engagement indicators such as time spent, repeat visitors, and where applicable (and to do with caution), subscription conversions. 
• The right incentives: Aligning goals across departments to encourage collaboration, with shared and coinciding KPIs and one overarching North Star.

Operational shifts, however, don’t necessarily mean revolutionizing or hiring new staff — it could also mean setting a clear path of growth for an emerging team. One example is the Audience Engagement / Development role that almost every newsroom has had for the past 10-15 years. These teams can sometimes get stuck and be sidelined to analysts when in reality, their unique points of view can help bring about transformative editorial decision-making. Setting out a clear path of growth, like the one below, can help bring long-standing or change-sceptical team members along on the transformation journey.

What does this all mean?

The risk of not transforming your newsroom is too great to ignore. The good news is that if you are reading this, you’re likely already thinking about change. So what will your newsroom look like in a year’s time?  Reach out to Aled John or Lisa MacLeod to chat about newsroom change and how the FT is thinking about its next phase of its own transformation.

For more on newsroom change and management, please read our reports below:

1. Our viewpoint: Why newsroom is key to subscription growth 
2. Newsroom transformation 101, part 1: The importance of bridge roles
3. Newsroom transformation 101, part 2: Interview with FT’s Hannah Sarney
4. FT Strategies and Google News Initiative report: Newsroom redesign: optimizing workflows to drive engagement
5. FT Strategies case studies on driving digital transformation