Web design and development by Front, a strategy, design and technology studio in Belfast, Northern Ireland

The news industry (in case you haven’t heard) is in crisis. Unlike most crises, this one has been dragging on a bit. For 20 years, newspapers have been struggling to come to terms with realities of online publishing and the snatching of advertising revenue from under their noses. Where once there was the printing press, now there is WordPress. Where once there were the classifieds, now there is Craigslist.

Deal With It

News outlets have been coming to terms with the digital age, in their own way, on their on time. Some titles are still on denial, anger - this isn’t happening, there’s no money to be made on the internet, try our new printed supplement paid for by the three advertisers we have left. Some have passed through into bargaining and depression - give us more time, our new website looks just like our printed paper, we hate ourselves.

Others, like the Guardian and the New York Times have managed to suck it up, climb out of bed and move on. How are they doing this? By accepting that the internet isn’t going away, and by applying a 200 year old business model - find the story, tell it in a compelling way, syndicate it efficiently, and charge for commercial usage.

The Shock of the Old

Both of these titles now have commercial APIs that allow other sites to use their content, with a sprinkling of advertising mixed in for good measure. A shockingly old idea applied in a new way. Now that they have embraced the web of data, not of hyperlinked pages, nothing precludes them for taking their content and applying new business models tailored to their customers’ needs. In a world of dinosaurs, they are the mammals, and are up and walking (barely).

The era of open news APIs and syndicated news content would be incredibly familiar to old news men like Paul Reuter. Reuter once famously intercepted a boat off the coast of Ireland which was carrying news of Lincoln’s assassination and telegraphed the story to London; he got there first, and sold the story on. Reuter built an efficient network of news gatherers and the infrastructure required to get information into his customers’ hands first. How different is this really from what Guardian and NYTimes are doing? Not hugely.

Move On

It is sad that the industry invented efficient distribution of compelling news got caught up in the format; paper, ink and the easy-money of above the line advertising. But they did. Time to move on. Expect to see the titles with compelling news-gatherers and story-tellers and the desire to let go of their content survive for the next 25 years. Expect the titles with nothing to say, and an unwillingness to open up wither and die; very soon.