“Create great content and think about how you can get people to share it, rather than focus on how you can ‘work’ Facebook to make people share,” Will Hayward, BuzzFeed’s VP Advertising Europe told participants at WAN-IFRA’s Digital Media Europe conference in London.
The world’s most innovative digital news media – from giants like the Guardian and Norway’s VG to the smaller DOTYK, the first tablet-only weekly in the Czech Republic – were honoured Tuesday evening (8 April) as winners of the European Digital Media Awards, the annual prizes from WAN-IFRA.
An international media freedom symposium held in London this week formally called on governments to bear the primary responsibility to ensure effective protections for free speech and the safety of journalists. But the inaction of the Canadian and Australian Prime Ministers in the case of the ‘Al Jazeera Three’ points to the reluctance of political leaders to advocate for journalists. WAN-IFRA’s Research Fellow, Australian journalist-academic Julie Posetti, reports.
“Partnerships are nothing new, but in a world of changing media consumption, they are worth a closer look because startups approach problems and challenges with a different set of lens than traditional publishers. But traditional publishers’ trusted brands and reach give startups the oxygen they need to get liftoff,” said Paul Hood, Director of Digital for Archant in the UK.
News organisations have a responsibility to act and seek better protection for not only their own staff, but the profession as a whole, argues Peter Horrocks, the BBC’s World Service Group Director, who this week led a protest at the increasing attacks on journalism around the world.
“There are lots of start-ups trying to extract more value from mobile data, but the key going forward is not the data itself, but the ability to use it to create something meaningful for the consumer,” Mark Forster from Adello told the Digital Media Europe audience in London.
“I am not here to talk about ‘mobile first.’ I am here to talk about a digital strategy that incorporates the strengths of mobile into a universal digital strategy,” said Lisa MacLeod, head of operations for ft.com.
“Our team has harnessed the power of smart technology and journalistic expertise to build the first 24/7 social newsroom,” said Mark Little, Founder and CEO of Storyful, recently acquired by News Corp. “It’s about leveraging social, mobile and video.”
“Video might not be what attracts our young audience to our site, but it is what keeps them coming back,” said Martin Clamart, Head of International for the MeltyNetwork in France, during a session dedicated to video at Digital Media Europe 2014.
BBC News Online Editor Steve Herrmann gave the Digital Media Europe audience in London some key learnings as the broadcaster is adjusting to (video) life on the web. Herrmann’s team has developed a number of video formats created for the Internet, some of which are now proving popular with TV editors as well.
Why Dailymotion over YouTube? That was the question Marc Eychenne, VP International Content for Dailymotion in the UK, faced after his DME presentation. “Well, that is exactly why I was reluctant to come speak here today,” he quipped. “It’s a bit complicated…”
Moderator Diego Carvajal, Content Manager for Caracol TV / El Espectador Digital Media in Colombia, recaps his primary takeaways from the first day of Digital Media Europe 2014.