News Corp sets out shared digital strategy

News Corp national executive editor Peter Blunden has placed reader demand at the centre of the company’s digital strategy.

Peter Blunden, News Corp’s national executive editor. Picture: Jason Edwards

News Corp national executive editor Peter Blunden has placed reader demand at the centre of the company’s new digital strategy, declaring premium journalism should be “done once, done better and shared across the company”.

Following News Corp’s announcement that more than 100 regional and community papers will move to digital-only mastheads, Blunden has declared the “silo model” of journalism over as the company moves to adapt to a streamlined digital model.

“The landscape has changed so dramatically, the company simply has to change with it. These regional markets are enormously important to us, and they will continue to be important to us,’’ he said. “But the printed products in some areas haven’t proved to be sustainable. And simultaneously, we’re experiencing very strong growth in our digital subscriber base in Australia. The company simply had to make some hard decisions about where is the future of the company.”

In his new role as national executive editor, Blunden — who is also chairman of News Corp’s editorial board, a former editor-in-chief of the Herald Sun and managing director in Victoria — will direct specialist network teams in national news and sport to break and share quality content across mastheads in a bid to grow digital subscriptions.

“It’s important that there’s a very strong bridge between our national network of journalism. Premium journalism done once, done better and shared across our company.”

The network will be across News Corp’s metro, community and regional mastheads Blunden believes there will always be a role for instinct in journalism, but the national network will also be informed by hard data.

“There will always be a place for great instinctive editors, editors who make guts calls, who possess great judgment, and journalists who also know their markets. But in the end, the numbers don’t lie in real time.

“We know what people are reading and we know, even more importantly, why people are subscribing. That’s what the national news and sport initiatives are designed to address.”

News Corp in March pulled out of its major shareholding in AAP, but the wire service is now likely to be sold to a syndicate led by former News Corp and Foxtel boss Peter Tonagh. Blunden says the potential sale will have no impact on the delivery of NewsWire, to be edited by James Law.