Denmark: lessons in convergence

Posted by John Burke on December 13, 2005 at 10:09 AM

Earlier this year, François Nel was scouting around for examples of media convergence to use in the new Journalism Leadership Programme that he was helping develop for the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, UK, when he was introduced to Denmark's third largest media group, Nordjyske Medier. They're the best example of convergence in the world, Martha Stone of Ifra/Newsplex told him.

Since embarking on the so-called 'convergence' path in 2002, the editorial team that once only produced the regional newspaper Nordjyske Stiftstidende now create content for a 24-hour cable television news channel, a news radio station, a free 'commuter paper' , mobile phone alerts, and an active website - all in addition to the regularly daily print newspaper and a free commuter edition.

So, Nel and his colleagues at UCLAN set out to investigate. John Drury, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who also teaches at UCLAN, headed off to NM's headquarters in northern Jutland to interview people from across the organisational chart, including managing director Per Lyngby and editor-in-chief Ulrik Haagerup.

Afterwards, the UCLAN team analysed the hours of footage, picked over the company data and grouped their findings into what Haagerup sees as the four pillars of convergence: leadership, strategy, planning and training.

Amongst the many interesting things they found, Nel says two stood out: the confidence of the workforce and the sense that, whatever else it is, doing journalism is actually, well, fun. "That's pretty remarkable," says Nel, "at a time when many leaders of media organisations come across as nervous and uncertain and many journalists feel resentful towards owners and managers who they believe are only concerned about the financial bottom line."

Nel says that the reasons for the NM team's optimism and the sense of fun that characterizes the newsroom will be discussed and debated in-depth when the international group of course participants meet in Preston at the end of January. But he attributes it to the company leadership's conviction that, when all is said and done, the company's ability to survive and even thrive in the digital age does not depend on their use of technology, but their ability to inspire a creative workforce. "The real remarkable thing about that," says Nel, "is that at Nordjyske they seem to be walking the walk, not just talking the talk."

Check out the five-minute summary of the Nordjyske Medier video case study,
"Convergence: Its about people."