Can a “return to Victorian news values” save traditional media?

In the same week that UK newspaper publishers delivered a briefing to government ministers highlighting their concerns about how the technology giants like Google and Facebook are impacting on the industry and calling out for regulation to curb their power, one newspaper editor has suggested the long-term future of the print press could be protected if publishers just did what they used to be good at and get back to basics.

Paul Holden, who set up The Worthing Journal in 2011 and recently published a 128 page edition of the paper, told journalists that a return to “grassroots journalism” was key to the publishing industry surviving in the digital age.

Holden said: “To reach 128 pages is quite a milestone, and a huge amount of work, but it proves that printed publications still have a future so long as they remain at the heart of the communities they serve, and provide proper, grass roots journalism.

“If newspapers are to survive, they need to go back to basics and study publications from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, when, if the mayor sneezed, readers knew about it.”

He was also quick to criticise publishers for churning out salacious gossip and scandal by stating: “Those still serving up a diet of 1980s Sun-style headlines and celebrity gossip dressed up as news have had their day.”

His comments certainly echo the sentiments from other “traditional” media organisations that have found continued success despite the ongoing threat of digital disruption.

Bryan Glick, editor of Computer Week which recently celebrated 50 years in business recently told journalists: “There was a period in the late 2000s when the prevailing attitude was that you had to write as many stories per day as you can so that you’re going to be all over Google search.

“After I came here we went in completely the opposite direction, we said we are going to go back to basics and focus on depth and context and analysis and top quality contacts to get the stories up that other people don’t. And over time our audience has absolutely responded to that.

“We have found that when you are doing well informed high-quality content, lots of exclusives, very knowledgeable – our readers want to read more and more of that.  That’s where our growth has come from.”