Back to the Future- Email Newsletters as a Digital Channel for Journalism
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4. “Old media” rediscovers <strong>the</strong> newsletter<br />
<strong>Newsletters</strong> are also in vogue with<br />
“legacy” news media. In November 2015<br />
The W<strong>as</strong>hing<strong>to</strong>n Post had 61 different<br />
newsletters. The Wall Street Journal had<br />
43 and a number of email breaking news<br />
alerts, The Financial Times had 40 different<br />
newsletters and plan <strong>to</strong> launch more. The<br />
New York Times had 33 and will also soon<br />
launch new ones. Forbes had 30, The Daily<br />
Telegraph 29 and The Guardian 26 16 .<br />
The New York Times’ Nicole Breskin describes<br />
it <strong>as</strong> <strong>the</strong> product in <strong>the</strong> building with <strong>the</strong><br />
most potential. Since starting <strong>to</strong> focus more<br />
on newsletters in <strong>the</strong> l<strong>as</strong>t year it h<strong>as</strong> seen<br />
a huge growth both in <strong>the</strong> numbers of<br />
subscribers and in engagement. Readers who<br />
sign up <strong>for</strong> The New York Times’ newsletters<br />
are twice <strong>as</strong> likely <strong>to</strong> become subscribers.<br />
First Draft, The New York Times newsletter<br />
“We´ve always known<br />
that email is good <strong>for</strong><br />
engagement, retention<br />
– a loyalty <strong>to</strong>ol, but with<br />
all <strong>the</strong> social media<br />
channels popping up<br />
it´s e<strong>as</strong>y just <strong>to</strong> focus on<br />
<strong>the</strong> new shiny <strong>to</strong>y. 17 ”<br />
Nicole Breskin, <strong>Digital</strong> Product<br />
Direc<strong>to</strong>r, New York Times<br />
David Beard 18 at The W<strong>as</strong>hing<strong>to</strong>n Post<br />
decided <strong>to</strong> overcome his prejudice against<br />
email and steer <strong>the</strong> newspaper <strong>to</strong>wards<br />
working seriously with newsletters. After a<br />
few trial runs The Post quickly expanded <strong>the</strong><br />
number of newsletters. In November 2015 it<br />
had 61 ranging from au<strong>to</strong>mated summaries<br />
from <strong>the</strong> web site, <strong>to</strong> more edited ones.<br />
The UK is still behind America when<br />
it comes <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> amount of people<br />
finding news through newsletters.<br />
Nic Newman 19 , head of <strong>the</strong> RISJ report, thinks<br />
one re<strong>as</strong>on is that <strong>the</strong> BBC h<strong>as</strong> chosen not <strong>to</strong><br />
work with newsletters on any bigger scale:<br />
“I think it´s down <strong>to</strong> supply and demand. In<br />
<strong>the</strong> UK <strong>the</strong> BBC is such a huge provider, and<br />
<strong>the</strong>y decided <strong>to</strong> get out of newsletters.”<br />
If reading news through newsletters is<br />
down <strong>to</strong> supply <strong>as</strong> well <strong>as</strong> demand, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong><br />
numbers will probably soon go up in <strong>the</strong> UK<br />
<strong>as</strong> well, <strong>as</strong> several British news organisations<br />
are starting <strong>to</strong> put out more newsletters<br />
and more resources in<strong>to</strong> developing<br />
<strong>the</strong>m. The Guardian is likely <strong>to</strong> start new<br />
newsletters within <strong>the</strong> next year according<br />
<strong>to</strong> Mary Hamil<strong>to</strong>n 20 , Executive Edi<strong>to</strong>r <strong>for</strong><br />
Audience. She thinks <strong>the</strong> resources <strong>the</strong>y put<br />
in<strong>to</strong> newsletters are definitely worthwhile<br />
because <strong>the</strong>y draw audiences <strong>to</strong>wards <strong>the</strong><br />
brand and give direct access <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> readers.<br />
The Financial Times’ daily newsletter<br />
First FT w<strong>as</strong> launched in 2014 and now<br />
h<strong>as</strong> three daily editions. Andrew Jack 21 ,<br />
Edi<strong>to</strong>r of curated content and head of<br />
aggregation wants <strong>the</strong> newsletters <strong>to</strong><br />
provide a way through <strong>the</strong> in<strong>for</strong>mation<br />
overload that readers complain about by<br />
pushing <strong>the</strong> FT’s content <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir readers in<br />
a convenient way. He says it is also a good<br />
way <strong>to</strong> get existing readers <strong>to</strong> read more.<br />
In Sweden <strong>the</strong> business daily Dagens Industri<br />
h<strong>as</strong> one free daily newsletter with <strong>the</strong> free<br />
material from <strong>the</strong>ir web site, and several<br />
newsletters <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> premium subscribers.<br />
But Jon<strong>as</strong> Jonsson 22 , Dagens Industri’s<br />
edi<strong>to</strong>r, says that <strong>as</strong> a newspaper in a small<br />
market like Sweden <strong>the</strong>y face different<br />
challenges and that limits how many<br />
specialised newsletters <strong>the</strong>y can put out:<br />
“Papers like The New York<br />
Times have such a big<br />
market that <strong>the</strong>y can do<br />
a newsletter about <strong>the</strong><br />
Federal reserve, and still<br />
reach 10,000 subscribers.<br />
The volumes are different<br />
in smaller countries.”<br />
16<br />
Numbers from interviews and from web sites<br />
17<br />
Interview with Nicole Breskin <strong>Digital</strong> Product Direc<strong>to</strong>r, The New York<br />
Times, November 2015<br />
18<br />
Interview with David Beard, <strong>for</strong>mer direc<strong>to</strong>r of digital content The<br />
W<strong>as</strong>hing<strong>to</strong>n Post, Oc<strong>to</strong>ber 2015<br />
19<br />
Interview with Nic Newman, Visiting Fellow at <strong>the</strong> Reuters Institute <strong>for</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> Study of <strong>Journalism</strong> and a consultant on digital media, November 2015<br />
20<br />
Interview with Mary Hamil<strong>to</strong>n, executive edi<strong>to</strong>r, audience, The Guardian,<br />
November 2015<br />
21<br />
Interview with Andrew Jack, The Financial Times, September 2015<br />
22<br />
Interview with Jon<strong>as</strong> Jon<strong>as</strong>son, edi<strong>to</strong>r, Dagens Industri, November 2015