It’s time to decouple print from the digital newsroom

By Dr. Dietmar Schantin

Principal

IFMS Media Ltd

London, United Kingdom

Connect

For the last two decades, newsrooms have navigated the complex transition from print to digital, attempting to integrate both operations under one roof.

But despite the best efforts, this hybrid model is still holding back digital growth. In many newsrooms, print remains embedded in workflows, editorial meetings, and decision-making - slowing down the ability to create compelling, subscription-driven digital content.

It's time for the next step: fully separating print from digital, allowing both to succeed on their own terms.

There is still an audience willing to pay for the premium print newspaper, and a dedicated staff should serve this need.

The evolution of digital transformation in newsrooms

Looking back at the evolution of digital transformation, it is clear each phase required a mindset shift:

• Convergence (early 2000s): Print journalists were told to provide copy for digital, which was often a replica of the print version with minor modifications.
• Digital-first (2010s): Newsrooms started prioritising digital output before adapting content for print.
• Mobile-first (mid-2010s): The rise of mobile required significant changes in how content was written and formatted, leading to shorter, more direct stories optimised for small screens.
• Subscription-driven (late 2010s-present): Paywalls changed how news was structured, moving away from the inverted pyramid to more engagement-focused storytelling, using cliffhangers and teaser content to drive conversions.

Despite these advancements, print has remained a dominant factor in newsroom mindsets and workflows. Even in digital-first newsrooms, print influences editorial decisions, news meetings, and content strategies.

The presence of print in daily operations - even in some newsrooms that have already started automated print production - creates constraints limiting the ability to fully commit to digital growth.

The hidden costs of a print-digital hybrid model

Many newsrooms still produce stories to "fill the newspaper" rather than because they add value to digital - and sometimes even not to print readers.

This is a fundamental issue. Producing content simply to avoid blank pages is not a sustainable editorial strategy. More importantly, maintaining a dual-focus newsroom creates structural inefficiencies hindering digital growth:

Competing priorities and text-focused storytelling

Even when print takes up only a fraction of a newsroom's time, it still influences decision-making. Journalists unconsciously shape their stories to fit both platforms, even when digital should be the primary focus. This reinforces text-heavy storytelling - a legacy of traditional news production - at the expense of more engaging digital formats.

Misalignment with readers

The shift in newsroom demographics - driven by cost-cutting measures and retirements, followed by the hiring of younger journalists - has resulted in a growing mismatch between those producing the content and those consuming it. A newsroom made up of journalists in their 20s and 30s will struggle to fully understand the needs and interests of a print readership in their 50s and 60s.

Resource allocation and the loss of (hyper-) local coverage

Financial constraints have led many publishers to cut hyper-local news and community coverage - content that remains essential for print readers but often underperforms in digital formats. The result is print subscribers feel underserved, further accelerating print decline.

And yet, print readers continue to be willing to pay a premium price for this product.

The case for a dedicated print team

Rather than treating print as a secondary product within a digital newsroom, we must invert the model: Create a small, focused print team responsible for serving the print audience while allowing the main newsroom to focus entirely on digital.

This mirrors the early days of digital transformation. In the late 1990s, media organisations built small digital teams that took copy from the print newsroom and adapted it for online audiences. These digital teams experimented with new formats, enriched content, and created stories tailored for digital consumption.

Now, history is repeating itself - just in the opposite direction. Instead of building a small digital team, it is time to create a small print team.

The print team's role should be:

• Curating and adapting content from the digital newsroom that is relevant for print readers.
• Ensuring alignment with the expectations of a premium-paying print audience.
• Producing additional print-only content such as hyper-local news, community updates, and features with no digital value but remain important for print readers.
• Leveraging automation and AI to assist in layout, copy creation, and production efficiency.

By making print self-sufficient, the digital newsroom is freed from the constraints of print production, allowing it to focus on audience engagement, subscription growth, and platform optimisation.

The final step in digital transformation

If we are serious about building a sustainable digital media business, we must make strong decisions and execute them decisively. As a CEO of a successful Nordic digital-first publisher told me, "The key to our success was simple: Don't compromise."

For too long, news organisations have tried to balance both print and digital within the same newsroom. While this hybrid model has been an important learning and development process, it is no longer viable. The digital media market is too competitive, and audiences are too fragmented.

The only way forward is clear, strategic specialisation: a newsroom focused entirely on digital and a separate, lean print operation designed to serve its niche audience for as long as demand exists.

This is not about shutting down print. Print will remain profitable in many markets for the next five to 10 years, with subscribers continuing to pay for a premium product. But if print is to survive, it must be treated as its own business unit, not as an obstacle to digital growth.

The longer we delay, the harder it will be to compete in a digital-first world. The time to act is now.

YOU MUST BE A MEMBER TO ACCESS THIS CONTENT

Become An INMA Member or Log In

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

About Dr. Dietmar Schantin

Dr. Dietmar Schantin is the principal at IFMS Media Ltd. in London, United Kingdom, and Graz, Austria. He is also co-founder of the AI-collective. Dietmar can be reached at d.schantin@ifms-ltd.com or @ifmsMedia.

Related Articles