The transition to digital platforms had been, until 2020, a gradual process, in some cases timid, for most of the print media of the traditional press.
Although it was seen as an inescapable necessity in the face of the overwhelming growth of digital audiences, favored by the mass use of electronic devices, especially the mobile phone, the answers were timid, experimental, waiting to see what would happen.
But as the business model changed and print newspapers saw their advertising revenue drop and their subscribers shrink, the need for reinvention then became more pressing. And today it is already a path of no return.
While we were on our way, the Covid-19 pandemic became the trigger for a forced and inevitable alternative to the “digital first”, which represents a new scenario of challenges for the traditional press, which has had to create a hybrid between the print and digital editions to survive.
As it is a new information ecosystem, adaptations have been made based on the financial capacities of the media to acquire technologies and to re-educate their staff, involving them in understanding and managing the keys of digital journalism.
Remote work, that is, with deserted newsrooms due to quarantines and the mandatory nature of physical distancing, was not on the 2020 agenda.
This was, without a doubt, the greatest push towards a more accelerated, more pressing transformation, within which new ways of delivering the news emerge every day, a niche journalism model for specialized content and more practical ways to ensure income and sustainability.
Instead of transition, we must already speak of transformation and, in that context, of full migration to digital, preserving print formats for journalism rooted in the depth, quality and credibility of its content.
There’s no going back.
- Translated from Spanish by Randy Rodriguez.
Director's Thoughts 