Innovating for survival in a convergent newsroom environment

The beginning of the twenty-first century can be viewed as a critical period for the UK's local and regional press. Many newspapers, faced with falling circulations and increasing competition due to the emergence of the internet, began converging their print and digital news operations in an attempt to halt the long-term decline by exploring new ways of growing their readership and attracting more income. This thesis examines the Published Outputs of a senior journalist who played a leading role in managing the transition to a convergent newsroom at the Lancashire Evening Post, a regional newspaper in Lancashire. The innovative content produced by the author, and the new editorial processes which he and fellow managers implemented, are critically analysed through the application of key insights from academic literature on media management and multimedia. It is argued that editorial innovation can help boost website traffic and increase audience engagement, while not necessarily damaging newspaper circulation figures; in fact, there is evidence to suggest they can even slow down the fall in sales. However, this research also demonstrates that these alone are unlikely to generate sufficient digital advertising revenue to help reverse the steep decline being experienced by the industry.