Journalistic pure-players
in France
between innovation & struggle to survive
Nikos Smyrnaios,
University of Toulouse
“Towards Neo-Journalism? Redefining, Extending or Reconfiguring a Profession”
Brussels, 3 & 4 October 2012
The IPRI Project (2010-2012)
(Internet, Pluralism & Redundancy of Information)
Pluralism of journalism is a political and social stake:
Pluralism of opinions depends on diversity of news
Who are the journalistic players that favor news diversity and why ?
Method:
Massive quantitative analysis of 209 French news websites
(portals, aggregators, online media, blogs, pure-players), 11 days (7-17/03 2011)
37.569 news articles classified in 5.481 news topics (mesuring agenda variety)
Online news agenda:
- pure-players, blogs
online newspapers
original topics, news bilndspots
tv+radio, aggregators
+
« shovelware » (wire material, PR)
The French Context
In France online news dominated by mainstream media (Le Monde, Le Figaro +8M
UV) & aggregators (Orange, Yahoo, Google News)
At the same time emerges a “Nouvelle vague” of journalistic start-ups (Bruno et
Nielsen, 2012): more than 40 pure players in general news & politics in 2012
Pure players have a small target (highly educated, young, urban, white collar) but
growing: 18% of French internet users say they looked up for news on the 2012
presidential elections (mainly intensive social network users)
Since 2010 independent journalistic pure players have their own professional
organization (SPIIL, Syndicat de la presse indépendante d’information en ligne)
Since 2010 there are public aids in France especially for this category of sites
Research Question & Method
Why do journalistic pure players favor news diversity ?
Why and how do they distinct themselves from the dominant news agenda ?
Hypothesis 1 : the degree of news diversity results from journalistic practices in online
newsrooms which, in their turn, depend largely on economic constraints
Hypothesis 2 : news websites that are not or less depended on advertising and on
massive traffic (like portals & corporate media) tend not to follow the dominant
news agenda
Theoretical framework: socio-economic analysis, articulating economic model with
professional practices and usages
Method : interviews and observations inside three French journalistic pure-players
From May 2010 to April 2012, interviews with founders, journalists and technicians +
access to internal documents: traffic, economy, strategy etc.
Sample of websites
Name
Since
Revenue/ Net
income (2011)
Unique Visitors
(2011)
Capital/Founders
Employees/
Journalists
Revenue sources
Rue 89
2007
2M€/-400 000€
1,9M
7,5M€/0%
24/17
Advertising (60%) +
Services (30%)
Arrêt sur
images
2008
1,1M€/50 000€
230K
37 000€/100%
8/5 + 5
Subscriptions + Book
sales (100%)
Owni
2009
1M€/-1M€
230K
3,5M€/40%
18/10
Services (100%)
Business model: 360° revenue stream, advertising (60%), magazine (stopped),
BtoB services (web agency, consulting, courses), donations, business angels
Content: politics, society, work conditions, family, culture, sex
Main target: Bourgeois-bohèmes (urban young professionals keen on culture) +
people interested in progressive politics
Editorial strategy: “3 voices news” (journalists + experts + UGC)
Journalistic practices: no shovelware (press agencies, PR), original reporting
essentially in Paris, permanent dialogue with readers (comments, social networks,
participation in newsroom conference), 8,5% of traffic coming from Facebook
Marketing: use of sophisticated tools (SEO, community management, analytics)
Growth in traffic (2M UV) & revenue (2M€ in 2011) but still didn’t break even after 4
years because of high salary costs
In 2012 Rue 89 was sold to Le Nouvel Observateur media group, still operates
autonomously but advertising synergies + cross promotion
Initial business model: Owni just a brand, no advertising, no paywall or
subscription, content under Creative Commons, open source software
Revenue stream: BtoB services (web agency, social media strategy, computer
graphics) provided by parent company “22 mars” (Tactilize)
Start-up mode: rapid growth of traffic and personnel financed by business angels
Content: “geeky” politics & hacker ethics (web, copyright, technology,
surveillance, censorship, Wikileaks, Anonymous etc.)
Editorial strategy: initially blogosphere curating => nowadays desk “investigative”
journalism, technology oriented scoops
Journalistic practices: “young” & “plugged” journalism, intensive use of social
networks (12% of traffic coming from Facebook), IRC, wikis, Google (Docs, Talk,
Gmail, Maps), no shovelware (press agencies, PR), datajournalism
Business model not working (-1M€ in 2011), conflict between journalists & founder,
stuff departures, progressive separation between Owni & Tactilize, future unknown
Business model: subscription based with no advertising (26.886 subscribers in April
2012 for 40€/year or 3,5€/month), low cost (few employees & expenses)
Revenue stream: subscriptions & book sales (“Crise in Sarkozistan” written by
founder sold 28.000 copies in 2010)
Content: three weekly TV shows (essentially debates in studio) + articles on media
critique & progressive politics
Editorial strategy: no marketing, no real sales policy, no analytics, voluntary
“improvisation”, strong ties to the subscribers base, permanent debate between
journalists & public over content, accountability
Journalistic practices: desk journalism specialized in online investigations, social
networks (4,2% of traffic coming from Twitter) without community management
Company broke even in 2011, “small is beautiful” but stagnation of subscribers
base, no money to invest, no possibility of original reporting “outdoors”
Innovative but insufficient business models
Diminishing dependency on advertising & SEO: can’t face competition from
corporate media & web giants (Google, Facebook etc.) for traffic and
advertising revenue
Diversification of revenue sources: BtoB services (ethical problems), subscriptions,
crowdfunding, public aids (only in France), book sales
Financing growth like technology start-ups: but French business angels with
“political” and not economic motivations (influence, prestige)
High salary costs : professional journalists are necessary for production of original
content but also “expensive”
Innovation in journalistic practices online
New formats: datajournalism (infographics, serious games, webdocumentaries),
online TV shows with no time limits & no editing
Diversification of topics and frames: original subjects & angles, blindspots of
dominant news agenda, politically engaged journalism, commentary
Loose time constraints: no urgencies, no real-time coverage, no breaking news
competition
Permanent dialogue with readers: the public participates in the choice of
subjects, in the production of news, in the dissemination of content through social
networks), accountability of journalists in an everyday basis (comments, social
networks) =>
“networked production of news” (Lotan et al., 2011) or “Ambient journalism”
(Hermida, 2010)
Conclusions
French pure players explicitly inspired by “the myth of online journalism”
(Domingo, 2008) : critique of mainstream media & will to renew the profession,
transparency, independency, public interest, freedom of expression
Pure players practice a niche journalism: non exclusive news coverage,
complementary to corporate media
They are pioneers in innovative journalism practices but also in the establishment
of new business models
For the moment these business models are insufficient to sustain an activity with
high costs such as original news production
The only business model that seems to work is that of subscription based news
websites with strong communities
But this is related to the particular French context: Sarkozy’s presidency & lack of
critical journalism in the mainstream media
Money is the key for the future development of alternative & independent online
journalism & research shouldn’t ignore the political economy of online media
nikos.smyrnaios.free.fr/Bruxelles_2012.pp
tx
smyrnaios@free.fr