Ismael Nafría, author of the book "The Reinvention of The New York Times".has been advising media around the world for years. He knows the business of journalism and the challenges facing the media in these times of change and uncertainty. We review with him some of the issues that have been provoking the most controversial opinions lately, such as the phenomenon of the fake news, which he prefers to call disinformation.
It is precisely this issue that occupies the first moments of the talk. For Nafría, there are three tasks that need to be undertaken to combat the spread of fake news. The first scenario, he says, is on the social platforms, where thousands of fake news every day. In his view, these platforms need to intensify the monitoring of all sources that engage in disinformation. "This task is very complex and particularly affects Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter... or to the Google searches. As many control measures as possible must be put in place so that this kind of thing doesn't happen," he adds.
The second task, in his opinion, is the media literacy of the public from school onwards. "Trying to create a more critical mentality on the part of the population when it comes to consuming certain content and making them see whether or not they are reading reliable topics so that they take special care when they rebroadcast it on their networks" is a fundamental objective that, according to Nafría, we must assume as a society.
Finally, the media have two tasks. "The media must not contribute to disinformation. They have a very big responsibility not to spread false news, because the media have the professional task of informing," he says. "Those media that spread false news, without checking it out, do a disservice to the whole sector. In this sense, he is clear: we need to be stricter in applying the essential rules of journalism, i.e. confirming the subjects, checking that the sources are reliable...
But, in addition to all this, it is important that the media help people to understand how the world of disinformation works and to identify concrete cases. "I'm not saying that it is up to them to make a continuous analysis of everything that is disseminated - that would not be possible given the amount of false news that circulates - but they should explain the most serious cases, help to identify them and justify why they are so," he stresses. And this, together with a firm desire to be more transparent: how information is prepared, how it is verified... This type of action would go a long way towards tackling the problem of disinformation.
Although this is one of the main issues that occupies all media today, especially when they are involved in a scandal of this type, the truth is that the business model that will sustain newspapers is still the main concern among those who direct the destinies of the press.
Payment, business model
Asked how the media can convince the audience to pay for information, Ismael Nafría admits that it is a complicated objective, but at the same time he assures that it is an unavoidable option "if we want to guarantee their survival".
To carry out this task successfully, he is convinced that the media have to produce information that is truly of quality and relevant to their audience, be it generalist or niche. In his opinion, one of the premises he usually shares with media managers is that it is better to opt for less information, but of higher quality, than for a huge volume of information that does not provide any value to the public. "I think there is saturation and generic information provides very little value".People are willing to pay for information, but they don't expect you to inundate and saturate them, they expect you to really offer them things that have value and that they enjoy", because this is also an informative function. "A well-told story is a marvel," he says.
However, these are not the only efforts the media have to make to build paywalls around their content. There is another area where there is still a long way to go, and that is the relationship with the audience. As Nafría explains, it is vital to really engage the audience. But not only after the fact, as is usually the case, but before the information is published. It is about getting them to participate, to contribute their content, their experiences, their knowledge on certain topics. And this is not easy to achieve. There are examples, however, such as the Reader Center section of The New York Times, where users' queries and requests are answered, as well as their participation in multiple current affairs. The data on its success is compelling. "In its first year since its inception, it has handled 600 different requests to readers on a wide range of topics," he says.
Ismael Nafría considers that the decision to charge for information must be accompanied by other measures, and one of the most important has to do with the relationship established with the public. "If you want your audience to pay, you have to work hard and take them into account," he says. And from there, experiment with all the formats that allow you to build a direct and close relationship with the community around the medium. One of the formats that is working is the newsletter as a "very effective tool for connecting and engaging with the audience".. Another of the formats with more projection and which is beginning to be used frequently in some media is the podcast, although in the Spanish case it is not yet an option for many publishers.
That payment for information is currently irremediable, does not mean that it is the solution to the income problems of the media.. But it should be seen as an additional channel, which is becoming increasingly important and will end up being the main one, as is already the case in some media such as The New York Times.
The Spanish case
And what about Spain - will publishers finally decide to charge for information?
Nafría assures that everything points to the fact that publishers will decide during the course of this year to charge for information. There are already some media, he adds, that are charging for information, such as the regional and local newspapers of the Vocento group or the Catalan daily Ara.
But won't the media that opt for payment lose users to the detriment of the "free" media? This premise, which was used years ago, is not valid as such, according to Nafría. For him, although users may be lost, The most important thing is that the medium is able to achieve their loyalty. We are witnessing the failure of a model based on audience hunting, which not only does not make sense, but is also not working. For all these reasons, it is more sensible and beneficial to increase the loyal audience "on which the medium can count on for what it needs than to increase the number of users who pass by the site once a month without realising it".
In any case, he is clear that the loss of audience is always related to the type of strategy that the medium implements. But, even if it were to lose users, it is better to focus on gaining loyal users who are involved with the medium.
Barbara Yuste
Director of Digital Communication at Proa Comunicación
Barbara Yuste
Director of Digital Communication at Proa Comunicación