The motivation is better engagement of online audiences across the group’s key newsbrands with a strong focus on digital storytelling, primarily with mobile content, and marks an evolution from Johnston Press’ Newsroom of the Future scheme, says the company.
In line with the constantly changing digital landscape, the initiative will see the creation of a new Digital Academy implemented across the group to support and promote the development of video and shared content in all editorial newsrooms, with a particular emphasis on improving capabilities of publishing content on social. The Academy will provide insightful training for journalists to publish more effectively through social platforms, where a number of titles have already seen significant growth in traffic as high as 300% from Facebook.
The project, continues Johnston Press, involves over thirty members of Johnston Press’ editorial teams. Through the development and enhancement of editorial teams’ digital skills, it will springboard the growth of all brands online and set universal standards of best practice across Johnston Press’ newsrooms.
We Are Digital is being led by Frank O’Donnell, director of digital content for Johnston Press: “This is a project being led by our journalists for our journalists, and every single person in the business has a role to play in making this work for us. As an industry, we are all aware of the constantly changing landscape around digital, and the goal with We Are Digital is to continue driving change and benefit across the short, medium and longer term. There is certainly more to come on it.”
Jeff Moriarty, chief digital and product officer for Johnston Press, commented: “We Are Digital is a hugely important editorial project for 2016. It follows our continued investment in digital products across the group; with 15 newly launched, multiplatform optimised sites this year alone for our largest titles. We have seen tremendous digital growth across Johnston Press over the past year as a result of this continued investment, with a 25% YoY increase in monthly unique users from April last year, and are confident that We Are Digital will further bolster our brands’ development online.”
