Future newsrooms, now: Zetland’s Lea Korsgaard on journalism as a service – and a product

‘Our main product, the newspaper, is under constant development. And we’re in a transition … I think that the stand-alone article will still exist as a service to people; but this year, maybe a year-and-a-half from now, the stand-alone article – as something that people will pay for – is going to die.’ 

Danish digital publisher Zetland really makes the news, both as a business, and a brand. In January, it hit the headlines with the announcement of its expansion into Finland … an exceptional move, given the relentless and ongoing challenges faced by news media globally, regardless of size or longevity.

Founded in 2015 as a seemingly niche digital news start-up, multi-award-winning Zetland has become a case study in establishing a thriving 21st-Century newsroom, with the group portfolio now comprising  three major concerns: the Danish HQ, Uusi Juttu and AI-powered transcription service Good Tape, launched in 2023.

This year, they’re predicting +40% revenue growth.

Co-founder and Editor in Chief Lea Korsgaard nails it down to the organisation’s human-centric approach to everything they do.

‘We have built a culture where everyone in the organisation knows that any decision has to take a point of departure in the members’ needs and how we can serve them with information and good journalism,’ she explains.

‘That way of thinking allows you to actually tweak the product more or less every day.

‘If you consistently take your members’ needs into consideration when you develop your medium, you have to think carefully about how you serve them and when you serve them; how to be not only a nice-to-have, but a need-to-have in their lives.’

It’s a simple enough concept that, Korsgaard concedes, was not effusively welcomed by all: ‘I think in the beginning when we launched, some thought it was kind of cute. Maybe it was cute. I think it’s essential; a recipe for why we are still here and why we’re growing.

‘Back in 2016 we used social media as our marketing platform, as our poster in the city, as it was, among other things, also a vehicle; an opportunity to spread the word about your content.

‘Now, it’s more difficult simply because search is changing and the link economy is dead, so we have to constantly find new ways to spread the word about what we’re doing

‘What didn’t work? Tons of stuff: products that we have launched, audio series that failed … One thing that proved to not be worth the time and money, was advertising – via TV or print newspapers.

‘That’s where we made a big change and decided that, instead of using money on big advertising companies, we should just hire people and build a culture and organisation that sustains the word-of-mouth marketing paradigm.

The big lesson here is: build your own know-how; build your organisation yourself, build the tools that you want to succeed with, yourself – don’t hire some ad company to tell your story, do it yourself …

‘In 2019, when we realised that we really have to grow faster, and that classical marketing doesn’t really work for us, we decided to try to use the bonds of affinity we have with our members, to actually grow. It started out with us simply asking for their  help, and telling them we need to grow faster if we are going to exist in two, five, ten years from now.

‘And they mobilised.

‘They wanted to help us because they have this sense of belonging – and they share a responsibility for us actually publishing what we do. The first campaign was the pathway to us becoming sustainable.

‘We have done it once every year since, and even though we’re now profitable and growing, they are still with us.

‘I’m often asked: “What do they get out of it; do they get a tour, a discount?”

‘They get a tote bag – and they tell us, “”I don’t do this for myself; it’s for a purpose – what I gain is this sense of belonging”.

It’s the most meaningful and beautiful way to grow as a medium, I think.’

‘My vision of journalism has not changed, and the values have not changed. What is changing every day is simply the product. And the reason we’re able to tweak and tweak the product is that we’re so firm in our beliefs when it comes to the vision and the values.

‘But the product should change because habits change, and people change.

‘Our main product, the newspaper, is under constant development – and in a transition from being built around stand-alone articles, to centre more on programmes, and audio-narrated stories with a beginning and an end to it

‘Right now, the big trend is the move from institutions to personalities – and the death of the link economy and traditional search. So, obviously, the product should be designed to manage and thrive in this world.

‘I sometimes still meet media managers who think that a newspaper should serve every need for every person, and that’s just … well, good luck with that.”

‘Our technology is built by ourselves. Of course, we use models and build on others’ technology, but it’s made in-house. That’s important because the technology and the distribution model, essentially, is part of the product – and the product is not just the content; it is also the UX (user experience), the design and feel of it, and how it comes to you.

‘I think, this year, maybe a year and a half from now, that the stand-alone article will still exist as a service to people – but the article as something that people will pay for is going to die. 

‘This makes sense to me because media habits are changing – towards personalities, people. I think it’s reasonable that people want a connection to someone that they can rely on.

‘So we are going to rebuild the product to centre it around the journalists as hosts for their turf, so that the media consumer follows a journalist more than you follow a topic – and yes, that will be quite a big transition for the newsroom.

‘A year from now, when you log on to Zetland, you will see an audio series, narrative audio series, and you can follow, for instance, one of our journalists

‘So more and more our “marketing” efforts are being built around the journalists, so that people who don’t pay for us yet, or don’t use our content, get to know the journalists. In this new media world, it’s easy to get attention as long as you scream something weird out in the stratosphere and become a personality. 

‘But there’s also a version of this that I really like, which is attributed to the sentiment that interesting and important stories deserve to be told by people who are super-engaged in these stories.

‘It’s like having a teacher with an engaging personality who is on fire about a particular subject. I want that teacher.

‘And I think what we’ve seen in  journalism or, maybe more in the content creator industry, is that shift from the dull teacher to the super-engaged teacher, and I like that.  That, to me, is a positive development.

‘Back in the very early days of Zetland, I met a publisher – Jakob Kvist – who, listening to me going on about our ideals and values, asked about our business model. And when it was obvious that I didn’t really take that seriously he said: “Without a business model, your idealism is screwed”.

‘And that was very important to me.

‘Another, is something that I took from an article by Robert E Park, a sociologist and investigative journalist in Chicago, who wrote: “Without people, journalism is nothing”.

‘You have to have an audience in order to make a difference in the world. That was also, I think, really important to be reminded about

‘It’s interesting that when I was in journalism school, we actually talked very little about the audience, the people that we’re here for. Also, when I worked in the legacy media business at the beginning of this century, it was really not something that we talked much about – which is interesting, because we are here to serve people.”

‘I’ve always wanted someone to ask me about how the Danish Folk High School tradition has influenced my work.

‘It’s a very specific school tradition founded by the 18th-Century poet, philosopher and priest who is regarded as the Founding Father of the Danish nation, Nikolai Frederik Severin  Grundtvig.

‘It’s basically a school for life: there are no grades, exams or certificates, and you go to a folk high school between high school and further education.

‘I was brought up at a folk high school because my dad was a folk high school principal, and now I actually live at a folk high school and I’m married to a folk high school principal – and I think it’s fundamental to the trust society that we have not only in Denmark, but in the Nordic countries.

‘Grundtvig countered the classical education system in Denmark: the Latin school with the dull teacher who was standing on a plateau and man-ducting his pupils; he thought that dialogue with the students was a way of learning.

‘This thinking, this very specific enlightenment tradition is woven into my view upon journalism and what journalism is for and how it should sound.

His notion on education, enlightenment, society, poetry, history, is interlinked, on a deep level, with my notion about journalism.

‘I think there’s a lot to be learnt – not only in Denmark, but in the world of journalism – from his notion about community building and how to engage people in a meaningful relationship to the world, with the help of storytelling.’

• This article was first published here