John Oliver nailed the challenges facing journalism, we help to overcome them.

This blog is written by Nine Connections’ Thijs de Bekker, former journalist and business developer.

John Oliver’s show Last Week Tonight has given his audiences half hour an hour a week of his trademark sarcasm packaged with an English accent. Oliver regularly delivers his viewers a much needed reality check on important topics that would normally not find a way into American living rooms, an audience consumed with reality tv shows, series and sports.

This week Oliver chose to highlight the problems facing journalism, and newspapers in particular. Ever since online media started to become mainstream, print sales have gone down across the board. Audiences now want the latest news and in the greatest internet tradition, prefer not to pay for it either. The transition to digital has proven to be very challenging for most outlets, especially if they want to keep their own identity but see their business model in peril.

It reminded me of an anecdote a high profile Dutch journalist who was working at the Guardian, once told me. The Guardian, a paper known for its quality reporting, had to conclude that its’ most popular article that year had been content about a cat and dog being best friends. Not exactly what you might expect at such an esteemed outlet.

Some papers have taken the measure to cut down on their journalistic resources, often just using the content coming in from the wires, sometimes making minor edits and adding a small amount of context. Instead of having a large editorial office with specialist departments and reporters, they retain a few high profile reporters but often rely on the wires and perhaps some low cost freelancers for additional content. The identity of the paper is then solidified by opinion pieces written by columnists.

But is it still news when it hits your doorstep? Except for investigative journalism and opinion pieces, the average reader will have learned most of the news before the paper had closed its deadline. Yes, the night before. The term “digital first” is perhaps not the intention of every outlet, but it is certainly a demand of the consumer.

Other titles have chosen to join forces, creating a wider spectrum of content, targeting more niche’s and creating much more distribution channels. These large publishing blocks have the ability to share resources and content over many different titles. Leveraging their production power and diverse audiences, to create bigger markets for advertisers.

Although Oliver mocks a journalist that “has to tweet 8 times a day”, we at Nine Connections certainly believe that using as many distribution channels or networks possible, is what is the most effective to create as much reach as possible. We all know examples of journalists that have a larger reach on their social media accounts than the outlets they work for. However it should not take their time away from their day to day job, which is of course is creating the best possible content and making sure the person is up to date and an expert in his field. Nine Connections provides them the tools they need to do just that.

What TV shows like the Daily Show and Oliver’s Last Week Tonight prove is that there is indeed a way to make sometimes confronting and difficult news attractive and accessible to different receptive audiences. Their timing late at night, and their strategy of using humor is much different than most publishers would chose, but it highlights the importance of both timing and strategy. Our Artificial Intelligence helps publishers make those decisions, advising them what content to share, where and when. Increasing reach and most importantly, engagements.

Whatever your strategy may be, whatever business model you may have chosen as a publisher, we believe that our tools help your social media editors make the right choices, help your journalists stay up to date and visible on social media, and do this in the most efficient way possible.

It’s up to you if you want to have a desk dedicated to “catracoon” videos, but if you don’t, we are there to help your other content getting the audience it deserves, without becoming CHORP.

Drop me a line @ thijs.debekker@nineconnections.com if you want to learn more.