On 21 April, Hattie Brett, BSME chair and editor of Grazia, was joined by Jane Bruton, deputy editor and director of Lifestyle, Telegraph Media Group, Jaimie Kaffash, editor of Pulse, and Paul McNamee, editor of The Big Issue, to discuss publishing in a post-Covid world. Here are some key points to take away.
Summarised by Angela Locatelli, Editorial Admin Assistant, APL Media.
1. Data is your friend
Try to learn what your readers want and adapt to their needs, said Jane. “At the beginning of the pandemic, we started a system that gives us a really good understanding of what our readers are engaging with,” she said. “It’s not just about what they’re clicking on — it’s what drives them to take out subscriptions, how long they’re engaging with that article and what they might go on to read next.”
2. Create a sense of community
“When we realised lockdown was coming, we ripped up our daily section in the paper and made it into a ‘you’re not alone’ section,” recalled Jane. But that wasn’t all: the team organised movie watch-alongs with film critics, set up WhatsApp and Facebook groups, phoned readers and linked with charities giving out grants. “It helped us get close to readers and develop a community spirit.”
3. Find out what your audience needs – and give it to them
At Pulse, a magazine for health professionals, the past year has led to a change in direction. “Instead of chasing clicks, we’ve been making sure the stuff we’re doing is really useful to our readership, and that has led to a traffic we’d never seen before,” said Jaimie. “This change is something that we can take forward — we’ll still do stories about health ministers saying something stupid, but the idea is that we’re distilling everything for our readership.”
4. Flexibility is the way forward…
Now that many editorial teams have proved they can work remotely, there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle, said Jaimie. “Before the pandemic, we had a fairly strict working from home policy,” he said. “Post-pandemic, it looks like we’ll absolutely have to have a completely flexible working arrangement — we’re not going to attract people if we don’t do that.”
5. …but new staff members still benefit from being in the office
Having said that, added Jaimie, training new team members and getting them on board while working from home has been difficult. “Being in the office is pretty essential for new members of staff to see how everything works and buzz off each other — having everyone in the office to learn from each other is really important.” And the same is true for work experience: while it can be done remotely, it just isn’t ideal. Jane added that the Telegraph graduate trainees are being prioritised in the return to office plans.
6. If you’re starting a publication, remember to have fun
When Paul was in the early stages of his career, he started his own publication. What advice would he give to someone in the same situation? “It taught us a lot that helped us in our careers subsequently, but for about a year we just had a brilliant time,” he said. “That isn’t particularly good business advice, but find a way to enjoy it. There will be enough difficulties coming — try to enjoy the moment.”
7. There are still exciting opportunities
Despite the challenges facing journalism, this can be an exciting time to join the industry, said Jane. “People are paying for journalism that would have been free online a few years ago,” she said. Take the Telegraph: the title’s publishing team is back in the office, which has created new jobs; subscriptions are going up; and the digital publishing side of things is becoming increasingly important. “There are some really exciting opportunities,” Jane added.
8. Keep in mind the role of journalism in a society
“We underestimate how important journalism can be to people,” said Jaimie — something demonstrated by the increase in traffic many publications have seen over the past year, especially the ones reporting news or analysing complex subjects. “When there’s a crisis, people do look to journalism to help out. Obviously, there are still problems in the industry, but we do provide a public service, and that needs to be remembered.”
9. Be open
An editor’s job is to make decisions, but if lockdown has taught us anything, Paul said, it’s to allow other ways of working. “You do not always know best,” he explained. “Allow people to come and don’t terrify them into the corner. Just because you’ve done it for a long time and it has worked, it doesn’t mean it’s going to work again.”
10. Less is more
Investing in quality journalism is more important than maximising output. “When there’s one big story in town, different departments will jump on it,” said Jane. “But you have to work out the best way of tackling it and really go and be confident with that, rather than having lots of similar-themed features diluting your big hero piece.”
