Feature: Newsletters and podcasts are on the rise for local media in Europe
The digital transformation has encouraged local and community media outlets to explore new strategies for audience engagement and content distribution, according to a recent blog post by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF).
Researchers Urbano Reviglio and Danielle Borges surveyed various best practices of local and community media in Europe. They found innovative responses offered by local media outlets to engage audiences amidst the harsh competition of the attention economy.
Newsletters are one of the most popular strategies, which are used by media outlets around the region as a tool to deliver customised and specifically-targeted news to their readers. One outlet in Hungary even develop a newsletter intended to be printed and shared door-to-door by the community. Called “Nyomtassteis” (You Print It), one of their goals is to serve hard-to-reach communities in rural towns with poor internet connection and weak digital skills.
The researchers also discovered that podcasts are a thriving format in the EU. Their popularity differs across the region, with 27% users in Belgium to 45% in Spain. Nonetheless, the intimacy of hearing reporters directly through headphones makes for a more engaging and lucrative form of news-telling.
Read the CMPF blog post: https://cmpf.eui.eu/newsletters-podcasts-and-slow-media/
This blog post is the first of a series of three that will explore best practices in the local and community media sector and offer some examples found across the European Union (EU). It is written as part of the Local Media for Democracy project; an 18-month project co-funded by the European Union and launched by a consortium of partners: the Journalismfund Europe, the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), International Media Support (IMS), and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ).
