Aron Pilhofer: «Innovation in journalism should be a measurable process»

February 10, 2024
Enjoi Team
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What is innovation in journalism? Innovation, Aaccording to Aron Pilhofer, journalist and expert in business models, digital transformation and innovation at The Guardian, innovating means carrying out a recognisable and objectively measurable process.

«We often talk about innovation as a thing, as a technology, as a product or some sort of object such as AI, or VR. I don't really see innovation as a thing. I talk about innovation as a process. As an evolutionary process, as an incremental process or even as a dull process that moves you gradually from something that's good to something that's better.»

This is how Aron Pilhofer, journalist at The Guardian and James B. Steele Chair in Journalism Innovation at Temple University, US, defines ‘innovation’. Pilhofer gave a keynote speech on "Innovation and sustainability in journalism today" during the ENJOI Final Event “Innovation and engagement on the journalism horizon”, held at Palazzo Pepoli on the 17th of November 2023. 

«The fact that innovation must be a measurable and quantifiable process means introducing metrics to define and monitor the various steps of improvement and success. Having metrics is also helpful in understanding what progress is trying to achieve in the most practical way», Pilhofer said.

Considering the relationship and the engagement with the audience, an example of innovation could be changing the perspective towards readers and, therefore, the relationship with them. In other words, it means stopping considering the readers as the passive recipients of the journalistic information and instead thinking to them as the engine that moves the journalistic machine. The success in changing the relationship between readers and journalists could be measured by the engagement of readers or the increase in the number of subscribers to the newspaper, perhaps even leading to new sustainable business models in journalism

An example reported by Pilhofer is that of the Financial Times, which launched a membership programme, a kind of subscription campaign, about ten years ago. The newspaper aimed to reach one million subscribers in 2023, but they initially failed to make substantial progress. Therefore, they decided to systematically measure their progress by introducing a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), deriving unconventional metrics that ultimately contributed to their success. In fact, they managed to achieve their goal one year in advance.

Find out more about Aron Pilhofer’s perspective on journalism innovation in the video interview below.

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