Publikum, publikum, publikum! - Et studie af NRKs nyhedsformidling i en fragmenteret offentlighed

Abstract

I dagens medielandskab har publikum adgang til et større medietilbud end nogensinde før. Det har bidraget til at publikum fragmenteres på tværs af et stadig større antal kanaler og platforme, hvilket har gjort det sværere for etablerede medier at nå ud til publikum med sit indhold. Samtidig kan fragmentationen af publikum bidrage til at polarisere samfundet og den offentlige debat, hvilket kan være et demokratisk problem. Dette studie undersøger hvordan NRK, som public service broadcaster imødekommer disse udfordringer, med et særligt fokus på organisationens nyhedsformidling. Med et fokus på det strategiske niveau spørger opgaven hvordan NRK laver og distribuerer nyheder til et fragmenteret publikum. Opgaven har identificeret fire overordnede strategier som NRK benytter sig af, for at møde fragmentationen af publikum. For det første har NRK etableret et univers bestående af en bred vifte af kanaler og platforme, og en særskilt nyhedsmærkevare kaldet ”først – med hele bildet”. For det andet benytter NRK sig af en række tabloide greb for at gøre sine nyheder mere attraktive for publikum. For det tredje har platformekspansionen til sociale medier budt på en række redaktionelle og publicistiske udfordringer for NRK. For at imødekomme disse udfordringer benytter NRK sig af en distributionsstrategi, som har til hensigt at lede publikum tilbage til NRKs egne platforme. For det fjerde benytter NRK publikumsdeltagelse som et værktøj for at skabe ekstra engagement omkring-, interesse for- og spredning af NRKs journalistiske produkter. For at belyse dette, har jeg primært benyttet mig af kvalitative interviews med ti ansatte i NRK, som alle har en strategisk- og/eller redaktionel funktion. Som supplement til interviewene har jeg analyseret en række interne og offentligt tilgængelige NRK dokumenter, mens kvantitative data fra Kantar TNS er blevet benyttet for at illustrere fragmentationen og give baggrund til analysen af NRKs strategier.

Today audiences have access to more content, channels and platforms than ever before. This has resulted in audience fragmentation. As a result, legacy media such as NRK find it increasingly difficult to reach audiences with their content. In addition, audience fragmentation is often seen as the cause of social polarization and may lead to fragmentation of the public sphere. This study investigates how NRK, as the norwegian public service broadcaster, has responded to these challenges with a particular emphasis on the organisation’s news dissemination. While focusing on the strategic level, this thesis asks how NRK produces and distributes news content to an audience which is becoming increasingly fragmentated. The thesis has identified four central strategies, that NRK has implemented in response to audience fragmentation. First, NRK has established a universe consisting of a wide range of channels and platforms, to maintain a presence on all platforms that their audience find relevant. In addition, NRK has also created a news profile called ”First – with the full story”. Second, NRK attempts to make its news content more attractive by incorporating a range of tools that emanate from tabloid journalism. Third, the expansion to social media has brought about a range of editorial challenges and challenges to distribution. In response, NRK has implemented a distibution strategy aimed at bringing the audience back to the organizations own universe. Fourth, NRK utilizes audience participation as a tool aimed at increasing audience engagement and interest for their journalism and at encouraging the sharing of journalistic products within social networking sites. To illuminate how NRK has approached audience fragmentation, empirical data were collected through qualitative interviews with a total of ten executives and editors distributed across the broadcasting- news- and regional departments of NRK. The interviews were supplemented by analyses of both internal and publicly available NRK documents, as well as quantitative data from several audience surveys conducted by Kantar TNS to illustrate the fragmentation and provide background to the analyses.