Summary

From the introduction by World Editors Forum President Erik Bjerager, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director, Kristeligt Dagblad:

In this 2015 edition of Trends in Newsrooms, we highlight some of the exciting digital developments that have brought a new dimension to news content and delivery: from chat apps to analytics, to automation and drone journalism.

But newsrooms are not only about tools and processes. They are also about the people.

Tangible advances from experimentation and constantly challenging the way we work have helped narrow the gap between seasoned print professionals, digitally-minded editorial people and developers in our newsrooms.

This year, along with a couple of high profile female editor appointments, there has been a pleasing shift of women into digital leadership positions within news organisations. It is reason to celebrate, but the challenge of promoting gender equality in news remains huge. Fortunately an increasing number of leaders, like Bloomberg’s Emeritus Editor-in-Chief Matthew Winkler, are realising that it makes sense, particularly on a business level, to put more women in charge.

Sadly, the rapid technological advances driving much of the change in newsrooms also have a dark element. For as fast as we are changing our craft; so too are many state security machines, surveillance specialists and professional hackers.

Their ability to access our emails, listen in on conversations and map our every move through location tracking software, poses a threat to journalism. In this environment can sources realistically be guaranteed anonymity and protection?

The growing threat to investigative journalism posed by surveillance occupied the minds of WAN-IFRA colleagues in our Paris office for much of the past year.

However, focus shifted on that fateful day in January when 10 editorial staff were gunned down in Charlie Hebdo’s newsroom – less than two kilometres from our office.

The event has huge ramifications for the way we work; what we publish, how we use cartoons and, ultimately, how we defend free speech when it is so offensive as to incite violence on the horrific scale it did in Paris.

The top 2015 trends in global newsrooms we’ve identified are:

1. New Convergence - where games, virtual reality and wearables meet news
2. Source Protection Erosion – the rising threat to investigative journalism
3. The Rise of the Robots – welcome to your automated news future
4. Journalism After Charlie – lessons learned as the shockwaves continue
5. The Podcasting Revolution – the audio renaissance needs your attention
6. Chat Apps Surge – riding the new wave of social media
7. Analytics Evolution - key metrics for growing audiences from the newsroom
8. The Business of Gender – removing barriers to promotion and confronting online harassment
9. Innovation in Small Newsrooms – inspiration from around the world

Read our detailed analysis of these trends in the book (104 pages) of essays and practical tips we've curated.

We have also highlighted five thought leaders in Q&As that showcase the thinking and practice of ground-breaking news leaders. Heading the pack is The Guardian's outgoing Editor-in-Chief Alan Rusbridger, with Rappler.com's CEO and Editor Maria Ressa, The Washington Post's Executive Editor Martin Baron, Zero Hora's Marta Gleich and Upworthy's Amy O'Leary. 

You can follow the discussion about #TrendsinNewsrooms online.