Business as unusual? Journalism, economy and leadership in Mittmedia

Digitalization has radically changed the conditions for journalism in general and for local journalism in particular. In addition to competition from global tech giants for advertising revenue and a declining subscriber base, local news businesses also need to manage data-driven content production in a local journalistic context. In the Swedish media landscape, the local newspaper group Mittmedia stood out for its rapid transformation towards an all-digital operation, a process which accelerated in 2014.

The strategy received a lot of attention, and praise for innovative thinking was coupled with concerns about the impoverishment of journalism. Due to deteriorating finances, in 2016 the company changed course and renewed its investments in the printed newspapers together with continued digital development. Through a unique agreement, ‘embedded’ researchers from Mid Sweden University for four years (2017–2020) participated in internal meetings of the board and management, conducted interviews and was given full access to internal documents. Documents have also been provided for the preceding years of transformation.

Mittmedia was bought in 2019 by Bonnier News and the Norwegian company Amedia and the material provides an opportunity to follow the integration in the new organization. The purpose of the study is to create an understanding of whether, and if so how, it is possible for a mature media company to change substantially within the framework of an established industry structure. The analysis focuses on four key factors:

1. local journalism as a societal good
2. how Mittmedia saw the media landscape
3. management strategies and business culture
4. the role of technology.

By studying Mittmedia's transformation, we gain important knowledge about strategic choices of a large media conglomerate and their consequences for how economic and technical impact the realization of journalistic ideals in a digital reality. The project provides a deeper understanding of the changing conditions for the local press as part of the democratic conversation. During three years a research group from DEMICOM will work on the project, based on the material collected and auxiliary data. The results are reported both in the form of an anthology in Swedish that conveys the results for the benefit of the Swedish media industry, and in the form of scientific articles in academic journals.

The project is funded by Anne-Marie och Gustaf Anders Stiftelse för mediaforskning and runs 2021–2024. Participating researchers are Jonas Harvard, Ingela Wadbring, Catrin Johansson and Lars Nord.