Universitätsbibliothek
Weimar Open Access

Subscription-based news platforms (such as “Apple News+” or “Readly”) that bundle content from different publishers into one comprehensive package and offer it to media users at a fixed monthly rate are a new way of accessing and consuming digital journalism. These services have received little attention in journalism studies, although they differ greatly from traditional media products and distribution channels. This article empirically investigates the perception of journalism platforms based on eight qualitative focus group discussions with 55 German news consumers. Results show that the central characteristics these platforms should fulfill in order to attract users are strikingly similar to the characteristics of media platforms from the music and video industries, in particular regarding price points, contract features, and modes of usage. Against this background, the potential and perspectives of a subscription-based news platform for journalism’s societal role are discussed.

Entrepreneurship and start-up activities are seen as a key response to recent upheavals in the media industry: Newly founded ventures can act as important drivers for industry transformation and renewal, pioneering new products, business models, and organizational designs (e.g. Achtenhagen, 2017; Buschow & Laugemann, 2020). In principle, media students represent a crucial population of nascent entrepreneurs: individuals who will likely become founders of start-ups (Casero-Ripollés et al., 2016). However, their willingness to start a new business is generally considered to be rather low (Goyanes, 2015), and for journalism students, the idea of innovation tends to be conservative, following traditional norms and professional standards (Singer & Broersma, 2020). In a sample of Spanish journalism students, López-Meri et al. (2020) found that one of the main barriers to entrepreneurial intentions is that students feel they lack knowledge and training in entrepreneurship. In the last 10 years, a wide variety of entrepreneurship education courses have been set up in media departments of colleges and universities worldwide. These programs have been designed to sensitize and prepare communications, media and journalism students to think and act entrepreneurially (e.g. Caplan et al., 2020; Ferrier, 2013; Ferrier & Mays, 2017; Hunter & Nel, 2011). Entrepreneurial competencies and practices not only play a crucial role for start-ups, but, in imes of digital transformation, are increasingly sought after by legacy media companies as well (Küng, 2015). At the Department of Journalism and Communication Research, Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, Germany, we have been addressing these developments with the “Media Entrepreneurship” program. The course, established in 2013, aims to provide fundamental knowledge of entrepreneurship, as well as promoting students‘ entrepreneurial thinking and behavior. This article presents the pedagogical approach of the program and investigates learning outcomes. By outlining and evaluating the Media Entrepreneurship program, this article aims to promote good practices of entrepreneurship education in communications, media and journalism, and to reflect on the limitations of such programs.

Wie können journalistische Angebote nachhaltig finanziert werden? Dies bleibt die Kernfrage für Medienhäuser und journalistische Neugründungen bei der Entwicklung und beim Aufbau tragfähiger digitaler Geschäftsmodelle. Die Autoren des vorliegenden Bandes vermitteln einen breiten Überblick über den Wissensstand zum Thema Paid Content, Plattformen und Zahlungsbereitschaft im Journalismus und eröffnen innovative Blickwinkel auf neuartige Plattformmodelle ebenso wie auf Motive und Bedürfnisse der Nutzerinnen und Nutzer digitaljournalistischer Inhalte. Auf Grundlage empirischer Forschung werden Handlungsempfehlungen für die nutzerzentrierte Ausgestaltung von Paid-Content-Angeboten sowie neue Perspektiven auf Zahlungsbereitschaft im digitalen Journalismus erschlossen – relevant sowohl für die Wissenschaft wie auch für die Medienpraxis.

Digital native news media have great potential for improving journalism. Theoretically, they can be the sites where new products, novel revenue streams and alternative ways of organizing digital journalism are discovered, tested, and advanced. In practice, however, the situation appears to be more complicated. Besides the normal pressures facing new businesses, entrepreneurs in digital news are faced with specific challenges. Against the background of general and journalism specific entrepreneurship literature, and in light of a practice–theoretical approach, this qualitative case study research on 15 German digital native news media outlets empirically investigates what barriers curb their innovative capacity in the early start-up phase. In the new media organizations under study here, there are—among other problems—a high degree of homogeneity within founding teams, tensions between journalistic and economic practices, insufficient user orientation, as well as a tendency for organizations to be underfinanced. The patterns of failure investigated in this study can raise awareness, help news start-ups avoid common mistakes before actually entering the market, and help industry experts and investors to realistically estimate the potential of new ventures within the digital news industry.

Frei nach dem Motto "Money for nothing and content for free" werden tagesaktuelle Informationen ebenso wie aufwändig recherchierte Reportagen im Digitalen vornehmlich kostenfrei genutzt. Wie können journalistische Angebote sich also nachhaltig refinanzieren? Die vorliegende Studie stellt Nutzerinnen und Nutzer in den Mittelpunkt. Sie fragt nach den Gründen für fehlende Zahlungsbereitschaft sowie danach, warum und wofür gezahlt wird. Außerdem gibt sie Medienschaffenden konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen, um ihre journalistischen Produkte ansprechend zu gestalten und so die Zahlungsbereitschaft von Leserinnen und Lesern zu steigern.