The Revolution Reshaping News

The ITN Sir David Nicholas Memorial Lecture 12th May 2026

By Deborah Turness

Thank you all for being here. And my thanks too, to Nigel Dacre and the ITN 1955 Club Committee, for inviting me to speak tonight.

Like so many in this room, ITN gave me my first break in journalism. I spent 25 wonderful years there, returning later to be CEO. It was ITN that gave me opportunities I could never have dreamed of, when I first started - as a wide-eyed intern - in the Paris bureau at the age of 23. From its fiery news desks, out into the field, and then around the world. And eventually to producing programmes and documentaries, then leading newsrooms.

I met my husband John while working at ITN - and gave birth to both our daughters while Editor of ITV News. My family are here tonight. When I think about ITN, it’s hard to separate my professional and personal life.

So, it’s a real honour to deliver this lecture this evening. Even more, because it’s in the name of Sir David Nicholas – the man so many here tonight as the founding father of the ITN spirit.That challenger-brand mindset still pulses through the organisation today.

Working at ITN teaches you that those who have the least resources must be the most resourceful. It’s the reason whyI’ve always agreed with the old adage that “necessity is the mother of invention”. 

Sir David wasn’t just a great journalist. He was a bold innovator, a restless transformer and an early disrupter. It therefore seemed fitting to choose to speak this evening about what is a profound moment of disruption in our industry. And what it will take to meet it.

Sir David understood the importance of remaining resolutely focussed on the consumer. That the industry must always stand ready to disrupt itself - or be disrupted. In a different moment of fast-moving change, he instinctively understood how to make ITN’s offer more compelling than the competition. 

It was Sir David who reimagined TV news, over at ITN’s then-headquarters in Wells Street, just around the corner from us here. He understood the power of personality - the first to put a female news anchor in the chair, in 1978, creating the historic,iconic partnership of Anna Ford and Reggie Bosenquet.

And he understood the potential of live television - with his pioneering continuous coverage of the 1969 Moon landings,securing ITN’s first ever RTS award. A TV Times journalist, allowed into the gallery for that historic programme, wrote at the time about: “a wild haired Welshman, who produced the programme with detached calmness” and noted that “when the 12-hour TV marathon came off air, they celebrated with champagne, bacon and eggs.” Those were the days! I can only imagine the game-changing innovation David would have conjured up, to cover the recent Artemis II mission to the far side of the Moon.

Like so many ITN journalists, I’ve spent my career striving to meet the challenge of his legacy. A legacy that teaches us to turn threats into opportunities. To embrace change with imagination.

No one can dispute that, today, our industry is once again experiencing a revolution. A revolution that is reshaping newsfor a new generation of consumers.

It is this revolution that I want to talk about this evening. The forces driving it. How our industry must respond. And theconsequences of being left behind.

A DISPATCH FROM THE FRONTLINE

Now you might have expected me to use this lecture to talk about my departure from the BBC. To focus on the unique challenges facing the new Director-General. And I wish Matt Brittin well as he takes up the DG role next week. Or to talk about how the new Charter should strengthen the BBC’s governance, to protect its independence.

As you would expect, I do have views on all of this - because I love the BBC and care deeply about its future. It is a brilliant place made up of amazing people. At BBC News, I had the privilege to lead a talented organisation of over 5000, delivering powerful journalism to half a billion people around the world, in over 40 languages. I can see some of my former colleagues here tonight - and I remain so grateful for their dedication, resilience and partnership. 

But, tonight, my focus is going to be broader - because the disruption being faced by our industry transcends all news brands. It impacts all journalists - and all journalism, everywhere. 

I don’t plan on painting a relentlessly negative picture this evening. Those who know me well would not expect me to deliver a “game over” or a “we are all going to hell in a hand cart” kind of speech. I am an optimist - a cup half full person.

I believe there are very good reasons to have faith in a bright future for what I call the ‘established’ news providers. A term I prefer to ‘old’ or ‘legacy’ media, with the implication that they belong in the past, or cannot succeed in the future.

For decades, these organisations have delivered outstanding, brave, impartial and urgent journalism - vital to our society. And they are needed now more than ever. So, while I will be diagnosing the challenge tonight, I am also determined to set out a positive way forward.

I’m not coming to you tonight as someone who has suddenly discovered all the answers. Quite the opposite. But, working in the news media all my career, I have had the privilege of a front row seat to the rapid pace of change over many years – both witnessing and driving.

In the US, as President of NBC News - the nation’s largest news provider: launching NBC News International as a global business, and overseeing the global brand Euronews after its acquisition. In the UK, as CEO of ITN - the UK’s largest PSB production house. Then, most recently, as CEO of BBC News - leading the UK’s biggest newsroom, while supporting a global revenue-driving news business. 

Leading organisations. Re-shaping brands. Launching new revenue models. Publicly funded and commercial. Local and global. All giving me, perhaps, a unique breadth of experience.

And, now, I have had a chance to look from the outside in, rather than the inside out. I’ve used my time since leaving the BBC to go on a journey. To piece together the new map of our media ecosystem. To gain a deeper understanding of what’s really going on beneath its surface. Where investment in the industry is going. What’s driving growth. How consumer behaviour is changing.

I’ve spoken to people across the industry - here at home, and in the US - because the tidal wave of disruption that hits us here often begins across the Atlantic. I’ve explored how podcasts and subscription journalism are creating new revenue models.

I’ve spoken with those launching new platforms and building starts-ups. And to the private equity investors placing bets on their growth. With independent journalists who left big networks to build their own entrepreneurial brands, helping establish a new journalist creator economy. And to those who are on the precipice of un-tethering from their media mothership, excited to join the party. 

I’ve listened to the talent agents, who are building out their clients’ brands. I’ve compared notes with social scientists, and the audience data experts tracking this rapidly changing media landscape. 

These conversations have been fascinating and enlightening. Having the time to talk with brilliant people and explore ideas, without the pressure of running a giant news organisation, has been a joy!

So, when Nigel Dacre invited me to speak to you, it felt only natural to use this opportunity to share a ‘progress report’ on everything I’ve learnt. It’s why I’ve titled my lecture tonight: ‘The Revolution Reshaping News: A Dispatch from the Frontline’.

UNDERSTANDING THE REVOLUTION 

I believe the impact of this revolution on established news providers may be greater than the advent of the digital age, or the arrival of social media. Because they were, in truth, about new platforms - new spaces where high quality, trusted journalism could still find its place. Essentially: same journalism, different location. 

This moment of disruption is so potent because it goes to the heart of how the relationship between news provider and consumer is shifting: From institutions to individuals. From big media brands to personalities. From PSB’s to independent journalists. All with dramatic consequences for where news consumption is collapsing, and where it is growing at speed.

We’re all familiar with the decline in TV news audiences – withnearly 4m fewer people getting their news from TV in the last five years, and that includes streaming. At the same time,we’ve seen a trebling of the number getting their news from YouTube. A ten-fold increase from TikTok.

I believe that the established media hasn’t confronted the hard truth, that this revolution isn’t just about consumers moving to different platforms. It’s that they are choosing more direct forms of journalism in a more fragmented media universe.

We’ve seen an explosion of independent journalists and commentators hosting podcasts, creating their own YouTube channels and publishing articles on Substack, where they can monetise their work directly.

From Piers Morgan’s Uncensored YouTube channel, to Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall’s The News Agents podcast. From the hugely successful The Rest Is . . . brand, to Jim Waterson’s fast-growing London Centric on Substack. Andin the US, from Tina Brown’s ‘Fresh Hell’ to new brands like Puck and The Ankler.

This creator journalism is not a side show. It is fast becoming the show. Just look at the audiences the biggest independent journalist in the US have built on YouTube alone: Joe Rogan, with more than 20 million subscribers, Tucker Carlson with nearly six million, Megyn Kelly with more than four million, and Mehdi Hasan with nearly two million.

If we have been wondering for years what would eventually replace the broadcast news mass media model, we are seeing the answer now.  These new forms of journalism are taking the time, loyalty and trust, that consumers used to invest in big mainstream news providers. 

To understand what is driving this, I spoke to Piers Morgan -who has built a YouTube audience of more than four million for Uncensored, and is now expanding the brand to History Uncensored and The Royals Uncensored. He told me: “Young people are incredibly informed about what is happening in the world, thanks to constant social media updates, but what they really want to know is what they should think about the stories in news.” He claims his viewers perceive him “to be authentic, and intellectually honest.”

It’s clear that this is not just another technology-enabled stage in the story of media progress. What we are witnessing is the wholesale shift from one established information ecosystem to another. And, if we’re honest, one where established news providers have - so far - struggled to authentically play at scale.

I would argue that this is because this revolution is a rejection of - and a reaction against - the very ‘broad reach’ model that the established media is built on. In many ways, it is the antithesis of everything that the news media has stood for.

What do I mean by this? Success in the new world is driven by a recognition that consumer trust is now earned through:Authenticity. Independence. Opinion. Authentic - with the informality and unpredictability of real conversations.Independent - with the freedom of the presenter to speak their mind. Opinionated - without the need to constantly tread carefully around issues.

All creating the sense of a one-to-one experience and the feeling of intimacy and greater connection - versus the polished, controlled formality that is in the DNA of the established media – and, yes, the impartiality. This is the uncomfortable truth, that has been crystalised for me throughmy conversations over the past few weeks.

That’s not to say that there isn’t brilliant, bold, creative work going on across the industry, to respond to these new consumer demands. I enjoyed watching Cathy Newman’s innovative new evening programme on Sky News last week, which is seeking to crack this exact challenge.

CNN recently showed a willingness to experiment in this spacetoo, but found out just how difficult this is. Lead anchor Jake Tapper abandoned his CNN studio to anchor part of his programme from his personal office, with a backdrop of political memorabilia and large, vintage podcast-style mikes - an attempt to mimic the more informal YouTube style. It had, at best, mixed reviews. This new authenticity is hard. Andconsumers quickly see through any attempt that feels manufactured or fake.

A glance at the Apple or Spotify Top Ten podcasts, or YouTube’s most popular channels, shows us that this space is dominated by independent media – and traditional media have not yet been able to fully crack the code.

These new forms of content are driving growth in audiences and revenues. This is a new ‘gold rush’, with private equity investors eager to fund the next big talent, who can turn their brand into an empire. The value of the global podcast market alone is projected to grow from $32bn last year to $114bn by 2030.

In this fragmented universe, news and information content across YouTube, Podcasts, Substack, newsletters, social media and more - are far bigger in aggregate than broadcast.

I’ve been talking to the co-founder of Substack, Hamish McKenzie, who is writing a new book called ‘How to Save the Media’. He argues that the disruption of established media has happened in phases: First, there were the big media institutions that were the juggernauts of the news industry – if you like, the gatekeepers of the channels through which the content flowed - and the editorial and advertising revenues. Then came the social platforms - where creators have editorial freedom over their content, but big tech are now the gatekeepers of distribution and advertising. Now, Hamish argues, we are in the third phase – where Substack and podcasts are a gatekeeper-free world, where creators have ownership of their editorial, their distribution and a share of their revenue.

A world where individual journalists are paid by individual consumers for their work, and can build a viable business of their own. The UK is Substack’s second largest and fastest-growing market after the US, with over half a million people now paying subscriptions direct to writers for their work. And it has spawned a raft of competitor platforms, such as Beehiiv, now providing alternative places to grow a direct consumer base.

This new phase of one-to-one direct relationships is becoming well and truly mainstream, accelerating the downward spiral of the one-to-many broadcast model. This point was made starkly by US media journalist Dylan Byers in a discussion on his podcast ‘The Grill Room’. He said that the: “long inexorable decline of linear television, particularly television news that I have been talking about ad nauseum for years, really feels like it’s arrived”. His guest, a former NBC colleague of mine - Noah Oppenheim - agreed, saying: “the era of broad reach is over. We now inhabit a fractured landscape, where trying to aggregate millions of viewers is not just a “fools errand” but “not worth a ton of time and effort”. I agree.

The move away from mass reach, and its replacement with a fragmented media landscape, is what defines this revolution. It is a long-term, irreversible shift more profound than we have so far understood. And completely reshaping our industry.

This was brought home to me recently, when I spoke to Sarah - the nurse who treated me when I found myself in A&E, after my hand became embroiled in a fight between a cat and a dog.Sarah asked me about my line of work, and it triggered a fascinating conversation.

It turns out she is a total news junkie. Obsessed with politics,here and in the US. Despite juggling long shifts and a five-year-old, she never misses an episode of The Rest is Politics or The News Agents. She listens to Pod Save America and The Rachel Maddow Show. She’s just downloaded Substack. Not once did she mention a traditional news provider – despite growing up on a typical BBC and ITV media diet. I asked her why – and her answer was very simple: “I trust them. I feel like I know them. I feel like they’re not led into one way of thinking.They have edge.”

Sarah is exactly the kind of person all news organisations want to reach: Engaged. Curious. Committed. But making very different media choices. Trusting in new and different ways. We have lost Sarah.

SURVIVING THE REVOLUTION

The reason why this matters transcends the impact on any one organisation. It matters because this new media diet is, in the main, driven by commentary and conversation.

And, because the established media has not yet broken into this new world at scale, it isn’t yet the home of frontline reporting by courageous journalists from dark and dangerous places across the globe. Or, with notable exceptions, the home of risky undercover investigations that expose wrongdoing and uncover lies.

I was listening to media podcast ‘The Grill Room’ last week, where they were asking “Are Creators the new Cronkite?”. I believe the answer is very clearly ‘not yet’. But if the established media want to continue to be the ones to carry forward that legacy, then they must find a way to succeed in this new world. Otherwise, how will consumers access vitaljournalism in the future?

And, just as importantly, how will it be funded? Because the advertising revenues are following the consumers onto new platforms. And it’s those revenues that fund expensive journalism: Reporting live from downtown Tehran, or the front lines of Ukraine. Standing up to the powerful, exposingcorruption and taking on the vested interests.

It’s not only our duty to follow the consumer, but our necessity to follow the money. Because journalism costs. And even if you are funded by a licence fee, the journalism is funded by people being willing to pay it – essentially a subscription model.

In a world of dictators and autocrats, state-run propaganda, disinformation and AI slop, the need for this eyewitness journalism - funded and delivered by the established news media - is more critical than ever. Reporters Without Borders revealed last month that, for the first time in the 25-year history of theWorld Press Freedom Index, over half of the world's population lacks access to free, fair, and fact-based information.

So, the challenge is clear: Will we wake up to the existential nature of this great shift in our industry? Will we respond with the speed, urgency and purpose required? Or will we be like the proverbial frog in boiling water, who knew it was getting warm, but failed to jump? As Rosa Luxemburg famously said: "Before a revolution happens, it is perceived asimpossible; after it happens, it is seen as having been inevitable." This revolution has been coming for a long time, but it’s not too late.

I did promise that I was going to be an optimist. And I believe there is still time to join it. I believe the established news media has everything it needs to succeed. The assets required to win in this new world. The talented, experienced, expert journalists who have spent a lifetime carving out a reputation - and the consumers who crave a connection with them. Brands that have meaning for audiences. And a legacy of trust. The irony is lost on no one, that many of the biggest names leading this revolution built their profiles inside established media players.

However, my optimism is conditional on whether the established media is willing to deploy those assets to win, andnot be left behind. So, tonight, I want to share the conclusions I have reached, having listened to those on the front line of this revolution.

As I see it, there are three clear priorities –

Restore trust - understand what drove the decline, and how it can be reversed.

Reconnect through authenticity – come to terms with what it will take to give consumers the authentic, independent voices they crave.

Reinvent the newsroom – creating an engine that delivers across this fragmented landscape.

Let me take each of these in turn.

1. RESTORING TRUST

First, Restoring Trust.

I believe that to understand why audiences are moving from institutions to individuals, we have to understand the long-term decline in trust in those institutions. A shift accelerated by global events, societal change and new technologies. 

Social scientist Alfie Spencer argues that the rupture in trust goes back to the 2008 financial crash, when banks were bailed out, but many ordinary people lost their hard-earned homes and livelihoods. And suffered for years. The system failed them, and they felt they had been lied to. This sense of injustice and powerlessness, of feeling betrayed, impacted trust in governments, banks – and, yes, the media. 

Over the following decade, this dissatisfaction with the traditional political and social order translated into the rise of populist movements. It was fuelled by the growing sense that the system no longer works for them. That the routes to get ahead are closed off. That their children are no longer guaranteed a better quality of life than the previous generation.That ‘others’ are being put ahead of them. All exacerbating an ‘us and them’ mood in society. We saw some of the consequences of that in the rejection of established political parties in last week’s UK elections.

Meanwhile social media platforms connected like-minded people, and became home to the growing disinformation industry. Troll armies and click bait factories flooded the social media landscape, with viral lies that fed on outrage. Add to this,highly polarising events - Brexit, the 2016 US Presidential election and then the 2020 Covid pandemic. All whipping up aperfect storm, where dissatisfaction and disinformation could thrive.

As a result, we saw a loss of trust in experts. The idea of agreed facts started to be undone. The concept of ‘truth’ replaced by “my truth” and “your truth”. All weakening critical parts of our social scaffolding. 

Trust in news was a casualty, falling - according to Reuters,from 51% in 2015 to just 35% last year – a 16-point decline. This downward trajectory was the reality, when I walked into BBC News in late 2022. The BBC was then - and remains - the world’s most trusted news provider. But on every metric, in common with many institutions, the long-term trend was down.In brand terms, trust is the BBC’s USP – its unique selling pointin the UK and around the world.

As CEO, I was therefore clear that my number one priority must be to build a plan to reverse that decline in trust. And we did. The changes we made helped to turn the tide of decline.Through radical interventions, we saw trust begin to grow again - even during the last UK and US election cycles, when it usually takes a hit - with public views of the trustworthiness of BBC News increasing from 57% to 62% in the year to 2024/25.

So, what did we do? We started – as I’ve again been doing – by listening to audiences. To ask consumers across the UK, and around the globe, one question: what would it take to grow your trust in BBC News? The answer came back in many languages, but a consistent message. Five requirements,which became a mission statement for BBC News. 

They told us: to earn our trust, we need:

Clarity in the chaos - giving them the facts they need to make decisions about their lives.

Courage – reporting from difficult and dangerous places and to uncover wrongdoing.

Fairness and Respect – fairness in reflecting the true breadth of the broadening political spectrum. Respect – recognising that licence fee payers are stakeholders, and should be given a voice and a say in BBC journalism. 

And, finally, Transparency. Show us your workings - pull back the curtain on your journalism and how you check the facts - so we know why we can trust you. 

That’s how BBC Verify was born. It was a new, industry-leading forensic journalism and fact-checking service - which quickly became the leading global verification brand. With Ofcom research finding it had fast become the most used fact-checking tool in the UK. And crucially, because we tracked this closely, it proved to be the effective of all our initiatives in growing trust with the audience. A year after its launch, surveys showed that those who had consumed Verify content said they were more likely to trust the BBC as a result. It’s all about earning trust.

‘Trust is Earned’ was the title of the BBC News’ Mission Statement, and became the organisation’s tagline - and the humility implied in that statement was intentional. It was saying:please don’t think we think we are a big institution that’s here to tell you what you need. We work for you, and are listening and striving to earn your trust. It was a cultural shift. And, in my view, an overdue re-positioning of the brand and the relationship between those who pay and those who serve. 

They asked for: Clarity. Courage. Fairness. Respect. Transparency. But today - four years on – once again listening to consumers, there is a new priority that we would urgently need to add: Authenticity.

2. RECONNECT THROUGH AUTHENTICITY

And this is my second priority: to reconnect through authenticity.

The dictionary tells us that authenticity is “the quality of being genuine, real or true to oneself, rather than a copy or imitation”.  And it is this sense of being ‘themselves’ that is drawing consumers towards independent journalists, and away from established media brands.

And yet, a news organisation’s human capital has always been its greatest asset, and helped to define its brand. For audiences, presenters and correspondents are the DNA of the organisation. But now that human capital must be deployed in a different way.

News providers will need to accept that, in future, the connection with their consumers must flow through a more direct relationship with their talent. And one that feels less controlled, less formal and less corporate. Human to human.

What might this mean in practice? It might mean going to a news organisation’s website and, instead of finding content organised only around topics, being able to follow individual correspondents and specialists. Let me explain further.Imagine, as a Channel 4 News consumer, if you could follow your most trusted journalists - just as you’d expect to do on a social platform: you might choose to follow Lindsey Hilsum or Matt Frei, Victoria Macdonald or Alex Thomson.

Let’s take the excellent Victoria Macdonald, Channel 4’s Health and Social Care Editor: In this world, you would access a live feed of health articles and analysis; receive an authored daily newsletter; personalised news alerts on health stories, with links to Victoria’s take; interact with her in online Q&As and beinvited to in-person events. Building a connected relationship between the consumer and the correspondent you trust.Imagine this today, as consumers seek trusted information on the hantavirus outbreak, with disinformation raging online. This deeper human connection would pay dividends in the form of trust.

For too long, we - the established media - have limited the potential of our talent to build these kinds of direct relationships. And undervalued the potential for what I would call the ‘Connected Correspondent’ to express their professional perspectives, in a way that relates.

But, we all have to accept: those connections aren’t only made on our own platforms. And journalists will want to build those relationships in the spaces where people are increasingly getting their news: on YouTube, Spotify, Substack and TikTok.

News organisations may worry that all this is a challenge to the primacy of their own brand. And, believe me, I get it! But my recent conversations have only strengthened my view: that news providers are going to have to be more prepared to liberate their talent. To strike a New Deal, with a compelling offer that outweighs the value of going it alone in the new ‘Talent Economy’.

This New Deal could see news organisations providing capabilities, technology and support, to enable their talent to be present - in their own right - on the platforms and in the formats, where growth now lies. While the talent agree to sign up to a set of values and principles. To impartiality. To the lines that cannot be crossed. Because I believe that it is possible to strike a different balance - that retains the principle of impartiality, but doesn’t let it get in the way of an authentic, human conversation or article.

It could see news organisations promote online routes to other platforms, where consumers can discover more from the talent they trust. It might mean forging new business partnerships, with shared incentives and revenues. There isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ template for this new deal. But, without a willingness to embrace this kind of thinking, the draw will be too great and the opportunity too attractive – and the best will simply leave.

If some this sounds far-fetched, this is the reality – right now - in the US news market. I recently spoke to Olivia Metzger - one of the most successful news talent managers in New York - who I worked closely with when I ran NBC News. Olivia told me that she used to spend most of her time negotiating exclusive,multi-year deals for her clients with big US networks. Now she spends the majority of her time trying to extract her clients from those deals, offering maybe 20 per cent of their time to the networks, while she helps them to monetise their IP, and grow their brand with the rest of their time.

I’ve been speaking to some of those who have made the leapaway from the established media. I’ve mentioned Piers Morgan. He told me: “Many more mainstream journalists could, and I know actively want to, do the same - if only their timid bosses let them off the leash, and were more adventurous in the way they utilise their talent.…If they don’t, then the inexorable migration of younger viewers (and) listeners away from mainstream media to YouTube channels like mine will continue at speed.”

I’ve also spoken to former CNN presenter Don Lemon, who has used that freedom to develop a ground-breaking new form of journalism on YouTube. Pursuing a story as it develops,sometimes live-streaming for hours at a time - most famously leading to his arrest, while covering an ICE protest at a Minnesota church. It’s enabled him to build his brand – what he calls the ‘Lemon Nation’ and a community of followers - his‘Lemon Heads’, who read his daily ‘Lemon Drop’ newsletter.He claims he can now offer “news without corporate overlords” to his new direct consumers.

Closer to home, I caught up with Amol Rajan, who has walked away from Radio 4’s Today Programme to embrace this new world as an independent creator, while remaining the host of University Challenge. He was buzzing with start-up energy and ambition for how he can deploy his unique brand of accessible,intelligent journalism. We’ll discover in the Autumn whetherAmol really is a Traitor or a Faithful, when he heads to the castle with Claudia and the other celebrities.

Piers. Don. Amol. They have all reached the conclusion that to pursue growth in a world where authenticity is prized and rewarded, they must step away from established media players. No doubt others will follow. So the challenge is: are we willing to make a New Deal with talent that is more appealing than to go it alone.

3. REINVENTING THE NEWSROOM

This takes me to my third priority – which is that surviving this Revolution Reshaping News will require nothing short of the reinvention of the newsroom.

I know how hard companies are reforming and reinvesting. I know how tough it is to drive transformation and change in a 24/7 business, during a relentless news agenda.

In my time leading BBC News, I was fortunate to work with some outstanding leaders, who understood the consumer challenge - and delivered the change. Together, we launched a live streaming operation. Reinvented digital products.Integrated vertical video and Live social-media style news feeds. In fact, our live page covering the murder of Charlie Kirk saw over 63m page views globally, with so many younger consumers. Invested in ‘In Depth’ talent-led long read journalism and newsletters. Launched podcasts and visualised them. Discovered new audiences on YouTube. And we aggressively grew a following on TikTok: with a 62% year on year growth to now reach 2bn monthly views. We reached new audiences, in new ways, with new formats.

We felt we were creating a truly ‘digital first’ offer. But the brutal truth is that, even with all this innovation, most large news organisations remain structured around broadcast – with key decisions being made with a broadcast-first approach.

Yet I would argue that, if the established media are to thrive in this revolution, then they need to start from where the consumer is. Allocating people and resources on that basis.

Starting again to build a truly digital and social production studio - that enables them to produce and distribute content, in the formats and on the platforms that consumers want. A greenfield or start-up approach if you like.

This studio must be capable of delivering a ‘flywheel’ of content: from visualised podcasts to short clips, from newsletters to live streams, analysis articles to long reads, long form documentaries to live events. All supporting the talent-centred model, I described earlier. The output from this digital studio becomes the building blocks of the broadcast offer. Turning today’s newsroom model upside down.

This ‘Flywheel Newsroom’ is what a genuinely digital-first model looks like. It provides for broadcast, but is designed for the future. For the avoidance of doubt, I’m not saying we should be killing off the concept of the evening news bulletin. I am saying we should make it differently.

It’s no coincidence that arguably the world’s most successful news media story of recent times is rooted in a moment of total reinvention. I’m talking about the New York Times, which - under the leadership of Mark Thompson - decided to radically reinvent itself back in 2013. Relentlessly investing in products, data and technology. Launching the trailblazing The Daily podcast and a suite of newsletters. Acquiring The Athletic, to bolster sport coverage, and Wordle as the core of a new daily challenges offer.

By taking a ruthlessly digital-first approach, they transformed the Grey Lady - the epitome of old school print media, with a declining distribution model - into a data-driven media powerhouse. Now with over 13 million overall subscribers, driven by a 16% year on year increase in digital subs. The reinvention of the New York Times is evidence that: even the most established of news media are never too old to change.

So . . . I’m almost ready to file my dispatch, from the frontline of this news revolution. Having shared what I have learnt - from consumers to creators, from investors to innovators – I’ve said nearly everything I want to say.

THE LURE OF OPINION

But before I sign off, let me leave you with one further, perhaps provocative, thought. The lure of opinion. And the amount of energy now generated by opinion-led journalism in these new spaces

Debate and opinion have always been a critical part of the established news media’s broadcast offer – from LBC to 5 Live, from Question Time to election debates and local radio phone-ins. Yet replicating this in the digital world has somehow proved harder.

Instead, opinion is the preserve of online spaces that have increasingly become echo chambers. That keep people in their own tribes, reinforcing polarisation. Driven by algorithms that give you more of what you already think and like. Designed to incentivise division, rather than understanding.

Established media organisations have an opportunity to become the town square -creating digital spaces where people are exposed to ideas different from their own. Spaces that are thought provoking, and even provocative. That offer a kaleidoscope of thinking, mirroring the diversity of opinion across the country.

I am not arguing that correspondents working for organisations with a duty of impartiality should be giving their own opinions.Or a free for all, with anyone able to self-publish on trusted news platforms. But what I am asking, is the extent to which freedom of speech should become a companion to impartiality.Hosting the debate, and keeping people talking, would be doing a service to the public.

Why wouldn’t an organisation have a walled ‘op-ed’ section online, clearly sign-posted and thoughtfully curated?Commissioning its own range of voices, and linking to articles on other news providers. Why wouldn’t they curate a range of podcasts from different perspectives? Ensuring diversity of thought across the portfolio as a whole. For PSBs, this will no doubt throw up some challenges. But from my initial conversations with regulators, there are no deal-breaking blockers.

I think it’s time to trust that audiences are well versed in navigating the difference between news and opinion. And I have just found myself asking: if we’ve now reached the point where that the risks of getting into this space are outweighed by the consequences of not doing so.

CONCLUSION

I think that might be enough provocation for one evening, so I’ll come to a close.

Tonight, I wanted to run towards some inconvenient truths. And be clear about the scale of the challenge. But I hope that I have also been clear that established news providers possess all the assets, and the equity, required to respond and prevail. 

In fact, I believe that we are in a new golden age of journalism.The explosion of new platforms has opened up new routes for journalists to reach consumers with more original, thoughtful, intelligent writing and story-telling than ever before.

In a world of AI slop and exploitative algorithms, consumers are seeking out this journalism, and choosing human to human connections.

As Ted Turner – the legendary media disrupter, who we lost last week – would famously remind the CNN newsroom: “the news is the star”. I believe news is the star, and must remain so in this new world.

So, this dispatch is rooted in optimism - and confidence in the future of established news providers. Provided the established news media is willing to do what it takes:

Restore trust - by understanding what drove the decline, and how it can be reversed.

Reconnect through authenticity – by coming to terms with what it will take to give consumers the authentic, independent voices they crave.

Reinvent the newsroom – by creating the flywheel news engine for growth, across this fragmented landscape.

And, to consider how to become the town square - creating the meeting place for ideas that can be the antidote to the echo-chamber.

If the established media can do this, then I am confident that it will not just survive, but thrive, as an essential part of the Revolution Reshaping News.

Thank you.