How do media-owned national news agencies survive in the digital age? Business diversification in Austria Presse Agentur, Press Association and Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå

Abstract

This article explores three national news agencies in Europe (Press Association Group in the United Kingdom, Austria Presse Agentur in Austria and Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå in Sweden) in order to find the reasons why these agencies decided to transform themselves from traditional newswires into diversified media businesses. We ask why these agencies are able to operate under market principles, with substantial profit margins, and also to contribute to a sustainable national media system, while agencies in some other countries struggle. We draw on semi-structured interviews with 26 senior managers of the agencies and use several strategic management frameworks, including five forces and dynamic capabilities. We find that, in all three agencies, early crises led to a sensing of news agencies’ weakened bargaining power with media clients and the decline of industry attractiveness and triggered a timely search for new revenue sources through diversification. These successful new businesses are based on a strong news-agency brand, on technological capabilities, and on resources originating from the agencies’ firm relationship with the news media. We argue that, in all three cases, visionary leadership and an ability to orchestrate a new relationship with media owners have been key capabilities created in these early crises.

Between the state and the market: An analysis of TASS’ fall and rise

“…Some news agencies in Europe have successfully diversified their operations (Jääskeläinen and Yanatma, 2019), but it has turned out to be more difficult for state-owned agencies to change their old business models (Surm, 2019). TASS remains a general news agency.…”

Toward Hybridity? Nationality, Ownership, and Governance of News Agencies in Europe

“…In the survey results from 2017, nine news agencies defined themselves as private shareholder companies (see Figure 2) where the majority of shares are owned by shareholders or by one shareholder (Rantanen et al, 2019b). As Jaüaüskelaüinen and Yanatma (2019) write, the “agencies turned from cost-sharing cooperatives into profit-seeking media services companies, taking risks and aiming to create a return on capital for the owners. This has fundamentally changed the capabilities needed by the firms” (p. 5).…”

“…When defining ownership only through the owners, we often forget that all news agencies need clients. This is true especially of the private ones, because their existence is based on profitability (Jaüaüskelaüinen & Yanatma, 2020), but it would be impossible for any agency to survive losing all its clients, even if they were nonpaying clients. All news agencies are to a certain extent dependent on publicly funded institutions as their clients, as Figure 2 shows.…”

“…In this article, I use the concept of hybridity to study the nationality, ownership, and governance of national news agencies in Europe. I concentrate specifically on ownership, including nationality and governance, but not on their operations or markets, which have been studied separately and using the concept of diversity (Jaüaüskelaüinen & Yanatma, 2019; Surm, 2019).…”

The Practice and Application of Enterprise Leadership Strategic Management Based on Fuzzy Decision Model

“…The upper level of enterprise management is the leadership, the subject of which is the enterprise leader, and the middle level of the enterprise is the management, the subject of which is narrowly and exclusively the middle managers. The common point of leadership and management is to guide and ensure that the organization operates with high quality, high efficiency, low consumption, and safety, in order to achieve the optimal allocation of resources and achieve the desired goals [2][3].…”