New Websites, New Ways of Working

Tell us about the relaunched websites for the papers.

We’ve built the two new sites using the same technology platform. For Sydvenskan’s readers there are no revolutionary changes, the new site is fairly similar to the old one. Helsingborgs Dagblad’s readers can see bigger changes. Simply put, you can say that we built on Sydsvenskan’s original foundation and enhanced it with features from Helsingborgs Dagblad’s website. Using the same platform makes our job easier behind the scenes but readers looking at the sites who are unaware probably barely notice the changes, I think. Like all media companies, we’re working foremost in mobile, where we have tremendous growth, and that’s where the biggest differences can be seen.

What has the response been so far from readers and advertisers?

 We considered points from both readers and advertisers when we developed the sites and changed the ad format a bit. The reactions that I’ve heard, especially from Sydsvenskan’s readers, have been positive.

Tell us about your digital restructuring, of which the new websites are just one part.

We want top reach as many as possible with the important journalism we do. All growth, both in readers and revenues, is digital and it goes without saying that we are putting more effort there. Our various desks work with the web as the primary channel and with the basic principle that everything is published first on the web. This is a restructuring that both Sydsvenskan and Helsingborgs Dagblad have been working with awhile, so there’s nothing revolutionary about it for our employees. The restructuring is at all levels, from how we write news texts, via how we lead our editorial meetings, to all the desks being responsible for the pages in their tabs and sub-sites and are extra careful on how texts are read digitally. And so on.