<p>The digitalization of the media industry has involved great changes for the Swedish daily press. Instead of subscribing on a daily newspaper, more people tend to read newspaper's free edition online.  The recent recession has contributed to strike hard against the newspaper's economy. This is the problem our research is based upon. How will the newspaper develop and which measures have to be done to get a well functioning business model that is suited for future conditions?</p><p>We have made qualitative interviews with Swedish newspapers: Göteborgs-Posten, Norrköpingstidningen, Sydsvenskan and with the danish newspaper Politiken. To widening the view, we have also made several interviews with well-placed observers, both domestic and foreign.</p><p>The results show, that in order to get the daily press financially stable, the content within the newspaper has to be even more target oriented in order to attract both readers and advertisers.  The results also show that it is important for the newspaper to separate the content of the paper-edition from the online-edition. That is, the free online-edition should not entirely replace the traditional paper-edition.</p><p>We claim that successful daily press newspapers will in the future use a wider spectra of media-channels. The daily press will act more as a brand with the goal to produce high quality news in several different media-channels.</p>

The digitalization of the media industry has involved great changes for the Swedish daily press. Instead of subscribing on a daily newspaper, more people tend to read newspaper's free edition online.  The recent recession has contributed to strike hard against the newspaper's economy. This is the problem our research is based upon. How will the newspaper develop and which measures have to be done to get a well functioning business model that is suited for future conditions? We have made qualitative interviews with Swedish newspapers: Göteborgs-Posten, Norrköpingstidningen, Sydsvenskan and with the danish newspaper Politiken. To widening the view, we have also made several interviews with well-placed observers, both domestic and foreign. The results show, that in order to get the daily press financially stable, the content within the newspaper has to be even more target oriented in order to attract both readers and advertisers.  The results also show that it is important for the newspaper to separate the content of the paper-edition from the online-edition. That is, the free online-edition should not entirely replace the traditional paper-edition. We claim that successful daily press newspapers will in the future use a wider spectra of media-channels. The daily press will act more as a brand with the goal to produce high quality news in several different media-channels.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka svensk länspress väg in i det digitala samhället, vilka medvetna val som görs i samband med förändringen, samt vilka fördelar och nackdelar den digitala utvecklingen medfört. Arbetet vill dessutom få ett tydligt svar på vilken den största utmaningen är med att digitalisera sin verksamhet. Uppsatsen har för avsikt att genom de ekonomiska och teknologiska aspekterna söka svar på dessa frågor, och tar därmed avstånd ifrån alla politiska inblandningar. För att undersöka detta har två länstidningar granskats; Nya Wermlandstidningen och Värmlands Folkblad, och metoden som användes var kvalitativ forskningsintervju, genom så kallade halvstrukturerade intervjuer. Fyra personer på vardera tidning med hög relevans för studiens syfte intervjuades. De teroetiska områden som den här uppsatsen bygger på är teorier kring digitalisering, konvergens, förflyttat fokus och makt inom medievärlden, samt begreppet gratismentalitet som har en återkommande position genom hela arbetet. Ett annat begrepp som tas upp och diskuteras är betalvägg, det vill säga en sorts betallösning för tidningar på internet. Teoriavsnittet sammanfattas genom en egengjord modell, kallad Maktfördelningsmodellen, som ger en indikation på de effekter som digitaliseringen, konvergensen och fokusförflyttningen medfört. Utifrån de kvalitativa intervjuerna framkom tydliga mönster mellan de två tidningarna, där de båda hade närmast identiska strategier för att klara av övergången till det digitala; ett flertal digitala plattformar diskuterades såsom webbtidning, sociala medier och mobila enheter. Den enda skillnaden mellan de granskade tidningarna är att NWT sedan augusti 2013 infört en typ av betalmodell, kallad plus-tjänst, medan VF än så länge inte valt att använda sig av någon betallösning, och i stället håller allt sitt material öppet. Den tydligaste slutsatsen som kunde dras, och som framgick från resultatrapporteringen, är att tidningsbranschens största utmaning just nu, både på regional och rikstäckande nivå, är problematiken kring att kunna ta betalt för sina produkter på internet, vilket också var uppsatsens hypotes. / The function of this essay is to analyze the Swedish provincial press’ transition into the digital world, illuminate the choices made, together with the benefits and disadvantages that the digital transformation brings. This paper also intends to pinpoint the greatest challenge of bringing one’s business into the digital space. To find these answers, this essay will take the economic and technological approach and ignore all political aspects. To examine this, two newspapers have been studied; Nya Wermlandstidningen and Värmlands Folkblad, by using the “qualitative research interview” as leading method, more specifically using semi-structured interviews. In both companies four persons with high relevance were interviewed. The theoretical areas that this essay is based upon are theories involving digitalization, convergence and displaced focus in the media industry, together with the concept of cost-free mentality. Another concept that is discussed is the pay wall, meaning a way of payment for webzines. The theory chapter is summed up by the writer’s self-made model called “The Power Distribution Model”, which indicates the effects of digitalization, convergence and the displaced focus in the media industry. Results of the interviews showed obvious patterns between the two newspapers, showing nearly identical strategies to make their way into the digital world, where several digital platforms where discussed, such as webzines, social medias and mobile platforms. The only difference between the two is that NWT is using a kind of pay wall called “plus”, meanwhile VF still is publishing all their online news for free. The most obvious conclusion, which is also found in the reported result, is that the newspaper industry’s biggest challenge right now, both in local and national papers, is the issue of being able to make a profit of the news in their webzines, which is also the hypothesis of the essay.