Informative and Playful Journalism Attracts 25-35-year-olds

The final report shows that Beta Borås journalism differs in many ways from what researchers previously found in local social journalism. The test editorial staff's focus on popular education is very interesting.  

'Informative journalism works. Assuming that the readers don't have a great deal of prior knowledge, explain decisions and events in a basic way,' writes Frida Dam Bergstedt, Editor for Beta Borås. 

'The guiding principle has been transparency, humility and simplicity: to not pretend that you know more than the reader,' writes media researcher Maria Zuiderveld in her analysis. 

Beta Borås publications also combine various forms of media, so-called multimodality. Text, audio, graphics and video are used together. The editorial staff's focus on pictorials and video is exciting. The test is often more of a complement than a main ingredient.

What do the focus groups think about Beta Borås journalism? Basically, they really appreciate the test editorial staff's more informative, constructive and solution-oriented approach. They appeal to the focus groups more than material about conflicts. The focus groups also want more playful and varied narrative forms which occasionally use digital formats such as video, 360 images, timelines and slideshows.

Borås Tidning's Editor in Chief Stefan Eklund is very happy with the experience form the Beta Borås project. He writes in his chapter in the final report; 

'Beta Borås has opened eyes for several key aspects for the future journalism. We owe 25-35-year-olds qualified journalism on their terms.'

Download the report here (in Swedish)
 

Beta Borås 

• The project's name: Younger News Universe for Local Social Journalism and Debate.
• Participants: Borås Tidning, RISE Interactive, Södertörn University and Medier & Demokrati.
• Project time: 2018. The publication phase was April to September.
• Financiers: In addition to the partners' own contributions amounting to SEK 1.4 million, the project was financed externally by Region Västra Götaland's arts committee with SEK 1.2 million and the Carl-Olof and Jenz Hamrin Foundation with SEK 950,000.
• Beta Borås: The independent test editorial staff at Borås Tidning consisting of four members ages 26-34 with varying experience with journalism.
• Two partial reports on Beta Borås published earlier, Interactive Innovation Impresses and Creative Narrative Regenerated Election Coverage, are available here under the Publications tab here on the Medier & Demokrati site. 
• In December 2018, two conclusive seminars on the project were arranged: at Södertörn University on 6 December and Borås Tidning on 11 December. The Beta Borås project was also presented in the west Sweden arena during Almedal week in July, Media Days in Gothenburg in September and during the Nxt Media Conference in Trondheim in November.