Mediahuis — a leading publisher with news brands in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany and Luxembourg — introduced the concept of “signature journalism” in recent years, using that term to identify valuable content readers are willing to pay for and spend time with.

And now, they’ve kicked off “signature journalism weeks” in their newsrooms, a regimented process that improves content planning and production. 

Like many other publishers, they’d discovered about 20% of their stories drove about 80% of their audience. For instance, the Irish Independent was publishing a staggering 2,000 stories a week, yet around 600 of those stories got almost no pageviews, said GerBen Van ‘t Hek, group strategy newsroom director for Mediahuis. 

“Mediahuis really believes in a future built on journalism,” Van ‘t Hek said. “So we have to become the best in what we do. And this means more people paying for more journalism.”

Especially as AI-generated content floods the Internet, signature journalism becomes more important, Van ‘t Hek said. It has to be something AI can’t create. And under the user needs framework, it also shouldn’t be an “update me” story. 

“If we want to become the Spotify of news media, our journalism has to become as good as Taylor Swift,” he explained. “Taylor Swift is the success of Spotify, not the UX and not the subscription model. So our journalism really has to be that good.” 

“Signature journalism weeks” started in Mediahuis’ newsrooms in early summer, and the goal is to complete all newsrooms by next summer. The Irish Independent was first and was selected because of its impressive focus on digital transformation, evolving from a single-copy newspaper focus to breaking the 100,000 digital subscriber mark in less than five years, Van ‘t Hek said.

During those weeks, journalists begin to identify what topics, stories, and formats are of highest interest to their audiences. It can differ by brand and location. They validate by tracking subscriber attention time.

A “signature journalism week” is a four-day programme that takes about 15 hours — not including prep time and follow-ups with editorial leads — which is enough time for the concepts to take hold, Van ‘t Hek said. Once the week is over, work begins to reorganise the newsroom around signature journalism, Van ‘t Hek said, and meetings and the planning process also get overhauled. 

While they don’t have enough data to share results yet, early indications are positive. Attention time is up, for instance. Van ‘t Hek said they plan to compare year-over-year results once it’s been in place for a year.

“Basically, it’s a conversation about the quality, not the quantity,” Van ‘t Hek said. “A lot of our newsrooms are making too much because of the demand of print or habits. So we have to define signature journalism. It’s authentic and unique journalism with a distinctive style that fits the brand identity.” 

Back to the Irish Independent. During “signature journalism week” there, no one identified culture as an important topic — yet 13% of the content being created fell under the culture category, Van ‘t Hek said. 

“So of every 10 stories, there’s one cultural story, and of course culture is important but not many people think it is essential for our brand. Neither in the newsroom nor in our audience,” he said. “Already we have a misfit.” 

Another important consideration: Because no one thought of the Independent as a culture-focused brand, culture stories weren’t being put on the homepage, in newsletters, or via push alerts.  

The team dug into the data and learned that culture stories on such issues as fashion, beauty, or theater underperformed, but human interest stories were valued. 

“This is basically what we try to do in a week, and we make it very practical,” Van ‘t Hek said. 

The exercise is disciplined. In a given week, the Irish Independent can prominently display and promote about 250 stories — giving them breathing room on the homepage and including them across other digital channels. 

Van ‘t Hek likened it to a shop window, where there’s only so much display space — perhaps 20-25 stories a day on the mobile app and other digital platforms. They determined about 10 spaces would be taken up by breaking news, daily sports coverage, and ongoing news. That meant about 15 slots should be filled by signature journalism.

“It has to be that good, and we can leave it there for the entire day, not replacing it, just a good story,” he said.

Once the Irish Independent identified its signature journalism — culture did not enter the top domain list — they set out to determine how many stories by topic to plan for in a day and a week. For instance, 15% of the signature journalism slots may be reserved for political coverage and 20% should be human interest.

Van ‘t Hek said the process is guided by data — but not beholden to it. He pointed out printed newspapers did a better job with a varied content mix, whereas many news Web sites prominently feature just the best trafficked stories at any given moment. 

“If we only look at the data, then you tend to lose your brand identity. Because if we only look at data, we will end up with a lot of crime, a lot of entertainment, and a lot of gloom and doom stories,” he said. “And the risk we see, and it’s the feedback we get from our subscribers, is I don’t recognise my brand anymore.And for the younger generation we want to reach, this promotional signature mix is what defines us.”

The end result is a well thought out story planning process. As newsrooms get more immersed in signature journalism and how it is performing, they also add additional layers, looking at things like story formats and age and gender mix in stories, reviewing plans as they come together and not just afterward.

“Everyone has filled their plans and their pitches, and then we can have a discussion. OK, look, we have those 19 human interest stories, but we are only interviewing old men,” Van ‘t Hek said. “And we can validate the success of the mix way better because it’s more or less a fixed schedule. We’re doing this week after week.” 

Van ‘t Hek said newsrooms have embraced signature journalism. They are deeply involved in the process and identify what it means for their newsrooms. And doing fewer stories means they can focus on quality rather than quantity. 

If signature journalism is successful, Van ‘t Hek said, the news brands will be stronger and the content mix more robust. To become a destination, people need to know what to expect, and it needs to be high value, he said.

“It’s like eating in a restaurant. You know there will be a first course, there may be soup, there will be fish and meat, and maybe there’s a dessert,” he said. “But some days before, we had five soups and two ice creams, and another day, five meats. And now we want to be consistent in the menu. Every day, we want to have a signature dish menu, and people know they will get these kinds of courses in this restaurant.”

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