{"id":1097,"date":"2024-06-05T13:48:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T11:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forward-publishing.com\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2026-07-02T15:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T13:01:38","slug":"how-kolner-stadt-anzeiger-medien-is-transforming-its-local-newsrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forward-publishing.com\/en\/how-kolner-stadt-anzeiger-medien-is-transforming-its-local-newsrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"How\u00a0K\u00f6lner\u00a0Stadt-Anzeiger Medien Is Transforming Its Local Newsrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Digital transformation is never finished, and for regional publishers it presents a particular challenge. In a recent Forward Publishing\u00a0webinar, Michael Greuel, a member of the editorial board at\u00a0K\u00f6lner\u00a0Stadt-Anzeiger, shared how his organization is approaching that challenge, using the example of five newsrooms across eight locations serving around two million people.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Transformation Is a Continuous Process<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

“The days when you had to reinvent yourself every five or ten years are long gone.” For Michael Greuel, digital transformation can\u00a0feel like rolling\u00a0a boulder uphill: new challenges\u00a0emerge\u00a0every day, with no finish line in sight. That makes cultural change\u00a0all the more\u00a0important\u2014not simply introducing new\u00a0tools, but\u00a0fostering a genuine willingness to embrace change across the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\u00a0K\u00f6lner\u00a0Stadt-Anzeiger, the goal is to ensure that all newsrooms move forward at\u00a0roughly the\u00a0same pace. This is a deliberate strategy, as the regional newsrooms are the ones serving the publisher’s core audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lessons Learned Along the Way<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Greuel is candid about the organization’s mistakes. Headquarters, he admits, often assumed that new processes and expectations had already been adopted in the regional newsrooms, leaving both sides frustrated. “We failed to communicate properly\u2014to explain what we were trying to achieve and bring people along with us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was also little enthusiasm for KPIs, audience data, and analytics in the regional newsrooms\u2014not because editors were indifferent, but because many felt they were expected to make sense of the data on their own. Unclear decision-making processes and inconsistent communication created uncertainty that\u00a0ultimately showed\u00a0up in the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning Principles into Practice<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Working closely with the regional newsrooms, the publisher\u00a0established\u00a0a set of shared principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n