Denmark’s journalists caught in web paradox

The transfer of a paper boy from one freesheet to another tells the story about the war that is raging in the newspaper market in Denmark.

A young man from Brazil, known as Jura, gained fame in Copenhagen for his acrobatic way of distributing lots of free newspapers to pedestrians and bikers in the morning traffic.

His initial employer, MetroXpress, used photos of Jura on the website of Metro International, which prints free newspapers in 21 countries and is read every day by 18.5 million people around the world.

But in November last year, Jura swapped the orange Metro jersey for a blue T-shirt and started distributing rival freesheet Nyhedsavisen.

It might seem a bit over the top to fight over paper boys, but the fact is that every reader counts in the battle between Danish newspapers.

In a country with a population of just over five million, free newspapers alone have a daily readership of almost two million, making Denmark one of only four European countries where free newspapers account for more than half of all newspaper reading.

Most analysts agree that the market is not only mature, but actually overfed. The editor of one of the free newspapers said at the beginning of the year that she expected one or more of the papers to give up in 2008.

But so far, all actors insist that they will stay in the market and that they are ready to spend whatever money is necessary to avoid losing out in one of the most aggressive newspaper battles in Europe.

Until a few years ago the Danish media market looked a lot like those in most other European countries: Swedish-based Metro International had launched Denmark’s first free newspaper in 2001 and the Berlingske group which was then owned by Norwegian business conglomerate Orkla, publisher of three well-established paid-for newspapers, had responded by creating a competing freesheet, Urban.

After initial concern, some traditional paid-for newspapers even welcomed the two freesheets, arguing that they could make more young people read newspapers and that the young readers would eventually opt for a high-quality paid-for newspaper. Both MetroXpress and Urban relied almost entirely on short wire reports and did very little background or analysis.

The cosy atmosphere among Danish newspapers continued: the paid-for newspapers continued working together on buying paper as well as on distribution, while co-owning the only national news agency, Ritzau.

In a move which was partially approved by competition authorities, Ritzau put a limit to the number of articles that MetroXpress was allowed to use, even though the free newspaper paid a full subscription fee to the news agency.

But in 2006, the cosiness all but disappeared when Icelandic investment company Baugur Group decided to launch Nyhedsavisen - a free newspaper which was to be delivered to the doorstep of all Danish households five days a week.

David Trads, a prominent journalist who was hired as editor-in-chief of Nyhedsavisen, declared that the new publication was not in business to compete with freesheets, but aimed to replace the old paid-for newspapers which had lost touch with ordinary people.

After reacting initially with disbelief, the two leading newspaper groups each launched a freesheet which was to be delivered to most households.

Berlingske, which had in the meantime been bought by David Montgomery’s Mecom Group, launched Dato, and JP/Politiken put 24 Timer into the market.

It soon became clear that delivering hundreds of thousands of newspapers every morning was a tall order and Montgomery chose to pull Dato out of the market. In a recent interview he stated that free newspapers with free home delivery was not a viable business model.

All free newspapers in Denmark are now primarily being distributed in the morning traffic with direct delivery to schools, universities, cafés and companies.

Recently, new stands with room for all four freesheets were put in place in major Danish cities, but few people believe that they will all survive in the long run. Business figures are being kept tight, but analysts have calculated that daily losses for both Nyhedsavisen and 24 Timer could be as high as €135,000.

Meanwhile, the traditional newspapers’ circulation is dropping fast under pressure from free newspapers, advertising revenue is declining with so many newspapers in the market - and their parent companies are struggling to sustain the cost of keeping their newspapers alive. This has led to layoffs at most paid-for newspapers.

In parallel, most paid-for newspapers have put huge efforts into their online versions, often by transferring reporters from print to web journalism. The result is somewhat paradoxical: the number of newspapers printed in Denmark every day has never been higher, but the number of journalists actually reporting the news is dropping fast.

• Jakob Nielsen is a Brussels-based columnist for Danish (paid-for) newspaper Politiken.

The transfer of a paper boy from one freesheet to another tells the story about the war that is raging in the newspaper market in Denmark.