The news industry has a problem. Audiences are switching off, advertising models face relentless pressure, and public trust continues eroding to uncomfortable lows.
At the National Press Club in Canberra this week, a confronting diagnosis threatened to make traditional news directors squirm.
Ulrik Haagerup, founder and chief executive officer of Constructive Institute, took the podium to argue the media itself might be part of the problem. Haagerup, a former news director for the Danish public broadcaster DR, suggested the old industry adage of “if it bleeds, it leads” simply fails to work anymore.
I was fortunate to attend the address alongside Vanessa Lyons, chief executive officer of ThinkNewsBrands. And the message felt particularly resonant for for our own backyard.
The news avoidance epidemic
The digital revolution fundamentally challenges the news sector, threatening its values and business models.
And Haagerup pointed out that the industry’s panic response over the past 15 years involved turning up the volume to fight for attention.
This strategy created more shock headlines, shorter stories, and a heavier reliance on extreme views to generate clicks and likes.
Now a growing cohort of ‘news avoiders’ exists. Haagerup noted that society finds it acceptable, especially among women and young people, to openly state traditional news fails to serve them.
Audiences find modern journalism depressing, overwhelming, and biased.
“We angle our news stories on conflict and drama to get the clicks, the lights, and the views,” Haagerup said, acknowledging his own past practices in the pursuit of meeting those never-ending KPIs (key performance indicators).
Vanessa Lyons, CEO of ThinkNewsBrands with founder and CEO of the Constructive Institute, Ulrik Haagerup. Image: file
Rebuilding trust with constructive journalism
Haagerup says that the alternative to this cycle is ‘constructive journalism’. And he quickly clarified this approach avoids public relations, advocacy, or a mandate to say that the “sky is blue during a rainstorm.”
Instead, it acts as an addition to traditional breaking news and investigative reporting. Constructive journalism asks the critical questions of “now what” and “how”.
It involves presenting documented, potential solutions to the societal problems the media so adeptly highlights.
Haagerup shared examples of local and regional newsrooms turning their fortunes around by adopting this mindset.
By pivoting from merely observing events to acting as the glue of their communities, these outlets watched circulation and finances improve.
The commercial case for constructive news
For publishers worrying this approach sounds precisely like a fast track to bankruptcy, Haagerup brought the receipts.
He pointed to the Danish digital startup Zetland. It’s a newsroom built entirely on constructive journalism that operates without a single advertisement.
Employing 70 news staff, the platform now reaches twice the number of digital subscribers compared to the largest traditional Danish news providers. The market demand proved so intense that 5,000 Norwegians signed up to pay for a localised version of Zetland before journalists even published a single story.
“We have examples of newsrooms who actually are very profitable,” Haagerup said.
He noted the model works commercially because it delivers genuine value rather than fleeting outrage. Constructive journalism, he argued, is not only good for democracy and self-esteem, but it is also good to trust and pass online.
The local push for fact-checked news
This movement is already planting roots locally. Haagerup highlighted the launch of the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific at Monash University, which recently welcomed its first cohort of journalism fellows to rethink the future of storytelling.
For ThinkNewsBrands, the themes of Haagerup’s address snugly aligned with their ongoing fight. The mission to prove the value of premium news environments to advertisers and the general public.
“Ulrik Haagerup’s National Press Club address reinforced something we strongly advocate for at ThinkNewsBrands, that journalism brings communities together and strengthens democracy,” Lyons said following the event.
Lyons noted the distinct difference between verified reporting and the noise of social feeds.
“Everyone can tell stories on their own platforms. Journalism is different, it’s fact checked, source verified, and trusted,” she said. “At a time of misinformation, AI-generated content, and algorithmic amplification, reinforcing trust in news and journalism has never been more important. We’re excited to see the Constructive Institute expand in our region through the Asia Pacific Hub and the Constructive Journalism Fellowship.”
Offering a way forward
As the media industry navigates an era of artificial intelligence and algorithmic disruption, Haagerup’s core message is clear. If publishers want to retain their audiences and their advertisers, they need to offer something more valuable than outrage.
They need to offer a way forward.
Feature image- Ulrik Haagerup, founder and CEO of the Constructive Institute: file.