Living the transformation
By Peter Kropsch and Christopher Höpfner
Shortly before the end of 2025, executives from across the dpa group put their heads together and developed scenarios for the future. The catalyst was the Canadian Nikita Roy. Wikipedia describes Nikita as “a data scientist, journalist and Harvard-recognised AI futurist who specialises in the responsible use of artificial intelligence in newsrooms.” This profile fits us perfectly: Our DNA continues to be marked by reliable and independently produced news. Even in the AI era. What is changing dramatically is the way and the form in which people will use dpa news in the future. Our outlook is now exceptionally multifaceted – with one constant: We must live the transformation.
Our focus is first and foremost on our customers. There is a whiteboard in the CEO’s office, where ideas are sketched out and processes are modelled. The content on the whiteboard is erased time and again – except for one phrase that has been at the very top since it was written there 10 years ago. It reads “customer benefit.” As long as we are useful to our customers, dpa is heading towards a bright future. But to achieve this, dpa must also transform itself.
Changing customer behaviour and technological developments are the key drivers of change in the information industry. The economic situation determines whether this change proceeds more rapidly or at a more leisurely pace. Both changes in customer behaviour and technology are currently experiencing massive shifts and influencing one another. Media companies must demonstrate a high degree of adaptability to remain useful to their users amid ever-changing conditions.
Artificial intelligence is the third major game-changer for news media over the past three decades, following the internet and the search engine economy in conjunction with social media. The consequences are still far from certain, but AI is already having an impact at every level. Newsrooms are becoming more efficient with AI support, as are administrative processes. As a result, our teams require specific AI skills.
We are already seeing noticeable impacts in two major areas: in business models, where AI-generated summaries are undermining search engine traffic to news sites; and in the area of content rights, where AI companies are scraping content to varying degrees without a viable business model in place.
dpa offers all media companies support in their transformation. To be able to do this, dpa must transform itself into an adaptive organisation.
That doesn’t fit well with a technology that is still producing hallucinations. At the same time, the potential seems almost limitless. We assume that the gathering of original information will remain the domain of journalists. AI or AI-supported processes will dominate the design, compilation and delivery of information, as well as the linking of data sources. This is also our approach in product development.
When it comes to usage behaviour, the focus is on young audiences. This is for two reasons: Young people use the offerings of dpa’s customers at a below-average rate – whether due to formats not tailored to their target group or due to the users’ lack of competence and experience in properly assessing the significance of reputable news sources. Combined with massive amounts of disinformation on major online platforms, something is brewing that goes far beyond the economic impact on media. People who can no longer distinguish between facts and disinformation pose a major challenge to our democratic society.
dpa’s customers have taken on this challenge. Each of our customers is undergoing a transformation process to position themselves optimally for the future. However, each one is at a different stage, and virtually all of them are moving forward at their own pace. dpa is offering all these media companies support in their transformation. To be able to do this, dpa must transform itself into an adaptive organisation.
In phases of dynamic change, every company needs three strategies: one for the old world, one for the new world and one for transforming the old world into the new. We show you how, together with our customers, we put this into practice.
1.
The old world: “Print curation” – Ready-made for newspapers and e-papers
Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence, automation and digital platforms – and rightly so. But while attention is focused on the future, many of our publisher customers still generate a significant portion of their revenue from print – and from e-papers. This value creation remains fundamental: It drives digital transformation, finances investments and keeps media companies operational.
That’s exactly why innovation in the print sector remains an important priority for us at dpa. We see ourselves as partners and catalysts – not as preservers, but as architects of the transition. Because while new channels are emerging, one thing remains clear: The end of print is not in sight. There’s life in the old dog yet.
Many customers – and the number is growing rapidly – want to have as little to do as possible, or ideally nothing at all, when it comes to the processing of our material for print. Newspaper production is automated in many places. Our response: We design our offering to be as tailored, reliable, easily discoverable, curated and machine-readable as possible.
We asked ourselves how we could provide the greatest possible benefit given the needs outlined above. We developed the solution together with our customers. Through workshops, surveys and editorial consultations, we listened closely to what was needed – and built the “Kuratierung Print” (Print Curation) product around that. The editorial team, sales team and the customers themselves are working together on further developing the offering.
“Kuratierung Print” means that every day we select around 40 journalistic pieces – from the politics, business, general news, culture/media and sports desks. The content ranges from major features to short news items. Every text adheres to dpa’s proven standards and is delivered complete with teasers, subheadings and images.
The pieces are ready by 4 p.m. at the latest – for maximum timeliness with minimal effort. For our customers, this means that they can customise their front page while simultaneously accessing a vetted, diverse and immediately usable pool of topics.
The advantages are clear: quality, guidance and efficiency. We filter the relevant content, compile a pool of topics for front pages, and thus relieve editorial teams of planning and production burdens – free of charge for all subscribers to the dpa-Basispaket.