Understanding the Sustainability of Digital Products in the News Media Industry

As newspaper circulation continues to decline digit al technologies have become a significant part of t he operations and output of news media organisations. Consequently, there is a growing perception of the multitude o f different ways that 'digital' can contribute to the sustainab ility of such organisations ‐ not least because bot h 'digital' and 'sustainability' have a range meanings in a day-to-day context. This multiplicity of interactions between 'digital' and sustainability present challenges for any media organi sation trying to integrate a consideration of 'digi tal' into interventions into carbon management or other corporate management systems. This paper presents a preliminary conceptual framework for understanding the contributions that digita l technologies make to organisational sustainability within the news media sector. The framework draws on a number of examples of the contemporary use of digital technolog ies in a major UK news media organisation, and orga nisational objectives. Mapping these examples along two dimensions ‐ relating to the nature of the intended contr ibution to sustainability, and the organisational management p erspective adopted ‐ has been found to be useful fo r framing discussions with decision makers. Furthermore, it has allowed gaps in existing practice to be identified. Further development is required to understand the wider relevanc e of the proposed framework as analytical tool.