In one sentence, what is the biggest challenge you face as an editor-in-chief today?

Pia Rehnquist [PR]: To get our many digital readers to pay for journalism.

Peter Wolodarski [PW]: To create the best possible conditions for us to continue to produce high-quality journalism, not just a year from now but in five, ten and 15 years.

You offer less and less content free on the web. There have been many tests with paywalls over the years with varying degrees of success. What makes you think they’re going to work now?

PR: The cheeky answer is that we already see that it’s working. At Sydsvenskan, we’ve gone from zero to 35,000 digital subscribers in a year and a half. It isn’t easy, but it’s clear that it can be accomplished. It’s a trend you see globally. People are starting to accept that you have to pay for good journalism, just as you pay for Netflix to look at films and TV series.

PW: We have 155,000 digital subscribers who pay to read the paper online, so you could say it’s really been proven to work. The jury was out for a few years there, but we’ve now reached a unanimous verdict.

So, when will you stop publishing a print paper?

PR: Longer than when everyone thinks.

PW: Yes, we’ll continue to publish a print newspaper for many years yet, there are no plans to stop. We have a large group of readers who will pay for a print newspaper. Even the PDF version of the paper is very popular in our e-DN app.

What type of content are readers willing to pay for online and does that influence the type of journalism you produce?

PR: Digital journalism is 100-percent measureable, so we know exactly what readers are prepared to pay for. The good news is that it’s exactly the type of journalism we want to produce that works best: unique, thorough news and reporting from our own region. We also see what type of material few people read, for example book and movie reviews, so there we’re trying to rethink things and find a more modern approach.

PW: Storytelling, investigative and in-depth news and reporting, and columns from our profiled columnists are what do best. You can look at this as a renaissance for high-quality journalism.

What does it take to run a successful news daily in 2019?

PR: You need incredibly talented employees who work together as a tight-knit team. There must be an enormous ability and will to change among your staff. And it’s a big help to be part of a bigger company, such as Bonnier News, where tech development and other things are handled centrally.

PW: That you realize that journalism still lies at the center. A lot of the discussion about media today is about technology and business development, and these are of course important. But it’s journalism that justifies our existence, which is often forgotten in the debate.

Journalism is under attack across the world, how are you experiencing this in Sweden?

PR: We don’t have it as they do in Hungary, but Danish Radio (DR) is just 30 kilometers away from us here in Malmö. In Denmark, politicians now in power have recently instituted new policies that state that DR’s journalism should be based on a “Christian foundation.” This is a dangerous development. Those in power cry “fake news” as soon as they don’t like what’s being reported, and it’s not just the Sweden Democrats we hear doing it, but even leading representatives from other political parties. Sydsvenskan is the news daily that’s dealt with the Sweden Democrats for the longest period of time, and we’re the first paper that took them seriously.

PW: We find ourselves in a kind of perfect storm where journalism is under attack from many directions. It’s not just politicians in power around the world who are threatening the free press, but also a technology shift and a reordering of the business model that contributes to uncertainty. What we as media companies can do is to hold fast to our independent journalism, be open with how we work and offer our journalists as safe a working environment as possible.

What issues do you believe will dominate news reporting in 2019?

PR: How political governance is solved, both on the parliamentary level and locally here in Malmö, looks to guarantee some intensive news reporting for the rest of the year. Then, I hope and believe that climate issues will be in focus a great deal.

PW: Yes, political questions will dominate even in 2019. We’ve also got an election for the European Parliament in the spring.

Fast-forward one year from today: What tangible differences in your business do you hope to see?

PR: I’ve worked at Sydsvenskan since 2000, and I have to say that last year was probably the best year ever for the newspaper, with nice financial figures, an increase in total subscribers plus we won several prestigious awards for our journalism. So if 2019 is as good as 2018, I’ll actually be happy.

PW: That we’ve had some big journalism scoops, that’s really our raison d’être. And I hope that we have a continued strong growth in our digital subscriptions. It’s highly likely that the number of DN subscribers with a digital-only subscription will overtake the number of print subscribers during the year, which should be seen as a milestone.

Interview by Henrik Huldschiner