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As we head into the new year, let’s look back at what informed The Fix’s work in the past year – and what we can hope for in 2023.

No doubt, the single biggest event that defined 2022 in Europe and beyond was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Alongside its global impact, the war has been deeply personal for The Fix, not least because part of our team is from Ukraine and has remained in the country throughout Russia’s war.

Together with partner organisations, we worked to keep Ukrainian media going by raising around 3 million euros that helped support dozens of national and local media outlets. We also reported on the Ukrainian media industry extensively – whether by speaking to Ukrainian media leaders like the executive director of the biggest news website and CEO of Ukraine’s public broadcaster, by profiling success stories like The Kyiv Independent, or by analysing Western news publishers’ coverage of Ukraine.

At the same time, throughout the past year The Fix continued to cover a plethora of other topics in our mission of cracking the media management puzzle through insights, solutions and data.

Here’s a brief look at five of our top-performing articles from the past 12 months offering actionable insights for media leaders.

If you properly welcome new users and subscribers, they’ll stay longer. Here’s how to design your onboarding experience

By David Tvrdon

From writing and designing to subscriber acquisition and retention strategies, building a newsletter demands a lot of attention. The Fix’s David Tvrdon gives advice on one of the most important parts of this work – onboarding new subscribers. The piece features important insights and useful tips that might make you want to revisit your newsletter approach.

Beam is a new multilingual tool to monitor online disinformation campaigns. How useful is it to journalists?

By Hleb Liapeika

There are many tools created for journalists and by journalists. Beam is one that might prove especially useful at the time when disinformation threats are on the rise. It’s not yet publicly available, but the creators are open to cooperating with reporters upon request. Hleb Liapeika interviewed Carl Miller, founder of CASM Technology and co-developer of the product, about how Beam works and how it can power journalists’ investigations.

SEO and journalism: what should we learn from Google’s helpful content update?

By Alberto Puliafito

At the time when social networks are pivoting away from news content, search traffic is increasingly important for publishers. The Fix covered various aspects of SEO for media last year – including this take by Alberto Puliafito that will help you redefine your understanding of SEO and how you can use it for your newsroom in light of recent updates from Google.

Nine key tactics for making changes stick in the newsroom

By Emma Löfgren

From the large legacy news organisation where innovation happens at an excruciatingly slow speed, to the agile startup that flits from one thing to the next, creating permanent change is a challenge. It takes a lot of listening and communication, finding allies, and being generous with your time. Emma Löfgren gathered her own experience and top expert tips that help ensure change doesn’t fall by the wayside.

Five manageable ways to introduce solutions journalism to your newsroom

By Emma Löfgren

News avoidance was among the biggest challenges in 2022, and one of the ways out is giving readers the tools to help fix the world – focusing on solutions as opposed to problems. It might be hard to do under the incentives of the news cycle, but there are relatively easy steps to become more solutions-oriented in your reporting. Emma Löfgren’s guide is a good start.

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