Lena K Samuelsson spent her entire career with Schibsted, a digital media leader. After a decade at Aftonbladet, she became Editor-in-Chief of Svenska Dagbladet in 2001. In 2013, she joined Schibsted’s International Management Team as EVP Communications, Brand and CSR. She was appointed publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Aftonbladet,the largest digital news destination in the Nordics,in 2018,and served on Schibsted’s media division Leadership team. She now works as an advisor, mentor, and keynote speaker, and serves on the WAN-IFRA Media Freedom Board.
I’ve known Lena for some time, having interviewed her onstage at our Digital Media Europe conference in 2016 about leading change at Schibsted. Now, ten years later, I had the opportunity to speak with her as a colleague at WAN-IFRA.
Dean Roper: Welcome to your new assignment as Executive Strategic Advisor for WAN-IFRA. How does it feel to join a global media organisation?
Lena K Samuelsson: Really good! I look forward to working with CEO Stig Ørskov, the management, the board, and all the peopel of WAN-IFRA around the world. It’s a fantastic opportunity to influence the largest and most diverse alliance of media organisations globally, representing over 20,000 media brands and tech companies across 120 countries. It’s extraordinary, to say the least.
I hope to contribute to shaping a strong and energising strategy for the whole organisation and delivering even greater value to our members.I will also focus on leadership as a strategic advantage and how the role of a leader is developing in a digital context – something I’m very engaged in and have worked on as an advisor, mentor, and keynote speaker.
My key insight is this: no matter how advanced your technology, AI tools, or strategy, without an open and digital culture, you won’t achieve meaningful change.
Like other titles within Schibsted, and throughout the Nordics, you’ve held dual responsibilities as Editor-in-Chief and CEO/Publisher. How did you make that initial transition when you moved into a publisher role, effectively ending the “separation of church and state?”
It’s been a natural progress as newsrooms have become more digital. Leading a digital media organisation requires journalism, product, technology, user experience, and business development to work hand-in-hand, all dependent on each other and supported by cross-functional teams.
It takes a village. Especially as digital subscriptions and user data become essential, combining the roles of Editor-in-Chief with customary CEO responsibilities felt natural.
This is also a result of media organisations moving towards a matrix structure, where business, product, and finance are common functions, leading to new management structures.
You’ve overseen much of the transformation at Aftonbladet and Schibsted, from embracing paid content to newsroom convergence and, most recently, implementing AI. How did your editor background and dual obligation help implement change and gain buy-in from the newsroom?
Yes, I was even there in the nineties when we discovered the internet…
