This volume explores innovations in journalism: the goals and expectations associated with them, promoting and hindering framework conditions, and their social and industrial impact.
Drawing on an international research project conducted in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, the book takes a complex approach, considering media policy preconditions and the social impact of journalistic innovation from a comparative perspective. The key findings are examined and presented on different levels: theoretical, methodological, and – as the focus – empirical.
Having identified the most relevant innovations in each of the five countries, a total of 100 case studies are examined to explore the influence of these innovations on the quality of journalism and its normative role in democratic societies and to analyze which preconditions support or inhibit the development and implementation of the innovations in news organizations. The interdependencies between journalistic innovations and their media policy preconditions are compared in a system-analytical way – concluding with the lessons that can be learned from the macrolevel (policies) and the mesolevel (organizations).
This insightful and truly international volume will interest professionals, scholars and students of journalism, media and communication studies, media industry studies, and related fields.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Part I. Theoretical Framework
1 Innovations in Journalism in Democratic Societies: theoretical concepts, definitions, and preconditions
Part II. Methodological approach
2 Research methods in the JoIn-DemoS project
Part III. National Framework Conditions for Innovation in Journalism
3 Country Report Austria. Difficult departure from the comfort zone
4 Country Report Germany. The Media System as a Brake on Journalistic Innovation Development
5 Country Report Spain. Surfing the waves of crises. Spain’s framework conditions for innovations in journalism
6 Country report Switzerland. Caught between financial pressure, audience expectations and political ideology
7 Country Report UK. Dead end street? UK’s framework conditions for innovations in journalism
Part IV. The most relevant innovations in journalism from a comparative perspective
8 AI and automation: A key task for the present and future
9 Collaborative-investigative journalism. From the ‘Lonely Wolf’ to the ‘Power of the Pack’
10 Data journalism. From a niche competence to a key feature
11 Diversity and inclusion. “Difference matters”
12 Engagement on the basis of data. Tracing users’ behavior to optimize journalistic offers
13 New organizational forms and teams. Changing minds to modify the newsroom
14 Paywalls and paid content. No entry for free: the introduction of paywall-models to monetize online journalism
15 News on Social Media. An innovation dilemma in the race of uncertainty
16 Podcasts. Provider of in-depth journalistic information
17 Citizen participation. On the way from the audience to the community in European news media
18 Mobile/live journalism: The impact of the small screen and breaking news on media organization and production
19 New digital storytelling. Innovative narratives that make a difference
20 Remote media work: tools and management. Hybrid formulas for journalistic daily routines
21 Donations and Crowdfunding. New strategies for financing (investigative) journalism
22 Fact-checking. Strengthening democracy through verifying
23 Media Labs. Agents of innovation
24 Membership models. Quality journalism? Pay up, please
25 Newsletters. The renaissance of a valuable product to reach the audience
Part V. Journalistic innovations and their socio-political framework conditions. A 5-country comparison
26 Media systems on the meta level of change. How economy, tech-development and media-policy create the framework for innovation in journalism
Part VI. Conclusions and Recommendations
27 Lessons from the implementation of the most relevant journalism innovations in five European countries
28 Opportunities and challenges of innovations for media practice
29 Deepening the theory of innovation in journalism: Impact on the industry, the quality and the function of journalism in democracy
