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Innovation and inertia in online newsrooms: challenges for the adoption of interactivity and multimedia
David Domingo, UniversitatRoviraiVirgili (Tarragona, Catalonia)
(OBS*) International Seminar: Broadband MediaLisboa, September 23, 2009
Assessing innovation in online newsrooms
Reflections based on: Making Online News: The Ethnography
of New Media Production (2008, Peter Lang). Edited with Chris Paterson.
Audience Participation in Online Newspapers: Guarding Open Gates (Forthcoming, Routledge). With Jane Singer, Thorsten Quandt, Alfred Hermida, Ari Heinonen, Steve Paulussen, Marina Vujnovic, Zvi Reich.
A constructivist approach
Technology is adopted in specific contexts
Adoption is historically embedded Decision-making is an open, dynamic
process
=> Newsrooms have agency => No room for technological
determinism
Actor-Network Theory
Network of actors Mapping power relationships Defining positions, conflicting
definitions Process of translations Obligatory points of passage Black boxes
Online journalism as work-in-progress
Strong mythical discourses Buzzwords change, myths stay
Technological innovations push Media follow the trail Mimicry effect
Decisions still made locally Ethnography to assess how myths are
translated into real practices
The rule of immediacy
Immediacy as the key Internet myth for journalism
Consequences: Focus on breaking news Dependency on news wire copy Lack of resources for other activities
Multimedia in online newsrooms
External factors: Broadband development Boom of user-generated video
Internal processes: Different solutions in different contexts Cases: 3 Catalan newsrooms▪ Public broadcaster▪ Newspaper▪ Online-only news site
Multimedia in online newsrooms
Interactivity: motivations
International comparative study of journalist attitudes towards audience participation
Motivations: Inevitable: audience wants to participate Economic: fostering audience loyalty Journalistic: new sources Democratic: public debate
Interactivity: practices
Observation Selection Productio
nDistributi
onInterpreta
tion
Interactivity: practices
Separate team to manage audience participation
Protecting journalists role and routines
Different solutions possible:
Conclusions
Journalism seems to be conservative regarding innovation
Professional culture and identity strongly shape technologies
Materiality matters: decisions taken affect the work of journalists
Economic context matters: resources, revenue strategies
Room for action
Innovation is possible: nothing is pre-determined
Knowing factors involved in the process empowers newsrooms
There are few explicit structures for innovation management
