Inside the changing newsroom: journalists' responses to media convergence

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to report on research conducted inside British national media organisations. The research was designed to investigate the impact on the working practices of journalists of the process of production convergence – the trend towards news reporting in more than one medium in formerly single‐medium organisations. The article describes the changes that are taking place and the ways journalists are reacting to them.

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews were conducted with 20 journalists during 2002 and 2003. The interviews were with journalists working in newsrooms at the BBC, Sky News, The Guardian and the Financial Times.

Findings

The data show that while multimedia news is becoming well established, the multimedia journalist has been slow to arrive. This is because of the pressures that multi‐media working adds to the journalist's daily routine and a concern over the impact on the quality of output.

Research limitations/implications

The media environment is evolving rapidly and research findings on this topic quickly go out of date, but the findings presented here offer valuable insights into the news production processes operating in British national media organisations and the ways journalists are adapting to, and are likely to continue to adapt to, changes in production technologies and changed systems of working.

Originality/value

The paper is the first to focus on journalistic practice in a converging media environment.

Citation

Saltzis, K. and Dickinson, R. (2008), "Inside the changing newsroom: journalists' responses to media convergence", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 60 No. 3, pp. 216-228. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012530810879097