TY - JOUR

T1 - Convergence Culture in European Newsrooms

T2 - Comparing editorial strategies for cross-media news production in six countries

AU - Menke, Manuel

AU - Kinnebrock, Susanne

AU - Kretzschmar, Sonja

AU - Aichberger, Ingrid

AU - Broersma, Marcel

AU - Hummel, Roman

AU - Kirchhoff, Susanne

AU - Prandner, Dimitri

AU - Ribeiro, Nelson

AU - Salaverria, Ramón

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - For two decades, convergence culture has been an important motivator for change in journalism worldwide. Journalism research has followed these developments, investigating the dimensions of change that define convergence as a cultural shift in the newsroom. Research in the European context has mostly been comprised of national case studies of flagship media outlets whereas comparative, let alone quantitative, studies are scarce. In response to these shortcomings, we present a comparative survey among newspaper journalists in managerial positions on convergence strategies in newsrooms from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, and Portugal. Results show that there is still a dominant print culture present in newsrooms across Europe; however, a shift toward convergence journalism is evident in the strategic implementation of editorial routines and practices as well as in the encouragement of journalists to join convergence developments. Furthermore, newsrooms in Mediterranean countries are more advanced than those in North/Central Europe when it comes to embracing convergence culture because of a stronger audio-visual than print news tradition and a higher motivation among journalists. Our study reveals that after two decades of European convergence journalism, cultural change moves slowly but steadily toward a news production that makes use of the possibilities emerging from convergence.

AB - For two decades, convergence culture has been an important motivator for change in journalism worldwide. Journalism research has followed these developments, investigating the dimensions of change that define convergence as a cultural shift in the newsroom. Research in the European context has mostly been comprised of national case studies of flagship media outlets whereas comparative, let alone quantitative, studies are scarce. In response to these shortcomings, we present a comparative survey among newspaper journalists in managerial positions on convergence strategies in newsrooms from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, and Portugal. Results show that there is still a dominant print culture present in newsrooms across Europe; however, a shift toward convergence journalism is evident in the strategic implementation of editorial routines and practices as well as in the encouragement of journalists to join convergence developments. Furthermore, newsrooms in Mediterranean countries are more advanced than those in North/Central Europe when it comes to embracing convergence culture because of a stronger audio-visual than print news tradition and a higher motivation among journalists. Our study reveals that after two decades of European convergence journalism, cultural change moves slowly but steadily toward a news production that makes use of the possibilities emerging from convergence.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - comparative quantitative survey

KW - convergence culture

KW - cross-media

KW - editorial routines

KW - European journalism

KW - newsroom strategies

KW - transmedia

U2 - 10.1080/1461670X.2016.1232175

DO - 10.1080/1461670X.2016.1232175

M3 - Journal article

VL - 19

SP - 881

EP - 904

JO - Journalism Studies

JF - Journalism Studies

SN - 1461-670X

IS - 6

ER -