How journalists innovate in the newsroom. Proposing a model of the diffusion of innovations in media outlets

Jose Alberto García-Avilés,Félix Arias,Alicia De Lara-González,Miguel Carvajal-Prieto

doi:10.5617/jomi.v5i1.3968

Jose Alberto García-Avilés, Félix Arias + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5617/jomi.v5i1.3968

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Abstract

This paper explores how innovation emerges in the media through the views of journalists who are leading the process of newsroom change in Spain. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 20 journalists working in some of the most innovative outlets, according to the 2014 Index of Journalism Innovation in Spain (García-Avilés, Carvajal-Prieto, De Lara-González, & Arias-Robles, 2018). The results highlight the importance of innovations in content production, internal organization, distribution, and commercialization as the drivers of change in the media industry. Our study also reveals several factors that shape both the practice and implementation of innovations in newsrooms. We draw on these factors to outline a model of diffusion of media innovation.

Highlights

Journalism is in a stage of constant flux, accelerated by the rise of new technological players that shape multiple areas of journalistic activity
In the field of public communication, journalistic practice offers a way to understand the social structures in which innovation takes place (Raetzsch, 2015, pp. 66–67)
After reviewing the literature and providing our own definition of journalism innovation, we present the methodology based on semistructured interviews with 20 news professionals in 14 media outlets in Spain

Summary

Introduction

Journalism is in a stage of constant flux, accelerated by the rise of new technological players that shape multiple areas of journalistic activity. Media organizations are facing disruptive changes in the industry structure, consumers’ habits, professional practices, and business models. In the current news ecosystem, there is both “catastrophe and rebirth for institutions that house journalistic work” and constant “institutional adaptation” (Anderson, Bell, & Shirky, 2012, section 2). In the field of public communication, journalistic practice offers a way to understand the social structures in which innovation takes place According to Schumpeter (1934), innovation is reflected in novel outputs: a new good or a new quality of a good;

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