Towards a Broader Concept of Innovation in Journalism

Abstract

The changing context of professional journalism, in essence a transition from the mass media model to the network model, has brought many challenges for 21st century journalism to the forefront. The transition from a sender-oriented model to an interactive model is still in progress, but there can be little doubt that journalism will have to adapt to the new infrastructural reality in order to avoid a deepening of the current crisis in journalism. In the news industry, innovation is mainly defined in terms of technology and commerce, and often the cultural component is missed. I argue that the transition to the network model not only requires new business models and platforms, but also a new interpretation of the objectives and values of professional journalism. Although research shows changes for the better, there are no clear-cut indications that an ambitious innovation of the culture of journalism has yet taken place. Instead, interesting new technologies are still too often used for achieving traditional ends: old journalism in new digital bottles. However, journalism is of central importance to contemporary society and its future cannot be left to its current producers alone. In the process of renewing the culture of journalism, education plays a pivotal role. Students will have to learn to master the essential routines of their future profession, but next to that it becomes more important that journalism students learn to critically reflect on the current values and practices, and to innovate their roles and work methods due to this reflection.