Abstract
Digital native news media have great potential for improving journalism. Theoretically, they can be the sites where new products, novel revenue streams and alternative ways of organizing digital journalism are discovered, tested, and advanced. In practice, however, the situation appears to be more complicated. Besides the normal pressures facing new businesses, entrepreneurs in digital news are faced with specific challenges. Against the background of general and journalism specific entrepreneurship literature, and in light of a practice–theoretical approach, this qualitative case study research on 15 German digital native news media outlets empirically investigates what barriers curb their innovative capacity in the early start-up phase. In the new media organizations under study here, there are—among other problems—a high degree of homogeneity within founding teams, tensions between journalistic and economic practices, insufficient user orientation, as well as a tendency for organizations to be underfinanced. The patterns of failure investigated in this study can raise awareness, help news start-ups avoid common mistakes before actually entering the market, and help industry experts and investors to realistically estimate the potential of new ventures within the digital news industry.
Highlights
Entrepreneurship and novel business ventures are seen as crucial drivers of media industry change and transformation (e.g., Deuze & Witschge, 2020; Küng, 2015; van Weezel, 2010)
While some research has been carried out on their difficult market situation (e.g., Bruno & Nielsen, 2012; Nicholls, Shabbir, & Nielsen, 2016), there a particular research gap persists concerning the typical pitfalls of digital native news media in their early start-up phase during the period in which the conditions of the media market have not yet exerted much pressure on them
The article approaches its research topic from a practice–theoretical angle (e.g., Champenois, Lefebvre, & Ronteau, 2019; Witschge & Harbers, 2018): By closely focusing on actual patterns of entrepreneurial activity during the early start-up stage, a detailed and nuanced picture of the mutual processes surrounding the failure of digital native news media can be drawn, going beyond the often vague factors compiled in general entrepreneurship literature
Summary
Entrepreneurship and novel business ventures are seen as crucial drivers of media industry change and transformation (e.g., Deuze & Witschge, 2020; Küng, 2015; van Weezel, 2010). This article addresses the following research question: RQ: Why do digital native news media fail in their early start-up phase? The article approaches its research topic from a practice–theoretical angle (e.g., Champenois, Lefebvre, & Ronteau, 2019; Witschge & Harbers, 2018): By closely focusing on actual patterns of entrepreneurial activity during the early start-up stage, a detailed and nuanced picture of the mutual processes surrounding the failure of digital native news media can be drawn, going beyond the often vague factors compiled in general entrepreneurship literature. The conclusions of this study can help news start-ups to survive the rough phase before actual market entry and help industry experts as well as investors to realistically estimate potential of these ventures
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