News Media Organizations Research Articles

The influence of value co-creation on customer loyalty, behavioural intention, and customer satisfaction in emerging markets

One of the current major trends in the media industry is customer value co-creation. User participation can significantly affect news media organisations. This study examines the impact of value co-creation on the loyalty, satisfaction, and behavioural tendencies of media consumers, using a survey of users of My Fars news platform. The conceptual model of this study is developed and tested by using survey data from 283 users of the news campaign in Fars News and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is employed to simultaneously test the hypothesized relationships. The results show that user participation in value co-creation significantly affects their satisfaction, loyalty, and behavioural tendencies.

How Does an Incumbent News Media Organization Become a Platform? Employing Intra-Firm Synergies to Launch the Platform Business Model in a News Agency

ABSTRACT Digital platforms have disrupted traditional news organizations, with new platform-based models gaining ground. However, the incumbents can defend their positions and reap the benefits of multi-sided market structures by establishing a platform business model themselves. We examine a case study of the Austrian News Agency (APA), which gradually formulated a strategy that resulted in a platform-based business model. Platform features were strategized and innovated over time and in phases, with the intent of creating value for customers on both sides of the platform. We found that APA’s platform transformation was enabled by a visionary value proposition backed by a trusted institution’s legitimacy and a co-operative organizational model that provided added incentives for the participating news media companies. The strategy and the business model emerged on the basis of external developments and internal realizations concerning the feasibility of the new platform strategy. Based on our results, we develop a framework for an incumbent strategy formation process towards a platform business model. This framework demonstrates the incumbent organization’s emergent, as well as deliberate, strategic ability to introduce platform features into its business model, based on unique intra-firm synergies with established parts of the business, and highlighting a potential for “incumbent advantage.”

Precariously Employed Climate Journalists the Challenges of Freelance Climate Journalists in South Asia

ABSTRACT Declines in the number of foreign correspondents and bureaus have caused media to rely on freelance journalists, particularly on coverage of complex and topical issues such as climate change. This study examines the challenges freelance climate journalists in South Asia face and how they negotiate pay, benefits, and safety. Drawing from in-depth interviews of 15 journalists based in three South Asian countries−India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - the study finds that low wages, inconsistent work and perceived risk/anxiety over security - are the key challenges. The study argues that lack of financial and organizational support from the news media organizations impacts climate change coverage from a vulnerable region like South Asia. Freelance journalists often do not report on issues that can put them at physical and financial risks. Findings show that COVID-19 further impacts their financial security as many media outlets cut their budgets.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU: INVESTIGATING THE USE OF ALGORITHMIC NEWS RECOMMENDATION IN THE SCANDINAVIAN DAILY PRESS

This paper investigates the Scandinavian daily press’ efforts in and perspectives on algorithmic news recommendation. News recommender systems provide news organisations with new opportunities to offer more relevant and personalised news experiences, but their increasing use has also raised several concerns about whether and how algorithms should undertake important editorial decisions. Current literature offers only limited empirical insight into the actual use of these technologies in journalism, and this paper is the first to map the use of news recommender systems in the Scandinavian media system. Drawing on interviews with all 19 national newspapers within the Scandinavian daily press, the findings reveal that 17 newspapers use news recommender systems and 14 of these use personalisation. Most newspapers expressed positive attitudes toward the technologies, highlighting increased relevance and better opportunities to drive subscriptions. The extent of the use of news recommendation at the specific news media organisations is still limited due to concerns about algorithms interfering with journalistic priorities and a reluctance to jeopardise the brand value of the front page. Some newspapers address these concerns by allowing for editorial control through subjectively estimated journalistic input, revealing that journalistic norms and ideals affect the design and implementation of algorithms in journalism.

The existential stakes of platform governance: a critical literature review.

This study introduces a comprehensive overview of literature concerning the concepts of regulation and governance, and attempts to connect them to scholarly works that deal with the governance of and by social media platforms. The paper provides fundamental definitions of regulation and governance, along with a critique of polycentricity or multi-stakeholderism, in order to contextualise the discussion around platform governance and, subsequently, online content regulation. Moreover, where traditional governance literature conceptualised stakeholders as a triangle, this article proposes going beyond the triad of public, private and non-governmental actors, to account for previously invisible stakeholder clusters, like citizens and news media organisations. This paper also contends that, while platform governance is an important field of study and practice, the way it has been structured and investigated so far, is posing an existential risk to the broader internet governance structure, primarily, because of the danger of conflating the internet with platforms. As a result, there exists a timely need to reimagine the way in which we understand and study phenomena related to platform governance by adjusting our conceptual and analytical heuristics. So, this article wishes to expand the theorisation of this field in order to better engage with complicated platform governance issues, like the development of regulatory frameworks concerning online content regulation.

International perspective of Twitter as a source of information in newsroom and mainstream media in Pakistan. An Analytical Study

Mainstream media in Pakistan is entering the new phase of journalism by the proliferation of social media in society. Twitter is considered as the source of news in the newsroom of traditional media houses. For the study, all mainstream media houses were surveyed all over Pakistan. The data is collected from six different traditional news media organizations in Pakistan including print and broadcast news media. The study analyzes the usage of Twitter for news production and information gathering over 200 journalists in Pakistan. The study is quantitative and SPSS is used for data analysis. Journalists are likely to use Twitter for news sources and information gathering. This study concluded that journalists are not fully relying on the obtained information from Twitter. They are more likely to doubtful on the objectivity of tweets; they double-check the source by the traditional means

A Comparative Analysis of the Reportage of Covid-19 During the First and Second Wave: A Case of the Egyptian and Jordanian Newspapers

This study investigated online newspaper coverage of COVID-19 in Egypt and Jordan, with particular attention to the depth of coverage. The main objective of the study was to examine the content of news covering COVID-19 posted online concerning Egyptian and Jordanian newspapers, to know which countries were more interested and committed to covering health crises. A content analysis of 4202 news articles by four news media organizations: Al-Ahram, youm7, Al-Rai, and Addustour was done. The findings of the study indicated that the Al-Ahram, youm7 in wave one was in-depth coverage, as compared to Al-Rai and Addustour coverage. In addition, Al-Rai and Addustour used a negative panic tone in presenting COVID-19 pandemic-related stories, in contrast to the Al-Ahram, youm7. Finally, Al-Rai and Addustour focused on reporting stories and raising awareness in waves one and two more than Al-Ahram and youm7. Based on these findings: the following recommendations were made: the media should focus more on sensitising the public on the necessary steps to take in curbing the virus. They should refrain from over usage of a negative tone to panic the public in presenting the stories of the COVID-19 pandemic in both countries. Copyright © 2021 by Academic Publishing House Researcher s.r.o.

Diaspora journalism’s coverage of migration: How the Irish diaspora press reported the refugee crisis

Irish diasporas have a long history of multidirectional and multigenerational migration with large communities sustaining successful commercial diaspora news media organizations. Such complex migration patterns often result in the hybridization of identities whereby the migrant group develops cultural identities that are different from the ‘homeland’ and each other. Diaspora media operate as important cultural landmarks that mediate the representation of home and hostland identity, providing a rich set of cultural building blocks with which diaspora communities can identify. Indeed, comparative studies have shown diverse representations of Irish diasporic identities and history in Irish diaspora news media located in different parts of the world. However, to date much of the focus has been on the representations of historical events such as the Famine the 1916 Rising. What is not yet clear is how identity is represented in relation to contemporary news events. Using framing analysis this article compares how Irish diaspora news media located in different regions draw on Irish diasporic identity to represent the appropriate responses of Irish diasporans and Irish people to the Refugee crisis in 2016 finding that while there are some variances, a unifying message dominates.

Media Business Development in the Context of Global Digitalization

In the context of global changes in the media market under the influence of Internet technologies, it becomes necessary to identify the main trends of its development, so the characteristic of the market trends, the integration process of entrepreneurial structures in the media industry, aimed at increasing their competitiveness at the present stage of development of the market economy. In the context of an ever-changing, competitive digital ecosystem and against the background of General cuts in advertising budgets in the print press, radio, and television, advertising investments in the digital environment are increasing starting in 2019. Revenues of legacy news media organizations (also called old or traditional media organizations) are constantly declining due to the high degree of audience participation in new media due to the use of user-generated content, media automation, and new digital media organizations. Using mathematical-statistical and logical research methods, the article identifies specific features of the media business sphere, which include audience fragmentation, culture of creative destruction, and hypercompetition in the media market. In addition, key issues and current changes in the media industry in the context of global digitalization are highlighted, reflecting the introduction of innovative technologies that affect the media industry, and the decline in traditional methods of delivery and media consumption. Global digitalization has affected the growth of media platforms, resulting in an increase in the supply of content itself, as well as significant changes in its consumption by the advertising market.

Text Mining News Analysis on North-South Korea Relation: News Coverages for 227 months

본 연구는 227개월 약 44만 건에 나타난 남북관계 뉴스의 핵심적 내용을 파악하기 위한 연구이다. 2000년 6월 1일부터 2019년 4월 30일까지 뉴스 기사 제목을 수집하여 하루에 보도된 모든 기사 제목을 하나의 분석 단위로 놓고, 장기간의 경향을 추적하였다. 그동안 사건 및 이벤트 중심의 언론 보도 연구는 주로 프레이밍을 이론적 기반으로 하여, 언론사의 입장에 따라 남북관계를 어떻게 바라보고 보도하는가를 중심으로 다루어 왔다. 그 결과 실제 유통되는 담론에 대한 장기적 관점의 시각이 확보되지 못하여, 남북관계와 관련된 담론 내용을 통시적으로 살피지 못했다. 또한, 방법론상으로 단기간 또는 소수의 언론사에 치중하여 연구함으로써 자료의 대표성을 확보하지 못하였으며, 사람에 의한 내용 분석에만 의존하는 경향이 있었다. 본 연구는 장기간 대규모 자료를 활용하고, 컴퓨테이셔널 사회과학 방법론의 하나인 텍스트 마이닝 연구 기법을 통해 보도된 자료를 분석하고자 하였다. 연구 결과, 장기간 보도 내용의 핵심은 남북한 소통과 대화였고 또한 평화를 위한 남한 정부의 중재적 역할의 부각이었다. 남북 갈등에 관한 사항은 장기간으로 볼 때, 일부에 지나지 않았다.The purpose of this study is to delineate the central theme of news on North-South Korea relation. The Data is drawn from the beginning of June 2000 to the end of April 2019. In contrast to previous studies that has been event-driven and emphasized the framing of news media organizations and how they reacted upon the issues on the relation, this study takes a longitudinal approach to find the gist of disseminated news contents for 227 months. According to the research result, it is found that the dialogue and communication between North. and South Korea has been dominated by their negotiation and communication for peace between the two Korea rather than conflicts and tensions.

Competition, Change, and Coordination and Collaboration: Tracing News Executives’ Perceptions About Participation in Media Innovation

ABSTRACT Technological disruptions and increasing competition in the digital mediascape have fundamentally altered the market conditions for news media companies, raising corresponding concerns about the future of journalism. News media firms can adapt their business models by more purposefully focusing on media innovation, or the development and implementation of new processes, products or services. Specifically, this article focuses on innovation-centric coordination and collaboration—namely, coordination of knowledge and innovation activities among social actors in news media organizations. In doing so, this article builds on the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm and its core argument that coordination of knowledge is essential for organizational innovation. It presents findings from a series of cross-sectional surveys with newspaper executives carried out bi-annually from 2011 to 2017, examining executives’ perceptions of collaborative potential for digital media innovation at the intersection of editorial, business, and information technology (IT) departments. The findings suggest that there has been a significant increase in perceived collaboration more recently, and that the IT department is perceived to have become more important to innovation over time.

Making health news: Examining how health influencers drive coverage of maternal and child healthcare issues in Nigerian newspapers

Nigeria is a developing country with varied developmental challenges. It has one of the worst maternal and child healthcare (MCH) indices, globally. The media, as a vital element within the society, has the potential to contribute to improving MCH through appropriate framing and communication of MCH issues. Achieving media inclusion poses a challenge as media contents are often products of varied power relations. Extant studies have established that health is often not primed in Nigerian newspapers where politics and business hold sway. News media contents are also influenced by varied factors which exists both within and outside of news media organisations. Premised on sociology of news as critical perspective, this study examines power relations in newspaper representation of MCH issues in Nigeria. Combining content analysis of MCH-related stories in newspapers with in-depth interview of newspaper health editors, it explores factors and underlying reasons driving coverage of MCH. It finds that government, local and international aid agencies, and civil societies often influence coverage of MCH issues. These groups drive media representation of MCH through established journalistic routine and reporter-source relations, often favouring priming of official news sources and ‘powerful’ elements within the society, as a necessity for maximising limited news media resources. This paper identifies various forms in which these groups manipulates media representation of MCH, urging the media to be more proactive in driving agenda for improved MCH for the citizenry, and not accede to satisfying peculiar interests over public interest.

Cold War Bedfellows: Cuban Exiles, US Conservatives, and Media Activism in the 1960s and 1970s

This article explores the media activism of Cuban exiles in the 1960s and 1970s by examining the Cuban media activists’ recruitment of and coalitions with US conservatives. The author argues that in spearheading Cuban exile media activism, the Truth About Cuba Committee (TACC) compelled news media professionals, US officials, and organization leaders to use their authority for the dissemination of anti-Cuban state propaganda. To that end, the TACC deployed three distinct strategies: 1) direct appeals compelled broadcast stations and periodicals to bias their news coverage against the island-nation, which was markedly effective with extreme right-wing broadcasters; 2) regulatory appeals urged US officials, like J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI, to mobilize state censorship of broadcasts that exiles deemed communist or pro-Cuban Revolution; and 3) appeals to allies pursued coalition-building with US organizations to strengthen the TACC's campaigns and to expand the dissemination of their political message.

Online News Media Framing of COVID-19 Pandemic: Probing the Initial Phases of the Disease Outbreak in International Media

The outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic that purpoted to originate in the city of Wuhan draws a lot of questions on the extent of crisis health communication concerning the international media. At the inception stage, in January 2020, it was reported that about ten major cities in China had been affected by this virus at that time labelled as 2019 nCov. By March 10, 2020, the disease had spread to Europe, the UK, Middle-East, and Africa, with more than 114,344 confirmed cases reported globally. In this situation, various scholars have often criticized the media for framing, misinformation, or exaggeration in the news information. In contrast, others have hailed the media for playing an educative and informative role to the public. Utilizing content analysis, framing and consecutive day sampling, this study focused on examining the media coverage of the initial two months of the COVID-19 Pandemic by four international news media organizations namely; BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera and the People’s Daily. The article contributes to the discourse of mass media practice, and application of various research paradigm in deconstructing media framing during critical periods.

Hero or villain? Responses to Greta Thunberg’s activism and the implications for travel and tourism

The paper engages with the concepts of scapegoat ecology and heroisation to explore social media responses to Greta Thunberg’s activism. We sought to understand the broad sentiment towards her anti-flying (flygskam/flight shame) campaign, as symbolised by her 2019 sail to the United States to attend the United Nations Climate Action Summit. Specifically, social media user posts in response to three major news media organisations’ (BBC, CNN, and Sky News) Facebook coverage of her trip were analysed. The findings reveal dichotomous responses – the majority are critical and dismissive, which we interpret through the lens of ‘scapegoating’; however, a substantial number of posts (about 30%) describe the youth activist as inspirational. We conclude that the majority of people are not yet ready to give up travel convenience for climate change or other environmental reasons, and discuss potential implications for the tourism industry.

Failure to Launch: Competing Institutional Logics, Intrapreneurship, and the Case of Chatbots

AbstractThis article explores the institutional logics of intrapreneurial units, or groups within organizations that are designated to foster organizational innovation. Drawing on interviews with news intrapreneurs developing chatbots in news media organizations, this study shows that innovation can be stymied because of conflicting institutional logics. News intrapreneurs adopt a logic of experimentation, audience orientation, and efficiency-seeking, but that approach clashes with a journalistic logic prioritizing news workflows, formats, and associated autonomy for newsworkers. These clashing logics limit the adoption and influence of chatbots. This study illustrates the shaping influence of competing institutional logics and their negotiation in the development, deployment, and success or failure of intrapreneurial activities within organizations. The lesson is not that the existence of competing logics is, by default, a defeating proposition for innovation. Rather, this study advances scholarly understanding of the role of institutional logics in frustrating or facilitating technological adoption in organizations.

Facebook, news media and platform dependency: The institutional impacts of news distribution on social platforms

There is a growing concern around the dependency of news organisations on platforms like Facebook for audience traffic. However, scholars are still working out the extent of this dependency and how it manifests in practice. In this article, we draw on interviews with Australian news professionals and industry fieldwork to provide a nuanced account of this phenomenon. We find that news media organisations have recently started to diversify their distribution strategies and the business models associated with them in response to Facebook’s algorithm changes. While Facebook remains important, we suggest that greater attention needs to be paid to the complex relationships that news organisations have with platforms. This article ends by considering the implications of these findings for international policy discussions centred around the prospect of platform regulation.

Routinizing Facebook: How Journalists’ Role Conceptions Influence their Social Media Use for Professional Purposes in a Socialist-Communist Country

Surveying journalists in Vietnam, a socialist-communist country, this study attempts to bring insights into the effects of digital platforms on newsroom practices. Specifically, it looks at how journalists from mainstream news media organizations routinize the use of Facebook for various professional purposes. Additionally, this research examines journalists’ role conceptions and how these values influence news workers’ use of Facebook. Its findings show that journalists in this Southeast Asian country are embracing Facebook in their reporting, understanding audience, and branding. Results also indicate that the two important predictors of journalists’ Facebook use for work are the interpretive and populist-mobilizer functions of the news media. Theoretical implications of those findings are discussed in the context of a socialist-communist media system.

Is There a Distinct Quebec Media Subsystem in Canada? Evidence of Ideological and Political Orientations among Canadian News Media Organizations

AbstractIn their much-quoted typology of Western media systems, Hallin and Mancini (2004) associate Canada's media system with what they call the “Liberal model,” given its strong professionalization and limited politicization. They also hypothesize the existence of a more professional and more politicized media subsystem in Quebec. This article tests their hypothesis with data from a 2018 survey of 209 experts across Canada. The findings do not support the hypothesis of a media subsystem in Quebec. However, they show a diversity of ideological and political orientations among news media organizations, which has important empirical and theoretical implications for the study of political communication in Canada.

Christoph Schmidt (ed.): Viability of Alternative Online News Media Organizations in Developing and Transformation Countries

Christoph Schmidt (ed.): Viability of Alternative Online News Media Organizations in Developing and Transformation Countries