Innovations in Journalism

Klaus Meier, Prof. Dr., holds the Chair for Journalism Studies with a focus on Innovation and Transformation at the Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt (Germany). His research explores ethics and quality of journalism, transfer between science and practice, convergence, digital journalism, and journalism education. José A. García-Avilés, PhD, is Full Professor of Journalism at Miguel Hernández University (Spain), where he lectures in the master’s program in Journalism Innovation. He was a visiting scholar at the Media Studies Center based at Columbia University (New York). His main research interests are digital journalism, news quality, and media innovation. Andy Kaltenbrunner, Dr., is Managing Partner of Medienhaus Wien and Honorary Professor at the Miguel Hernández University, Elche. He led the development of several academic and executive programs on journalism, media management, and production. His main research areas are media policy, innovation, and transformation in journalism. He leads programs on these topics at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Colin Porlezza, PhD, is Senior Assistant Professor of Digital Journalism with the Institute of Media and Journalism at the Università della Svizzera italiana. He studied communication science and holds a PhD in journalism studies. His research focuses on automated journalism and AI, the innovation and datafication of digital journalism, and journalism ethics and accountability. Vinzenz Wyss, PhD, Professor for Journalism at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur. His main focus is on quality and quality assurance in journalism, media ethics and media criticism. With his company “Media Quality Assessment”, he evaluates the quality assurance systems of media organizations. Renée Lugschitz, PhD, is a Researcher at Medienhaus Wien and the Austrian Academy of Sciences/University of Klagenfurt. She studied history and holds a PhD in journalism studies. Her main focuses are practice-oriented research on transition in journalism, on changes in the journalistic profession, and on journalism quality from a historical and gender perspective. Korbinian Klinghardt, MA, PhD candidate, is a Research Associate at the Chair for Journalism Studies with a focus on Innovation and Transformation at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. He studied media studies at the University of Regensburg and at the Università degli studi Roma Tre. His research focuses on innovations and quality in journalism as well as journalism on social media.

Introduction

Part I. Theoretical Framework

1 Innovations in Journalism in Democratic Societies: theoretical concepts, definitions, and preconditions

Part II. Methodological approach

2 Research methods in the JoIn-DemoS project

Part III. National Framework Conditions for Innovation in Journalism

3 Country Report Austria. Difficult departure from the comfort zone

4 Country Report Germany. The Media System as a Brake on Journalistic Innovation Development

5 Country Report Spain. Surfing the waves of crises. Spain’s framework conditions for innovations in journalism

6 Country report Switzerland. Caught between financial pressure, audience expectations and political ideology

7 Country Report UK. Dead end street? UK’s framework conditions for innovations in journalism

Part IV. The most relevant innovations in journalism from a comparative perspective

8 AI and automation: A key task for the present and future

9 Collaborative-investigative journalism. From the ‘Lonely Wolf’ to the ‘Power of the Pack’

10 Data journalism. From a niche competence to a key feature

11 Diversity and inclusion. “Difference matters”

12 Engagement on the basis of data. Tracing users’ behavior to optimize journalistic offers

13 New organizational forms and teams. Changing minds to modify the newsroom

14 Paywalls and paid content. No entry for free: the introduction of paywall-models to monetize online journalism

15 News on Social Media. An innovation dilemma in the race of uncertainty

16 Podcasts. Provider of in-depth journalistic information

17 Citizen participation. On the way from the audience to the community in European news media

18 Mobile/live journalism: The impact of the small screen and breaking news on media organization and production

19 New digital storytelling. Innovative narratives that make a difference

20 Remote media work: tools and management. Hybrid formulas for journalistic daily routines

21 Donations and Crowdfunding. New strategies for financing (investigative) journalism

22 Fact-checking. Strengthening democracy through verifying

23 Media Labs. Agents of innovation

24 Membership models. Quality journalism? Pay up, please

25 Newsletters. The renaissance of a valuable product to reach the audience

Part V. Journalistic innovations and their socio-political framework conditions. A 5-country comparison

26 Media systems on the meta level of change. How economy, tech-development and media-policy create the framework for innovation in journalism

Part VI. Conclusions and Recommendations

27 Lessons from the implementation of the most relevant journalism innovations in five European countries

28 Opportunities and challenges of innovations for media practice

29 Deepening the theory of innovation in journalism: Impact on the industry, the quality and the function of journalism in democracy