Convergence in the Newsoom

1. Convergence in the Newsoom “Convergence brings together the depth of newspapers coverage, the immediacy of television and the interactivity of the Web” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibJaqXVaOaI&feature=related (Henry Jenkins- MIT)

2. Converge To tend or move toward one point: come together To come together and united in a common interest of focus To approach a limit as the number of terms increases without limit Not a synonym for media consolidation

3. Convergence Culture • Generation of Immediacy • Content is atomised • Niche markets with highly focused purposes • “Readers have large appetite but a short attention span” • Supersaturated • Blurring of the audience/ content producer distinction resulting in the changing of labour divisions.

4. New Media New Media is changing and re-engineering journalism resulting in increased intertextual content. “ [This] has led to a double fragmentation: first, for newsmakers, whose daily work has been interrupted and rearranged by additional responsibilities and news pressures of time and space: second, for news audiences, whom marketers have segmented into narrow units and who are encouraged to forge symbolic or imagined communities on the basis of marketing concerns”

5. Where are we now? • Old models of journalism have been irreversibly “disrupted” and the new models are different on a fundamental level. • Mainstream news organisations began loosing their audiences before the internet reached mass audiences. • “Legacy” media now has to compete with faster, more efficient vehicles of mass media. • The Sky- the known unknown • Slow to recognise/ paralysed by impact • Consumers have benefitted: choice, speed, delivery, platform options etc. • Adapt or die? Not just a matter of riding out the storm • Crisis of legitimacy

6. Changing of news habits • Challenging the comfort zones of journalists • No lone wolf journalism- telling a story through a variety of mediums • Musical chairs- no one can afford to sit this one out • No one area of speciality

7. From scarcity to plenty • Information abundance • Loss of limits – infinite competition • Have to think about your audience- ‘customer is always right’ • Should read what they want or what they need to read? • Has journalism moved from being a 4th Estate? • “virgin territory”

8. Change in the way news is “reported, aggregated, distributed and shared”

9. Can a picture tell a thousand words? • Cannot simply transfer a story from print to online to television to radio- mediums have different expectations • Have to think about which medium will tell the story best • Have to think how each one will compliment the other and how the overall story will be packaged • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNic4wf8AYg

12. Prosumers • User-generated content • As people use a site, so it’s value goes up – Readers now accredit and contribute • Huffington Post – 4 million comments a month; more on technology than content? • “turning your customers into publishers” • Focus group all day long • Journalistic sweat shop – interns, UGC etc. • How to develop sources and audiences

13. Advertising • Shift in power from media houses to advertisers • Track exact demographics and target them • Loss of “pass-along” audience • “We’ve lost the power of the package” – Michael Golden – NYT Co. • “The definition of a competitor now is someone who gives your story away for free” – and makes Ad money • Decrease in media credibility- Health Care Ad • Los Angeles Times- advertisers play a key role in shaping journalistic content

14. Negative effects of convergence on the newsroom • Slow reaction to change • Inter-group bias : one staff-shaped collision at a time • Stress- newroom cyclone • Decreased creativity - time in the field • Lazy SAPA/ PR journalism – churnalism! • Redundancies to come? • Immediacy: from idea to market- mediocre journalism • “Scooping” each other – rather do the work + credit! • Multi-skilling – more time, less money • Clashing of newsroom cultures + 2 bosses? • Loss of investigative journalism – or hierarchical issues • “visual information at the expense of textual dept”

15. Positive effects of convergence on the newsroom • Increased bonding/ collegiality : “Proximity breeds collegiality, not contempt” • CV “booster” – increased morale • Multi-skilling – presentation and opportunity “learning the language” • Breaking of the “self-defining and self-limiting” bubble • Resource sharing – ideas, people etc. • Decrease in internal competition

16. A Good Example- Daily Dispatch • Integrated newsroom – no offices • Combined online and print meetings: which story will suit which medium, which should be reserved for print • Open-flow of communication • Investment in investigative stories and technology • Good cross-use of media • Dying to live project

17. A Work in Progress- M&G • Separate newsrooms : more than a physical wall • Duplication of stories due to lack of communication – inhibits cross-media projects • No formal policy • Weekly paper- daily online?

18. Where to from here? • Divergence? • Platform specific -platform agnostic? • Monetising new media • Who regulates? • Synergy • Mobilising the journalistic image • Give public what they want or need? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

19. References • Bloom, K & Mavhungu, J. 2009. “Successful ‘New Media’ Business models: Case studies of independent commercial print media in South Africa. • Dupagne, M & Garrison, B. 2006. “The Meaning and Influence of Convergence” Journalism Studies. 7:2. • Grueksin, B., Seave, A., and Graves, L. 2011. “The Story So Far” Tow Centre for Digital Journalism. • Klinenberg, E. 2005. “Convergence: News Production in a Digital Age. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 597:48. • Singer, J.B. 2004. “Strange Bedfellows? The diffusion of convergence in four news organisations” Journalism Studies. 5: 1. • Van Noort, E. 2007. “Newsroom Convergence at the Mail & Guardian: A qualitative case study”, Honours Thesis.