Innovations in Central European Newsrooms

Abstract

This paper is an overview of modern newsroom models in Central European countries, especially Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Editorial job divisions, as well as routines and work practices, in newspaper and news agency newsrooms, have experienced revolutionary changes in these countries *not only through the global trend towards convergence, but also by bridging traditional barriers between departments and by introducing more flexible structures. Large and open newsrooms, for example, are now becoming increasingly popular. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data drawn from a case study of the innovations process of the news agency Austria Presse Agentur in Vienna, it is suggested that modernized newsrooms can increase speed and journalistic quality. At the same time building structure and space play an important role in the innovations process of a newsroom. There are significant correlations between satisfaction with the work site and the assessment of rising quality.

How structural multi-platform newsroom features and innovative values alter journalistic cross-channel and cross-sectional working procedures

“…Therefore, Swiss newsrooms may have already dealt with the challenge to think and act crossdepartmentally, as stated by Meier (2007). However, this result may be due to the cross-sectional Interestingly, routine rigidity is not found to be influenced by gender, age, or journalistic generation, although this is suggested by previous research (Larsson, 2012;Ryfe, 2009).…”

“…The newsroom structure plays an important role for working procedures and, therefore, in the innovations process, as suggested by Meier (2007 that directly require changes in working procedures, such as being responsible for multi-channel reporting and holding a central news desk, are efficient for overcoming routine rigidity. Also, in terms of reporting performance, Olsson (2009, p. 459) points out that a decentralized newsroom structure is counterproductive when reporting an unforeseen crisis event because journalists "could not draw upon everyday routines in order to handle the event."…”

“…This result confirms Slappendel's (1996) argument that changes in structures and individuals within an organization are connected. Structural features and individual values are requirements for innovation (Meier, 2007;Slappendel, 1996;Steensen, 2009). Previous research focusing on the restructuring and convergence process resulted in a change in organizational culture as a consequence (Schein, 1993;Sylvie & Moon, 2007).…”

“…Although the converged newsroom structure plays an important role in the innovations process (Meier, 2007), news organizations are slow to adapt their practices to the internet era and are more innovative in ways that are consistent with past habits than adopting new ones (Himelboim & McCreery, 2012;Ryfe, 2009). Meier (2007, p. 6) states that the challenge for Central European news outlets "lies not only in repurposing content across platforms, but also in cross-departmental thinking and acting.…”

Technological innovation and convergent journalism Case study on the transformation process of Bavaria’s public broadcasting service

“…(3) Topic-orientation, as opposed to the classical news desk and broadcasting (section, platform and beat oriented) structure, is playing an increasingly important role in newsroom organisation and journalistic working methods (Meier 2002(Meier , 2007Grubenmann, 2016). As a first step in integrated newsrooms the (platform and beat) resources of the classical media are combined in a topic-oriented way with a crossbeat and cross-platform perspective of current and complex issues, and are used also for digital platforms.…”