Research on journalism innovation has become increasingly relevant for science and practice. The literature shows a great variety of innovations in a wide range of media fields. However, the question of what the most important innovations in different media systems are has not been addressed. This article attempts to fill this research gap by providing a theoretical framework that deals with the function of journalism in society as well as with the multifaceted meaning of innovation in a time of constant media change. We identify and analyze the most important journalistic innovations in Austria, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom in the last decade. Interviews with 100 experts reveal diverse innovation efforts. From a total of around 1000 mentions, 50 different types of innovations could be identified; from them, 34 made it into the selection of the 20 most relevant innovations in the countries. Different innovations were found to be of varying importance for journalism development in each country. However, some innovations were ranked high everywhere including data journalism, collaborative and investigative networks, audience participation, journalism in social media and the establishment of paywalls. Further comparative analysis of the media policy frameworks, journalism cultures and contexts for the contribution of journalism to democracy is required.
Two boundaries impede an evidence-based perspective of journalism students and graduates on change, innovation, and epistemological problems of media reality: The separation of practical journalism training from scientific journalism research and the lack of transfer between academic research and newsrooms. The approach of this article bridges these gaps by making transfer projects a third pillar of journalism education. Based on projects from a master’s degree program, we show how—in an age of post-truth and state of flux in a developing digital journalism practice—students’ awareness of an evidence-based journalistic practice can be strengthened by research in and with newsrooms.
The term "innovation" has been a buzzword in public communication for decades. Between advertising, products and processes, various dimensions run with and against each other. This study is an attempt to develop a more systematic approach to the concept of innovation and therefore looks at the german media coverage of innovation. The time period of 20 years and the focus on five leading newspapers and magazines made it possible to obtain a total sample of 127,182 articles, which were investigated through an automated content analysis. This provides a specific view of the context, actors and relationships that have developed around the concept of innovation. It shows that innovation is interpreted as the central currency of economic perspectives, represents a weighty evaluation criterion for politicians and, above all, is used as a permanent evaluation of Germany as a business location in international comparison.
This study provides insights into the role of political social media influencers (PSMI) as relatively new actors in political communication. It examines their content and motives in the context of elections. Considering the German federal election in 2021, it uses content analysis of 20 PSMI offers with 301 pieces of content and a supplemental online survey to explore how PSMI communicated on various platforms/formats (Instagram posts/videos, podcast episodes, TikTok, YouTube) in the 2 months before the election. The findings show that the PSMI in this sample, who were all nominated for an award, provided (basic) political knowledge for a broad target audience without significant prior knowledge. In line with this, the findings further reveal that while the content of the PSMI overall was characterized by a high density of information, their density of opinion or self-presentation was comparatively low, with platform affordances influencing these characteristics. This corresponds to the motives stated by the PSMI in the supplemental online survey. While the findings for the PSMI in our sample are to some extent in line with role conceptions of journalists in Germany—the sample spans from professional journalists to influencers without any connection to journalism—they diverge in other respects from routines of the profession. The findings of our country-specific contribution allow for a more systemic understanding of PSMI, especially in the context of elections, by highlighting that they can add to information sources available by offering (basic) political education, especially for a young target audience on social media.
Nach wie vor pflegen Verlage zu den großen Internet-Dominatoren Facebook, Google und Co. ein skeptischambivalentes Verhältnis: Man konkurriert (chancenlos) um Online-Werbeerträge, erfreut sich aber immerhin an etwas gesteigerter Reichweite durch Präsenz in Sozialen Netzwerken. Beim Blick auf die Nutzungszahlen deutet sich eine Verschiebung an: Instagram nimmt vor allem in der jungen Zielgruppe eine immer gewichtigere Rolle ein. Hier zeigen Lokalzeitungen mit ihren relativ jungen Accounts die schöne Seite der Region. Ist das schon alles? Eine qualitative Befragung von Social-Media-Redakteur. innen zeigt, dass eine langfristige Strategie für Instagram fehlt. Obwohl die Relevanz des Kanals mittlerweile bis in die Chefetage bekannt ist, spielt Instagram im redaktionellen Social-Media-Management im Hinblick auf Professionalität und Planung im Gegensatz zu Facebook nur eine Nebenrolle. Instagram bleibt für die Befragten weiterhin ein Experiment: Monetarisierung, journalistische Standards und Influencer-Marketing sind verlagsübergreifend ungelöste Themen. Nur in einem sind sich alle einig: Instagram ist für den Lokaljournalismus mit seinen regionalen Themen eine große Chance.
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