About introvert incumbents and extravert start-ups: An exploration of the dialectics of collaborative innovation in the Dutch journalism field

Abstract

This article analyzes the way different types of news organizations address collaboration in innovation. A qualitative analysis of 31 expert interviews in the Dutch news field shows that especially incumbents are perceived internally oriented when it comes to organizing their innovation processes. Although they might acknowledge that the challenges are demanding and the stakes are high, they speak of innovation mainly in terms of competition, and are therefore still subject to a traditional bounded rationality. Also, in the Dutch context, the tensions between commercial news organizations and publicly financed news organizations are mentioned as obstacles to a more open approach to innovation. Newcomers and smaller organizations speak more in terms of synergy and describe the added value of opening up and working together to be able to face the future with confidence. In this article, this rather stereotypical conceptualization of collaboration in innovation is put in a critical perspective.

Breaking Away From Hectic Daily Media Production: Unleashing Explorative Innovation Through Inter-Firm Collaborations

“…This identity-building process tends to translate into an act of boundary preservation, which may hinder collaboration processes, particularly with non-journalistic or non-traditional companies. Slot's (2021) study on collaborative innovation practices of Dutch news media seems to confirm this, especially regarding traditional organisations. Her research shows that on a superficial level of analysis, Dutch news media deem collaborative innovation important for their transformation phase, particularly for the knowledge-sharing aspect and the importance of making strategic connections.…”

Media-Tech Companies as Agents of Innovation: From Radical to Incremental Innovation in a Cluster

“…New players, forms, and practices have been entering the journalism field, prompting a re-examination of journalism's professional and organizational boundaries. Many scholars argue for expanding the scope of journalism studies beyond the newsrooms (i.e., Deuze & Witschge, 2018) to encompass citizen or blogger acts of journalism (Singer, 2005), as well as the production of startup (Carlson & Usher, 2016;Slot, 2021) and interloper media Eldridge, 2014Eldridge, , 2019. Notions of boundaries and boundary work are crucial for understanding this new fluidity within journalism.…”

“…The lessons the traditional media should take from entrepreneurs are on how to develop successful reader membership schemes and promote synergies that underline the added value of collaboration (Zhang, 2019). Researchers explored start-ups as "role-models" for established media around how to adapt to market challenges and to be more "in tune with the needs of the public (Carlson & Usher, 2016;Slot, 2021).…”

Unlocking the Newsroom: Measuring Journalists’ Perceptions of Innovative Learning Culture

“…News organisations have been adapting to a digital and multi-media news environment since the late twentieth century, and this often has proven to be a struggle (Buijs 2014;Ryfe 2012;Tameling 2015;Usher 2014). Legacy media in particular are forced into digital transition by their online competitors, who offer more versatile, more immediate and more user-friendly alternatives to their audiences (Küng 2015;Slot 2018;Westlund and Lewis 2014). Multiple authors have argued that if these established media seek to consolidate their position and want to remain relevant to their audiences, they should not merely adapt but fundamentally reinvent themselves (Fortunati and O'Sullivan 2019;Küng 2015;Westlund and Lewis 2014).…”