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Diversity of Journalisms. Proceedings of ECREA/CICOM Conference, Pamplona, 4-5 July 2011
newspapers and online, a development that implies convergence, not diversity. One
journalist predicts the mixture of the role of TV, radio and print journalist as the
following: “That is multimedia. I wanted to become a newspaper journalist and not work
for TV or radio. […] The decision was which media to work for. Now you are going to
work for all of them at the same time.” (J7, regional newspaper) On the other hand, the
newsdesk concept generates a differentiation of journalistic roles: 1) coordinating roles
that work at the newsdesk and – complementary – 2) information producing roles that
contribute information to the newsdesk. Thus, it is a striking result that nowadays there
are different forces that have an effect on the structure of journalism: those that merge
and those that differentiate.
How Do Journalists Evaluate These Changes?
Data from the in-depth-interviews and the observation highlight an evolutionary process
as to the structure of journalism. How do journalists reflect on this process? What
changes do they perceive since 1990? And how do they evaluate these
transformations?
In the context of this paper one major trend is worthwhile mentioning: the
transformation of important resources for journalistic work. Data from the online survey
show a change of working conditions. 59% of the journalists mention that working
hours have increased since 1990. Although the amount of work load has not changed,
most journalists witness a decrease in the number of journalists during the last 20
years. The compression of journalistic work is not only an effect of converging news
environments but affects the whole journalistic profession.
Looking at certain aspects of everyday routines, 41% of the journalists say they have to
spend more time sitting and communicating in various meetings compared to the two
decades before. Today, journalists spend less time doing research. 54% state the time
devoted to research has decreased in the last years.
Figure 3: Change of resources
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