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Diversity of Journalisms. Proceedings of ECREA/CICOM Conference, Pamplona, 4-5 July 2011
broadcast)’. So: ‘Journalism as it is, is coming to an end’ (p. 141). Bromly (1997) fears
´the dismantling of demarcations between journalists and technicians, writers and
camera operators, news gatherers and news processors, and between print, radio
and television journalism´. This will inevitably undermine basic journalistic skills and
standards and fosters so-called “multi-skilling” in newsrooms, which Bromly sees as
the result of economic pressure that cuts back on resources while increasing
workloads.
Allan (2004) adds to that the fear of a standardization of news production, as a result
of a concentration of ownership. Journalistic judgment as such no longer determines
what is valued (as) news, ‘what counts as ‘news’ will be severely constrained within
the limits of corporate culture’ (p. 191).
Research questions
The main and most important research question of this study are:
What does convergence mean for the organisation and for the editorial process at
regional newspapers in the Netherlands
To answer this question, we need to determine the levels of convergence at regional
newspapers in the Netherlands and the key factors and actors influencing the
convergence process.
Method
In 2009 and 2010, surveys were conducted at nine regional newspapers in the
Netherlands. For that purpose, eighteen newsroom journalists and managers
(publisher, editor-in-chief or managing editor) were interviewed about their
multiplatform publishing, but also their cross-media ambitions, cross-media training,
newsroom staffing, and workflow.
Specifically, our respondents where interviewed on the following topics:
• Convergence strategy
• Management strategy
• Experience with cross-media publication in the last five years
• Editorial and organisational consequences of the convergence to the
newsroom model
• Financial performance, online and offline
• Staff training.
The surveyed regional newspapers were: Eindhovens Dagblad, Dagblad van het
Noorden, Leidsch Dagblad, Brabants Dagblad, BN/De Stem, Noordhollands Dagblad,
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