Assistance or Resistance? Evaluating the Intersection of Automated Journalism and Journalistic Role Conceptions

Newsrooms are a social context in which numerous relationships exist and influence news work - be it with other journalists, the audience, and technology. As some of these relations change due to technological innovations, new hybrid contexts - technologies that are interwoven with newsroom values, routines, and socio-cultural experiences - can emerge. One key question is how journalists conceptualise and interact with such technologies, and to what degree they retain (creative) agency in the process. Therefore, this study evaluates the intersection of automated journalism and journalistic role conceptions. Using Hanitzsch’s and Vos’s circular model of journalistic roles (2017) and Deuze's understanding of journalism as an ideology (2005) as a theoretical framework, this study examines some of the discursive aspects of automated journalism by asking: To what extent are journalistic roles (a) challenged or (b) advanced as a result of automated journalism? Our findings more closely align with the latter, pointing to a strong sense of discursive maintenance of journalists’ roles and their core skillset and thus suggesting a high degree of ideological continuity in the face of industrial disruption. It concludes with an agenda for future research and stresses that at times when journalism and automation intersect, the field would benefit from incorporating emerging conceptual frameworks such as human–machine communication

Managing Innovation: The Networked Form of University in the XXI Century

In the last decades, universities have deeply changed their role and mission in order to become entrepreneurial institutions able to compete in a global setting. Contemporary processes of globalization, digitization, and networking, have induced new forms of organization, production, and distribution of knowledge. The presence of research-oriented universities can assist geographically proximate firms directly through the provision of educated workers and indirectly by way of myriad externalities. Starting from different approaches, namely the Triple Helix Model and its extensions and the systems theory, the authors shed light on the new networked form of universities. Nowadays, competitiveness relies on a vast and complex entity constituted by many players. The university can develop through an externally-driven growth in which networks of (local and international) relationships enable to gain advantages and reputation.    This becomes particularly evident in the area of media and communications: the news industry and its ecosystem are being disrupted due to dramatic social and technological changes. Universities active in media and journalism education can play a central role not only when it comes to knowledge transfer, bringing together experts from academia and the industry. At the same time, universities try also to create a sustainable future for journalism by offering funding schemes and by incubating new media initiatives for instance in areas such as entrepreneurial journalism. Thus, pursuing the third mission, universities take more and more the role of an industry, transferring both knowledge and technology to infuse existing (media) firms with new life and helping to generate new start-ups

Die Entwicklung der Medienlandschaft in der Svizzera italiana

Kleine Medienmärkte wie die Svizzera italiana sind mit besonderen Herausforderungen konfrontiert: Die Werbe- und Publikumsmärkte sind begrenzt und erschweren die Finanzierung der Medien. Die Medienlandschaft der Svizzera italiana hat sich in den vergangenen Jahren insbesondere aufgrund ökonomischen Drucks markant verändert. Neue, stärker reichweiteorientierte Pressetitel wurden lanciert und traditionsreiche wurden eingestellt, einige Online-Anbieter sind neu hinzugekommen. Die ökonomische Situation der Medientitel ist in der italienischen Schweiz weiterhin angespannt, und die Corona-Pandemie hat diesen Umstand noch weiter verschärft. Aus diesem Grund analysiert diese Vertiefungsstudie zunächst den Wandel der Medienstrukturen. Diese wird mit einer Inhaltsanalyse der Medienberichterstattung verbunden, um die Entwicklung der Medienqualität bzw. der journalistischen Leistungen vor dem Hintergrund der Strukturen zu evaluieren. Insgesamt zeigen die Resultate, dass die Gesamtqualität in der Langzeitanalyse im Durchschnitt relativ stabil bleibt und dass auch die kleine Sprachregion Medienangebote hervorbringt, die an die Qualität ähnlicher Angebote in den grösseren Sprachregionen herankommen. Zudem fehlen mit Ausnahme der Pendlermedien qualitätsschwache Boulevardmedien, was gleichzeitig darauf hinweist, dass in einem kleinen Markt rein reichweiteorientierte und werbefinanzierte Angebote schwerer zu finanzieren sind. Darüber hinaus zeigen sich Veränderungen der Qualität in Bezug auf einzelne Dimensionen, was wiederum auf veränderte strukturelle Rahmenbedingungen hinweist. So hat die Pandemie auf gewisse Sphären bzw. Themenlagen durchgeschlagen: Beispielsweise berichten Medien vermehrt über Politik zulasten von Sport und Human-Interest-Themen. Dabei rückt auf Kosten der Auslandsberichterstattung die lokale und kantonale Politik vermehrt in den Vordergrund, während die nationale Politikberichterstattung 2020 höchstwahrscheinlich aufgrund der Pandemie zwar stark zunimmt, insgesamt aber eher stabil bleibt. Positiv ist, dass die redaktionellen Eigenleistungen in der Svizzera italiana stetig zunehmen, Agenturbeiträge also weniger häufig verwendet werden. Trotz der prekären finanziellen Lage des Medienmarktes ist die Medienqualität noch als positiv zu bewerten, allerdings zeigen sich bei genauerem Hinschauen erste Risse. Daher dürften die Kantone nicht um eine medienpolitische Debatte zum Thema Medienfinanzierung herumkommen. Der Kanton Graubünden hat hier bereits erste Schritte unternommen, während die Debatte im Kanton Tessin noch in den Kinderschuhen steckt. Zwar können sich die Medienhäuser im Tessin momentan über Wasser halten, die Frage ist allerdings, für wie lange, ohne dass die Medienqualität tangiert wird

Accountability and Transparency of Entrepreneurial Journalism: Unresolved ethical issues in crowdfunded journalism projects

Crowdfunding is a new business model in which journalists rely—and depend—on (micro-) payments by a large number of supporters to finance their reporting. In this form of entrepreneurial journalism the roles of publisher, fundraiser and journalist often overlap. This raises questions about conflicts of interest, accountability and transparency. The article presents the results of selected case studies in four different European countries—Germany (Krautreporter), Italy (Occhidellaguerra), the United Kingdom (Contributoria) and the Netherlands (De Correspondent)—as well as one US example (Kickstarter). The study used a two-step methodological approach: first a content analysis of the websites and the Twitter accounts with regard to practices of media accountability, transparency and user participation was undertaken. The aim was to investigate how far ethical challenges in crowdfunded entrepreneurial journalism are accounted for. Second, we present findings from semi-structured interviews with journalists from each crowdfunding. The study provides evidence about the ethical issues in this area, particularly in relation to production transparency and responsiveness. The study also shows that in some cases of crowdfunding (platforms), accountability is outsourced and implemented only through the audience participation

News Accuracy in Switzerland and Italy

Nearly 80 years of accuracy research in the United States has documented that the press frequently errs, but empirical study about news accuracy elsewhere in the world is absent. This article presents an accuracy audit of Swiss and Italian daily regional newspapers. Replicating US research, the study offers a trans-Atlantic perspective of news accuracy. To compare newspaper accuracy in Switzerland and Italy to longitudinal accuracy research in the United States, the study followed closely the methodology pioneered by Charnley (1936) and adapted by Maier (2005). News sources found factual inaccuracy in 60 percent of Swiss newspaper stories they reviewed, compared to 48 percent of US and 52 percent of Italian newspapers examined. The results show that newspaper inaccuracy—and its corrosive effect on media credibility—transcends national borders and journalism cultures. Nowadays, digitization offers new ways of implementing correction policies. Media organizations need, however, to adapt to these changes and to adapt their structures in particular to new forms of participative and interactive two-way communication