Convergence calls: multimedia storytelling at British news websites

This article uses qualitative interviews with senior editors and managers from a selection of the UK's national online news providers to describe and analyse their current experimentation with multimedia and video storytelling. The results show that, in a period of declining newspaper readership and TV news viewing, editors are keen to embrace new technologies, which are seen as being part of the future of news. At the same time, text is still reported to be the cornerstone for news websites, leading to changes in the grammar and function of news video when used online. The economic rationale for convergence is examined and the article investigates the partnerships sites have entered into in order to be able to serve their audience with video content. In-house video is complementing syndicated content, and the authors examine the resulting developments in newsroom training and recruitment practices. The article provides journalism and interactive media scholars with case studies on the changes taking place in newsrooms as a result of the shift towards multimedia, multiplatform news consumption

Decentralization, local government, and socio-political conflict in Southern Thailand

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/</a

Thai SMEs&rsquo; Response in the Digital Economy Age: A Case Study of Community-Based Tourism Policy Implementation

The goals of this study were to identify factors affecting the responses of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the digital economy age, to examine the impact of policy implementation and stakeholders&rsquo; roles in the promotion of SMEs in the service sector of community-based tourism (CBT), to analyze the competitiveness of CBT, and to reveal the gap in SMEs&rsquo; service quality. The research design consisted of both qualitative and quantitative methods. It was found that independent variables, i.e., the strategic management, the decision-making process, the structural contingency, perception, and the SMEs&rsquo; potential, together in the multiple regression model, could predict dependent variables. Policy actors can be divided into three levels. Politicians are at the national policy level, high-level bureaucrats are at the implementation level, and stakeholders in the community are at the local level. Policy instruments include projects to support SMEs. Local-level actors play a role in promoting SMEs through collaborative public management. The competitiveness analysis of CBT can be divided into five forces: the rivalry of CBT, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the bargaining power of customers. Meanwhile, there are some problems in assuring service quality

Hyperlocal media and the news marketplace

This chapter explores longstanding tensions between the private and public media sectors in the UK, focusing on new entrants to the ‘market’ or media landscape: hyperlocal and community websites and groups. Drawing on empirical evidence gathered by a collaborative research project and a range of policy and academic texts, it explores the benefits and drawbacks of a number of possible policy options for invigorating and sustaining local media, including methods of public subsidy, the development of charitably funded media, and the development of inter-organizational partnerships. It also considers a broader theoretical question about the assumptions of the ‘marketplace’ model used to develop pluralism-friendly policy: to what extent does this metaphoric terminology hinder the protection of media plurality and diversity of voices and editorial content

Social Capital and Union Revitalization: A Study of Worker Networks in the UK Audio-Visual Industries

This article examines Jarley's contention that trade union revitalization is conditional upon the generation of social capital through the systematic creation of networks. It draws on a qualitative study of freelance workers in the UK audio-visual industry to consider two propositions. The first, that ‘social capital within networks is forged on “bonds” that are conducive to trade union identity’ was not sustained by the data, which instead suggested that social capital is more likely to be generated by networks outside trade union structures. However, the data did support the second proposition that ‘trade unions can harness social capital in order to achieve concrete industrial relations outcomes’ by linking networks to reservoirs of expertise and influence