From Fortress to Network: Changing Structures of News Media Production

Abstract

A new form of networked journalism based on new media is changing the core of news production and consumption, challenging the business models of the past and the efforts of traditional journalism organizations to control the news. News values are changing even in the BBC and other mainstream news outlets. Although the meaning of news itself is changing, the author argues that even more significant is that we are gaining a whole new means of producing and consuming news. This has implications for empowering citizens, though the outcomes are by no means certain. Policy choices will shape the consequences of current shifts in news but the changes are global and there is increasing evidence of the major potential for change as news production becomes much more like a service - a service co-produced by citizens and journalists.