Lia-Paschalia Spyridou

Journalism in a state of flux: Journalists as agents of technology innovation and emerging news practices

The move to a networked media environment presents a range of challenges for journalistic roles, norms and daily practices. This article employs actor network theory to investigate how different actors negotiate and ultimately shape the manner in which the internet and related digital technologies are embedded in the newsroom. Findings suggest that professional culture – articulated in skills, ideas and practices – acts as a network that weakens the potential impact of technology towards innovation and audience-oriented models of journalism. The results point to the conclusion that the internet and related tools are seen as empowering journalists to do their (traditional) jobs better instead of moving on to the next stage built around a stronger commitment to capitalize on the growing sociotechnical potential.

News content online: Patterns and norms under convergence dynamics

The article investigates evolutionary trends in online news presentation and delivery in the light of convergence dynamics. The case study of Greece is an example of how convergence ideas are ‘normalised’ in the actual content due to countering forces exercised by the dominant professional culture and organisational models in the news business. The findings provide evidence that the outcomes of this new culture of high interconnectivity that come along with convergence cannot be ignored even in countries with no advanced employment of its potentialities. At the same time, questions on whether, under conditions of scarce resources and a weak journalistic culture, convergence affordances actually create spaces for a more open and inclusive journalism or are used mainly as vehicles for economic survival, smothering any other potential, are raised.

Print and Online News: Remediation practices in content and form

Drawing upon the notions of remediation and bricolage, the present study investigates the content relationship of print and online news. The article analyses the main characteristics and changes occurring in the form of print and online news at a time when cultural, technological and economic imperatives nurture a new ethos in the practices of professionals and organizations. Print and online newspapers in Greece seem to share a symbiotic relationship, with the representational power of the print—articulated in news form and relevant news values and criteria—still being strong. Although displacement effects are hard to claim, both print and online media tend to refashion themselves. It remains to be seen whether this refashioning process will lead the two media to greater amalgamation, bringing them even to merge into one or whether divergence processes will prevail, generating distinct news forms.

Dependency, (non)liability and austerity news frames of bailout Greece

Instructed theoretically by the critical discussion on the media’s alignment with the institutions of power in societies, this study examines how the Greek legacy press framed the discussion over the crisis, by focusing on the bailout agreements Greece signed with the troika during the period 2010–2012. The analysis, following a three-step process in frames’ detection, focuses on the associations of actors and their responsibility, causes, solutions and effects of the crisis and the bailouts, as appearing in the news texts studied, and reveals a de-contexualised neoliberal discourse articulated through three distinct frames: the dependency, the (non)liability and the austerity frame. The representations of the financial crisis in the newspapers studied largely echo the neoliberal voices and strengthen the hegemonic discourse over the necessity and inescapability of the bailout policies, feeding the ‘masterframe’ of the neoliberal vision of the crisis.

Convergence and the Changing Labor of Journalism: Towards the ‘Super Journalist’ Paradigm

Journalism and technology are inextricably intertwined with each other (Harley 2009). Web 2.0 and its related technologies have profoundly disrupted modern journalism which is in the midst of tumultuous change, driven primarily by technological developments and economic uncertainty on a global scale (Picard, 2011). Scholars conceptualize journalism’s transformation and explain the changes occurring at different levels under the rubric of convergence (Mitchelstein & Boczkowski, 2009). Convergence is commonly perceived as a multidimensional construct allowing for different conceptions and operationalizations (Domingo et al., 2007; Dupagne & Garrison, 2006). Inherent in the concept of convergence is the notion of integration and collaboration (Erdal, 2011).

Churnalism on the Rise?: Assessing convergence effects on editorial practices

Scholars conceptualize journalism’s transformation and explain the changes occurring at different levels under the rubric of convergence. Contrary to optimistic views of convergence, claiming for its potential to satisfy both good journalism and good business practices, the paper argues that at times of economic uncertainty, hyper-competition and diminishing accountability levels, convergence is used as a cost-effective strategy fostering low-cost and spreadable news production. Engaging in quantitative analysis, the article provides empirical evidence showing that the recycling of news content from established elite sources and across popular news sites has increased between 2013 and 2016, posing serious threats for content plurality and independent reporting. Despite online journalism’s development as a field, and the appearance of social networks and user-generated content as alternative and easyily accessible sources, a pervasive survival and monetization culture has turned churning into a mainstream journalistic practice.