Convergence in Spanish regional media
One of the aims of this site is to comment on new research developments in the area of online journalism and news production innovations, specially highlighting those that share the spirit of Making Online News. The study on convergence in two regional media groups in Spain by García Avilés and Carvajal recently published in the journal Convergence is a good example.
The authors based their research on qualitative interviews with a wide range of journalistic positions in the two analyzed newsrooms and a brief two-day observation of the working routines, including news meetings. Researchers approached their object of study with the aim of avoiding “oversimplifying the analysis”. They tried to overcome linear models such as the one by Dailey et al. (2005) or research implying that newsroom convergence is a mere “effect” of technological change (see Garrison and Dupagne, 2006).
The rich description of routines and the evolution of the projects, coupled with the interpretations by the protagonists themselves offer a very detailed explanation of two different approaches to convergence, what the authors label as “integrated model” and “cross-media model”. The authors identify the attitude of the managers and their ability to engage the newsrooms in the process as the key for success. Training and defining the boundaries between collaboration and competition seem the main practical challenges.
García Avilés, J.A. and Carvajal, M. (2008) Integrated and Cross-Media Newsroom Convergence: Two Models of Multimedia News Production –The Cases of Novotécnica and La Verdad Multimedia in Spain. Convergence, 14(2), 221-239
See also the review at Infotendencias (in Spanish)
