Innovations in Journalism Comparative Research in Five European Countries

Introduction

Part I. Theoretical Framework

1 Innovations in Journalism in Democratic Societies: theoretical concepts, definitions, and preconditions

Klaus Meier, Michael Graßl 

Part II. Methodological approach

2 Research methods in the JoIn-DemoS project

Korbinian Klinghardt, Klaus Meier

Part III. National Framework Conditions for Innovation in Journalism 

3 Country Report Austria. Difficult departure from the comfort zone

Andy Kaltenbrunner, Renée Lugschitz, Matthias Karmasin

4 Country Report Germany. The Media System as a Brake on Journalistic Innovation Development

Maike Körner

5 Country Report Spain. Surfing the waves of crises. Spain’s framework conditions for innovations in journalism

Miguel Carvajal, José María Valero Pastor

6 Country report Switzerland. Caught between financial pressure, audience expectations and political ideology

Guido Keel, Mirco Saner

7 Country Report UK. Dead end street? UK’s framework conditions for innovations in journalism

Colin Porlezza, Petra Mazzoni

Part IV. The most relevant innovations in journalism from a comparative perspective 

8 AI and automation: A key task for the present and future

Jonas Schützeneder, Michael Graßl, Colin Porlezza, Felix Arias Robles, Petra Mazzoni

9 Collaborative-investigative journalism. From the ‘Lonely Wolf’ to the ‘Power of the Pack’

Renée Lugschitz, Korbinian Klinghardt, Jonas Schützeneder, Michael Graßl, Maike Körner

10 Data journalism. From a niche competence to a key feature

Michael Graßl, Jonas Schützeneder, Felix Arias Robles

11 Diversity and inclusion. “Difference matters”

Mirco Saner, Maike Körner, Renée Lugschitz

12 Engagement on the basis of data. Tracing users’ behavior to optimize journalistic offers

Maike Körner, José M. Valero-Pastor 

13 New organizational forms and teams. Changing minds to modify the newsroom

José M. Valero-Pastor, Jonas Schützeneder, Miguel Carvajal

14 Paywalls and paid content. No entry for free: the introduction of paywall-models to monetize online journalism

Korbinian Klinghardt, Sonja Luef

15 News on Social Media. An innovation dilemma in the race of uncertainty

Jonas Schützeneder, Michael Graßl

16 Podcasts. Provider of in-depth journalistic information

Maike Körner, Michael Graßl

17 Citizen participation. On the way from the audience to the community in European news media
Mirco Saner, Maike Körner

18 Mobile/live journalism: The impact of the small screen and breaking news on media organization and production

Dámaso Mondéjar

19 New digital storytelling. Innovative narratives that make a difference

Jose A. García-Avilés

20 Remote media work: tools and management. Hybrid formulas for journalistic daily routines

Dámaso Mondéjar, Alicia de Lara

21 Donations and Crowdfunding. New strategies for financing (investigative) journalism

Korbinian Klinghardt

22 Fact-checking. Strengthening democracy through verifying

Korbinian Klinghardt, Michael Graßl

23 Media Labs. Agents of innovation

Jose A. García-Avilés

24 Membership models. Quality journalism? Pay up, please

Dámaso Mondéjar

25 Newsletters. The renaissance of a valuable product to reach the audience

Dámaso Mondéjar

Part V. Journalistic innovations and their socio-political framework conditions. A 5-country comparison

26 Media systems on the meta level of change. How economy, tech-development and media-policy create the framework for innovation in journalism

Andy Kaltenbrunner 

Part VI. Conclusions and Recommendations

27 Lessons from the implementation of the most relevant journalism innovations in five European countries

Alicia de Lara, Jose A. García-Avilés

28 Opportunities and challenges of innovations for media practice

Vinzenz Wyss, Mirco Saner, Korbinian Klinghardt

29 Deepening the theory of innovation in journalism: Impact on the industry, the quality and the function of journalism in democracy

Michael Graßl, Klaus Meier

Biography

Klaus Meier, Prof. Dr., holds the Chair for Journalism Studies with a focus on Innovation and Transformation at the Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt (Germany). His research explores ethics and quality of journalism, transfer between science and practice, convergence, digital journalism, and journalism education.

José A. García-Avilés, PhD, is Full Professor of Journalism at Miguel Hernández University (Spain), where he lectures in the master’s program in Journalism Innovation. He was a visiting scholar at the Media Studies Center based at Columbia University (New York). His main research interests are digital journalism, news quality, and media innovation.

Andy Kaltenbrunner, Dr., is Managing Partner of Medienhaus Wien and Honorary Professor at the Miguel Hernández University, Elche. He led the development of several academic and executive programs on journalism, media management, and production. His main research areas are media policy, innovation, and transformation in journalism. He leads programs on these topics at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Colin Porlezza, PhD, is Senior Assistant Professor of Digital Journalism with the Institute of Media and Journalism at the Università della Svizzera italiana. He studied communication science and holds a PhD in journalism studies. His research focuses on automated journalism and AI, the innovation and datafication of digital journalism, and journalism ethics and accountability.

Vinzenz Wyss, PhD, Professor for Journalism at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur. His main focus is on quality and quality assurance in journalism, media ethics and media criticism. With his company “Media Quality Assessment”, he evaluates the quality assurance systems of media organizations.

Renée Lugschitz, PhD, is a Researcher at Medienhaus Wien and the Austrian Academy of Sciences/University of Klagenfurt. She studied history and holds a PhD in journalism studies. Her main focuses are practice-oriented research on transition in journalism, on changes in the journalistic profession, and on journalism quality from a historical and gender perspective.

Korbinian Klinghardt, MA, PhD candidate, is a Research Associate at the Chair for Journalism Studies with a focus on Innovation and Transformation at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. He studied media studies at the University of Regensburg and at the Università degli studi Roma Tre. His research focuses on innovations and quality in journalism as well as journalism on social media.

"In contrast to its industry relevance, journalism innovations remain significantly uncharted research territory. This outstanding volume addresses this gap, for the first time on an international comparative scale. It offers fundamental groundwork, rigorous empirical findings, and aids journalism‘s transformation, making it a valuable recommendation for both research and industry professionals."

Dr. Christopher Buschow, Professor of Digital Journalism, Hamburg Media School and Hamburg University of Technology, Germany

"The pace and extent of innovation in journalism is breathtaking. This volume explores these profound changes and how they will shape the future of European journalism. With a comparative analysis spanning five nations, it examines the evolving socio-political landscapes, the impact of technological advancements on funding and formats, and critical areas of innovation such as AI, collaborative investigations, data journalism, fact-checking, and podcasting, as well as how journalistic organizations are adapting to these shifts, from new funding models to structural reconfigurations. If you're a scholar, student, or practising journalist striving to grasp the gritty reality of European journalism's recent evolution, this book is essential reading."

Professor Lucy Kueng, Senior Visiting Research Associate, Reuters Institue, Oxford University, UK

"A compact, profound and up-to-date overview of research on key questions of journalism. The volume shows in an excellent way what science can do for journalistic practice: It discusses innovative ways in which journalism can overcome its crisis."

Christoph Neuberger, Chair und Professor of Communication, Freie Universität Berlin, Director of Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Berlin, Germany

"Nothing like an innovative book to study innovation. Researchers interested in media transformation processes, as well as editors, news managers, and media executives should read this outstanding volume that provides a deep insight into the nature, conceptualization, and implications of journalistic innovation for news organizations. From a thorough revision of previous scholarly research in the field, a hundred interviews with international experts and an empirical analysis of media outlets in five European countries, this collective work addresses key issues to understand why innovation becomes crucial to help media outlets better adapt themselves to the ongoing changes in audience behaviour, business, and technology in the current news ecosystem."

Jose Luis Rojas Torrijos, Assistant Professor of Journalism, School of Communication, University of Seville, Spain

"An important and impressively detailed contribution to advancing both practical knowledge and theoretical conceptualization of the ongoing transformations in journalism. Drawing on a rich data set that encompasses 100 case studies in five Western European nations, the authors systematically explore a wide range of significant journalistic innovations and their relevance to democratic society."                                                                                                                       
Jane B. Singer, Professor Emerita in Journalism; City, University of London