"Among the most significant changes affecting journalism worldwide is the emergence of startup culture, as more and more journalists strike out on their own. In Beyond Journalism, Deuze and Witschge combine extensive global and comparative fieldwor
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k. Through rich case studies of journalism startups around the world, they provide deep insight into the promises and pitfalls of media entrepreneurship. Ultimately, they aim to recognize new and emerging voices as legitimate participants in the discourse about what journalism is, can be and should be." (Publisher description)
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"In this article, we explore how entrepreneurial journalists from a wide variety of national contexts present ‘impact’ as one of the aims in their work. By exploring the variety, incongruences, and strategic considerations in the discourse on impact of those at the forefront of journalistic inno
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vation, we provide a much-needed empirical account of the changing conceptualisation of what journalism is and what it is for. Our data show how impact becomes an ideologically as well as strategically driven endeavour as the entrepreneurs try to carve out their niche and position themselves both in relation to traditional counterparts and other startups. Ultimately, we provide empirical insight into a number of tensions that remain underlying in the discourse on constructive journalism, an increasingly popular conceptualisation that refers to a future-oriented, solution-driven, active form of journalism. We show how our interviewees marry different, commonly-deemed incompatible practices and values, thus challenging binary distinctions at the heart of conceptualisations of journalism, also perpetuated in the discourse on constructive journalism. As pioneers in the field, startups can be argued to inspire journalistic as well as social innovation, and furthermore push for a more inclusive understanding of the divergent conceptualisations and practices that together make up the amalgam that we call ‘journalism’." (Abstract)
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"News and current affairs journalism that purports to be for the public good, and in the public interest, can survive, grow and flourish but not through market forces and new technology alone. To survive, news media will have to adjust and adapt to changes in technology and a harsher commercial envi
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ronment. New ways of ensuring the space for, and independence of, news and current affairs journalism that purports to be for the public good, need to be found to preserve and protect the public interest and encourage a healthy democracy. This is not the same as preserving and protecting news organisations, or even the news, as we know it. In a world of communicative abundance there is, more than ever, a sense that there are many things that news journalism ought to be doing – monitoring, holding to account, and facilitating and maintaining deliberation – but is not doing in a fully satisfactory way, and we neglect this at our peril. To ignore it is to accept that the market can be relied upon to deliver the conditions for deliberative democracy to flourish. However, when markets fail or come under threat, ethical practice is swept aside in pursuit of financial stability. Civil society associations have a key role to play in this extended news environment. They can act as wardens of, and contributors to, news media at local, regional and national levels; they can facilitate deliberation and expand the diversity of views on news platforms, and develop news platforms of their own. They could also provide crucial funding for news organisations or consortia deemed to be operating on a not-for-profit basis. Establishing a more collaborative relationship between news organisations and civil society associations should be encouraged in order to: enable participation; increase effective engagement; expand the public sphere; and enhance democracy. This report recommends a number of ways that civil society associations, media industries and policy-makers can act to achieve these goals. The authors also recommend that the Charity Commission should recognise journalism in the public interest as a charitable endeavour available for charitable status." (Conclusion, page 36)
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