Inside the changing newsroom: journalists' responses to media convergence

Purpose This article reports on research conducted inside British national media organizations. Interviews were conducted with journalists working in newsrooms at the BBC, Sky News, The Guardian and the Financial Times. The research was designed to investigate the impact on the working practices of journalists of the process of production convergence – the trend towards news reporting in more than one medium in formerly single-medium organizations. The article describes the changes that are taking place and the ways journalists are reacting to them. Methodology/approach Interviews were conducted with 20 journalists during 2002 and 2003. Findings The data shows that while multimedia news is becoming well-established, the multimedia journalist has been slow to arrive. This is because of the pressures that multi-media working add to the journalist’s daily routine and a concern over the impact on the quality of output. Research limitations/implications The media environment is evolving rapidly and research findings on this topic quickly go out of date, but the findings presented here offer valuable insights into the news production processes operating in British national media organizations and the ways journalists are adapting to, and are likely to continue to adapt to, changes in production technologies and changed systems of working. Originality/value The research reported here is the first to focus on journalistic practice in a converging media environment.