journalists’ multiskilling in the digital age

MAURICE VERGEERR A D B O U D U N I V E R S I T Y N I J M E G E N

T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

ALEXANDER PLEIJTERU N I V E R S I T Y O F G R O N I N G E N

T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

LIESBETH HERMANSR A D B O U D U N I V E R S I T Y N I J M E G E N

T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

JOURNALISTS’ MULTISKILLING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Changes in the field

Drastic changes in media industriesincreased media outputDigitizationthe InternetMergers

Factors important for media industry changes:technological innovationseconomic pressuresProfessionalizationStriving for increased quality

From convergence to multi-skilling

Single mode news organizations transformed to multi-media organizations

Converged news organizations affects journalism practice (Avilés & Carvajal, 2008) Different and more skills Production for several platforms simultaneously Production speed increases

Economic necessity

Declining number of newspaper subscriptions“News is for free”

Consequences for journalists’ daily activities More production With less journalists At a much quicker rate

Journalist transform from a specialist to generalist

Still…

Empirical evidence is lacking Little research on multi-skilling Hardly any longitudinal research

Research Questions

What type of activities do journalists carry out?

To what degree have these activities increased or decreased over time, in general and specifically for different media types?

Data and measurements

Data

Drawn from the membership database of the Dutch Journalism Association (NVJ).

2006 (N=643) and 2010 (N=1016)identical measurement instruments in both

years

Measurements

activities and media platforms, a matrix with one dimension all types of

media platforms listed and the other dimension the media activities listed.

Media platforms

Broadcasting Public service broadcastingCommercial broadcastingRegional public service broadcastingLocal broadcasting

Media platforms

NewspaperNational newspapersFree dailiesRegional newspapersNondaily newspapersFree door-to-door newspapers

Media platforms

MagazinesNews magazinesSpecial interest magazinesProfessional magazinesCorporate magazinesMagazines for associations

The WebJournalism websites and weblogs (unrelated

to media that are traditionally offline)

Activities

writingeditingreportingcoordinatephoto´s/videopresentingmaintain website

Findings

Most performed activities

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2006 2010

writingeditingreportcoordinatephoto´spresentmaintain website

Number of activities performed

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

2006 2010

# ac

tiviti

es NewspaperBroadcastingMagazinesThe Web

What activities have in- or decreased by media type

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

newspaper broadcasting magazines the Web

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

newspaper broadcasting magazines the Web

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

newspaper broadcasting magazines the Web

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

newspaper broadcasting magazines the Web

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

newspaper broadcasting magazines the Web

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

newspaper broadcasting magazines the Web

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

newspaper broadcasting magazines the Web

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

newspaper broadcasting magazines the Web

Conclusion

Journalists perform multiple activities. About three to four activities

Writing, editing and reportingIn four years time there is been little change

overallBut,Considerable changes within different media

typesMulti-skilling is mostly performed on the web, but

less in other mediaAnd even slightly decreasing for traditional media

Editing, presenting and reporting has decreased across media types

Writing and recording videos and photographing has increased for selected media

Maintaining a website has increased across all media

Future research

What specific combinations of activities do journalists perform?

To what extent is this related to personal and professional background (age, gender, professional education)?