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Conceptualizing and Contextualizing Media Innovation and Change

Author

Listed:
  • Frank Harbers

    (Centre for Media and Journalism Studies, University of Groningen, The Netherlands)

  • Sandra Banjac

    (Centre for Media and Journalism Studies, University of Groningen, The Netherlands)

  • Scott A. Eldridge II

    (Centre for Media and Journalism Studies, University of Groningen, The Netherlands)

Abstract

An innovation and change discourse has become central in journalism studies scholarship concerned with highlighting solutions to the many challenges confronting media in the digital era. Although with good intentions, these debates have been predominantly technocentric in their imagination of media’s future, inadvertently directing its development towards a preoccupation with mastering digital technologies. On the one hand, media have strategically appropriated and exploited such technocentric discourse to position themselves within the field as leaders with considerable prestige and status. On the other hand, however, journalists and media professionals have approached technological innovation with caution, demonstrating innovation to be a gradual process with incremental changes that need to align with or reimagine practices that support journalism’s core ambitions and public service ideals. Drawing on the scholarly work of colleagues included in this thematic issue, in this editorial we conceptualize media innovation as a fuzzy and contested concept and call for an expanded research agenda that redirects our attention more firmly towards: exploring organisational and institutional innovation; considering the role of ancillary organisations, collaborative projects, and the various newly emerging innovative actors within and outside of the journalistic field; adopting bottom-up approaches to examine societal innovation and its public value and scrutinize questions around who benefits from change; and finally, paying more attention to the transnational as well as culture-specific contexts in which media innovations happens.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank Harbers & Sandra Banjac & Scott A. Eldridge II, 2024. "Conceptualizing and Contextualizing Media Innovation and Change," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
  • Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v12:y:2024:a:8152
    DOI: 10.17645/mac.8152
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. François Nel & Kamila Rymajdo, 2024. "Securing the Future of UK Public-Interest News: Navigating Change With Foresight and Innovation," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    2. Allie Kosterich & Cindy Royal, 2024. "Institutional Arbitrageurs: The Role of Product Managers as a Locus of Change in Journalism," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    3. Christopher Buschow & Maike Suhr, 2024. "Organizations as Innovations: Examining Changes in Journalism Through the Lens of Newly-Emerging Organizations," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    4. Giordano Zambelli & Luciano Morganti, 2024. "Breaking Away From Hectic Daily Media Production: Unleashing Explorative Innovation Through Inter-Firm Collaborations," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    5. Klaus Meier & Michael Graßl & Jose Alberto García-Avilés & Dámaso Mondejar & Andy Kaltenbrunner & Renée Lugschitz & Colin Porlezza & Petra Mazzoni & Vinzenz Wyss & Mirco Saner, 2024. "Innovations in Journalism as Complex Interplay: Supportive and Obstructive Factors in International Comparison," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    6. Difan Guo & Haiyan Wang & Jinghong Xu, 2024. "Contextualization: A Path to Chinese Traditional News Media’s Integration Into Social Media," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    7. Ana Milojevic & Leif Ove Larsen, 2024. "Media-Tech Companies as Agents of Innovation: From Radical to Incremental Innovation in a Cluster," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    8. Brian Creech, 2024. "Venture Philanthropy, Local News, and the Murky Promise of Innovation," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
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