Media convergence in news organisations: How digital technologies affect journalists and the management of news productions.

This thesis explores the impact of convergence of media and technologies on the management of news organisations and journalists' working practices. Despite being heralded as a new 'revolution' for media, convergence and its relationship with news production has been under researched. This study seeks to address this gap and focuses on the implications of convergence for the production and distribution of news in print and broadcasting organisations. Convergence is approached from a non deterministic perspective and defined as a complex set of technological, economic, managerial and occupational changes largely associated with the blurring of media industries, concentration of ownership, multimedia production processes and the digitisation of news production and distribution. This is an empirical study on newsroom practices based on interviews with senior managers and journalists in five organisations: BBC News, Sky News, Financial Times, The Guardian, and APTN. The analysis, which provides the professionals' perspective on the changes, is organised around two levels: the first is concerned with the managerial decision-making and the restructuring of production processes as a result of convergence, while the second level, drawing from the field of news production studies, investigates how the new production environment affects journalistic practices. As a consequence of the blurring boundaries between diverse media, this study observes a transformation in the management philosophy and mission of traditional news organisations. There is an impetus towards multimedia production and distribution which is achieved through newsroom integration and work reorganisation. Consequently a more demanding working environment requires more versatility from journalists, challenging traditions of media separation in production and culture, and sets the conditions for the detachment of news from its medium specific formats. At another level, new media facilitate dialogue between journalists and the audience transforming their relationship and forcing journalists to reconsider their role as both 'gateopeners' and 'gatekeepers' of information.