STEENSEN - Factors shaping the role of journalists in a digital era

The shaping of an online feature journalist ,Steen Steensen, Journalism 2009 10: 702

" Based on this body of research and on the findings of the case study presented in this article, I argue that the factors shaping the role of journalists in a digital era are:

• Convergence on macro (clustering of media companies) and meso levels (multimedia newsrooms).
• Competition from new markets and changing economic conditions.
• Blurring demarcations towards other professions.
• Weakening trade unions.
• New conditions for freedom of expression and information.
• Blurring boundaries between private and public spaces, mass media and private media.
• Intellectual property rights under pressure.
• Ethical norms and standards under pressure.
• Assets of new technology.
• Emergence of new styles and genres. "

Abstract  

This article explores the professional role and normative demands of online feature journalists. 

Through a longitudinal ethnographic case study of the work practices of feature journalists in the Norwegian online newspaper dagbladet.no, the article uncovers how the normative demands of a new professional role are negotiated within the online newsroom of a newspaper. 

It further reveals how the role of journalists is shaped by two axes: a historical axis of factors that have shaped the role of journalists throughout history, and a contemporary axis of the particulars of labour in modern society at large. 

The findings suggest that online feature journalists practise a more audience-driven and source-detached kind of journalism than their print counterparts. They further suggest that the remediation of feature journalism online yields increased status to the role of online journalists at large.