Date of Award
2-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Digital Journalism (MADJ)
First Supervisor/Advisor
Florence Muindi
Second Supervisor/Advisor
Mark Briggs
Abstract
In the last decade, the media industry has been under immense financial pressure because of declining advertising revenue. News media organisations especially traditional media are moving away from a business model that only relies on traditional commercial advertising, to one that offers multiple streams of revenue like digital subscriptions, native advertising, classifieds, events, sponsorships, affiliate marketing among others. In 2020, the Standard Group converged its newsroom operations into a digital-first news gathering and dissemination operation (Theuri, 2021). There had been previous attempts at convergence, only this time, a changing media environment was threatening the survival of the media house. Over Sh400 million has been spent on the convergence project that is known as the Business Transformation Project. Twenty-two months after the project was rolled out, this study set out to investigate through ethnographic methodologies, changes in the attitudes, behaviour, working practices and routines of journalists and editors working in the new converged newsroom. The researcher looked at the aspects of convergence newsroom culture in terms of adaptation of standard operating procedures, new routines and practices, and human interactions to determine the existing newsroom culture. This transition is not easy for news media that was not “born on the web” (Miel & Faris, 2008) because these changes require a mind shift for journalists and newsroom managers who must now practice journalism in a highly competitive digital environment that is different from what they were used, and at the same time handle the pressures of viability. The Standard Group implemented what Gordon in (Quinn, 2005) describes as Structural convergence. This is where a media house re-organises its newsroom, and introduces new positions, roles, and functions. The re-organisation is more about news gathering, publishing and distribution. This study used qualitative research approach that is popular in mass media studies because it explores how individuals or groups of people understand and ascribe meaning to a social or human problem in their everyday lives (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). Data was collected over a period of four weeks - between December 2022 and January 2023. The findings revealed the newsroom culture has not significantly changed. The old legacy habits and routines are still being practiced and technology which was meant to improve workflows has numerous challenges. This study has suggested five recommendations for the Standard Group and six factors to consider for legacy media houses that are implementing convergence projects
Recommended Citation
Kimutai, C. J. (2023). Convergence newsroom culture in legacy news media: an ethnographic study of the standard group plc (Unpublished master's dissertation). Aga Khan University, East Africa.