Project Details
Projekt
Journalism Innovation in Democratic Societies: Index, Impact and Prerequisites in International Comparison (JoIn-DemoS)
Applicant
Professor Dr. Klaus Meier
Subject Area
Communication Sciences
Term
since 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 438677067
How do innovations in journalism influence journalistic quality and consequently the public in a democratic society? Research projects on media innovation have so far focused on the manifold economic and technological influences on journalism and observed how legacy and novel media organizations are economically viable. Little effort has been made to investigate the impact on the quality of journalism. The shortcomings of research on innovations in journalism become apparent when one considers the challenges for an open and transparent society: in a time of "post-factuality", of "disrupted” public spheres and "fragmented" democracies. The project addresses these research deficits. It examines the impact of innovations on the quality of journalism and its role in democratic society and it analyses the framework conditions for the emergence of journalistic innovations in an international comparison. The work is based on theoretical approaches and empirical findings derived from economic and social innovation theory and furthermore on a normative theory of journalism. This has proven to be a scientific basis for evaluating journalism, its quality and media performance in democratic societies. The project has five objectives: 1. It will develop an analytical index that measures the character and degree of innovation in journalism in an international comparison. 2. The index is used to analyse the most important innovations in five countries with similar (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and different (Spain, UK) media systems. 3. The (potential) influence on the quality of journalism and its importance in society will be examined for each of these innovations. 4. Framework conditions which promote or hinder innovations are carved out: in the media system, media policy, the organisation of media/newsroom organisation and journalism cultures. 5. The interdependencies of innovations and such framework conditions are explored in an international comparison. From this, advice for media policy (macro level) and for the organisation of media/editorships/newsrooms (meso level) can be developed in order to promote innovations that strengthen the quality of journalism and its role for public discourse. The empirical methodology combines qualitative and quantitative methods in triangulation. The project will identify, index and evaluate the 20 most important innovations in journalism in each of the five participating countries over the last ten years (2011 - 2020). The innovations are analysed in 100 in-depth case studies with qualitative interviews and quantitative online surveys. All empirical steps are carried out in parallel by the research teams in the five participating countries and are constantly coordinated and compared.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
Austria, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom
