Projects / Programmes
Reconfiguration of journalism amidst the rise of the attention economy and the decline of the public sphere
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.06.00 |
Social sciences |
Political science |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.06 |
Social Sciences |
Political science |
Journalism, digitization, deprofesionalization, attenton economy, public sphere, boundary work/objects, regulatory actors, Slovenia
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
April 17, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
Data for ARIS tenders (
04.04.2019 – Programme tender,
archive
)
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
121 |
617 |
559 |
4.62 |
| Scopus |
176 |
1,097 |
980 |
5.57 |
Researchers (10)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
Journalism as a specific mode of knowledge production and as a profession has changed significantly over the years under the significant but not exclusive influence of (communication) technology. Pervasive historical changes make a comprehensive study of new technological tools, social trends and professional orientations in journalism essential not only for its existence and development, but also for the existence and development of the entire public sphere, which largely rests on journalism. Based on this general historical background, the project has three main objectives: (1) to examine how new modes of digital communication affect, (re)create and protect actions, conditions and qualities of (Slovenian) journalism in the context of the global attention economy and the liquefied public sphere, (2) to identify key journalistic “boundary objects” shared with key economic, technological and political complementary and competitive non-journalistic actors, and (3) to assess the consequences and future implications of regulatory claims and actions addressed to journalistic “boundary objects”. To achieve these objectives, an innovative boundary-work model of journalism’s responses to technological challenges will be developed to address four sets of specific questions: 1. How do changes in the labor process affect the nature and boundaries of journalistic production and the professional status of journalism by reshaping journalistic skill requirements, restructuring the division of labor and social control in newsrooms, and rearranging the degree of journalists’ autonomy in relation to management? 2. How do changes in news subsidies, particularly advertising and marketing, imposed by the attention economy affect news media business models and the deprofessionalization of journalism in a situation where information is over-abundant and attention has become commodified, scarce, concentrated, and fragmented? 3. Do the financial incentives provided by technology companies strengthen the link between journalists and the communities they serve, or jeopardize the practices, autonomy and authority of journalism? 4. How do communicative and regulatory actions implemented by political actors and representatives of the Slovenian executive, legislative, and judicial authorities affect journalism by enabling or preventing it to perform the role of guardian of the principle of publicness? Associated with the main objectives and research questions, the project is structured into four work packages of research activities addressing (1) changes in the journalistic labor process, actors and boundaries (WP1), (2) related to the status of journalistic profession between the market form of the attention economy and possibilities for public participation (WP2), (3) affected by technological incentives that transform journalistic practices and values (WP3), and (4) new forms of political, legal and judicial actions regulating journalism (WP4).
