Since receiving funding in 2019, this project investigated innovation practices within the news industry; identifying their strengths and limitations and creating usable research d ataand tools to have a tangible impact on solving the challenges journalism faces.
With the support of the first ever European Media Management’s (emma) collaborative research grant, researchers from Europe and Latin America united to explicitly answer the question: what innovation processes and structures are emerging from news media publishers, and how is their efficacy judged? Adopting a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative perspectives, the team reviewed previous research projects, designed and conducted workshops with journalism innovators and media lab leaders, developed a set of 68 innovation cards, interviewed five funders and 14 news media practitioners and consultants, all to explore a central theme for the news innovation.
ur findings suggest three top level insights: People, Social and Strategic Maturity.
These are supported by the sub-themes of People, Methods, Functions [pathways to goals], Motivations, Barriers, Management and Outputs. We also share brief findingsaround funders and their contribution to the journalism innovation ecosystem, although this pilot study is less developed.
PEOPLE
‘MAKE INNOVATION HAPPEN’
deploying innovation in an interdisciplinary context
- Innovation (and product) managers are utilised to ‘make innovation happen’ Interdisciplinary teams are purposefully created and deployed to ‘innovate’. These teams can be permanentor temporary convened around a project goal.
- Hiring of external bespoke skills were required to meet the requirements of innovation projects and goals.
- Journalists working with innovation are demanded to learn and develop new skills.
- Beyond technology and hard skills, active listening, mobilising people, empathy and communication are central characteristics of innovation practitioners, who have also to be able to embrace change.
METHODS
USER-CENTRED APPROACHES
driven by news product thinking
- Product thinking and product development was a focus of innovation
- User-centred approaches sprints and responding to analytic data emerged from the data
- ‘Rapid’ or ‘accelerated’ innovation methods were present, but were not seen as a panacea. These methods included design sprints, hackathons and others
- Metrics span audience reach, product launch, cultural ‘presence’, strategic alignment
- Audience needs are incorporated into the innovation process
- Strategic development tools, such as ‘three horizons’, used to give longer term purpose and direction, although this was seen in a minority of organisations
- In emergent levels of journalism innovation, innovation champions are key to spread and structure process in the organisation
FUNCTIONS:
PATHWAYS TO THE GOALS
EXECUTING, LEARNING AND FAILING
by looking beyond the norm
- Scanning, scouting and measuring: innovation processes and structures are designed to look beyond the norm, exploring new tools, skills, technologies and approaches, and measuring their effectiveness
- Executing ideas: innovation processes and structures are primarily configured to executing concepts, processes, products and technologies and…
- Learning and failing: a key cultural difference was that innovation processes, individuals and teams were mandated to test, but also fail. A key outcome was learning
- Aligning with strategic aims: in publishers with higher levels of innovation maturity, structures, processes and people were identified as being aligned. They were conscious of, overall organisation aims, vision and direction
MOTIVATIONS
JOURNALISTIC AND SOCIAL VALUES
to deal with digital challenges
- A range of motivations were identified throughout the project, these included journalistic and social values, diversity of ideas and skills, democratic and public interest, business sustainability and the creation of impactful journalism
BARRIERS:
TIME, PEOPLE AND FUNDS
overlaping requirements
- Inter-team communication – ensuring that relevant knowledge and skills from within and beyond the organisation were absorbed into the innovation process • physical and mental space, funding, and time away from pressures of delivery and to think about the future without endangering current commitments.
- Time, people and funds are key and overlapping requirements for news innovation to emerge.
- Innovation activities are orientated to overarching commercial strategy and journalistic values
- Much innovation is immediate and ‘short-term’. A minority of publishers embed a longer-term perspective on research and development
MANAGEMENT AND OUTPUTS:
JOURNALISM’ AND BUSINESS METRICS
evidence a demand for more holistic approaches
- Outputs are not always strictly defined within a new product, tool or process. Improving an existing solutionand dealing/reacting to challenges of digital economy such as engaging or finding new audiences is a common goal for emergent innovation structures
- Performance indicators can be defined product by product, especially in early stages of innovation structures
- Innovation news products are still divided between journalism’ and business metrics, but innovation demands a more holistic approach.
FUNDERS:
INNOVATIVE JOURNALISM AND JOURNALISM INNOVATION
focusing social impact of media
- Most funders focus on ‘innovative journalism’ and less so on ‘journalism innovation’
- Focus on social impact of media (as independent media, disinformation and civic media) features as prioritized topics
- Innovation is not explicitly addressed in most cases, even though it is indirectly related to their missions
- Some funders are becoming increasingly aware of human-centred measures within applications; a number are adopting them themselves
- Strengthening and building resilience within funded cohorts is key
- Creating incubation and acceleration structures are a popular path
- Defining and measuring performance indicators are challenging
- Understanding impact is even more challenging
The three-year investigation resulted in:
• a 6-stage maturity model for news innovation to assess, manage and cultivate innovation: a new tool based on factors as actors involved & leadership, strategy, innovation perception & culture, process and performance management.
• a workshop methodology to envision journalism innovation structures: with a digital template for virtual facilitation and instructions along with cards for face-to-face experiences, released to the community.
• a news innovation website: with methods pack, resources, papers published, research project history and findings, along with additional materials.
• a range of academic and industry publications: over the course of the project, we have published in Journals, books, spoken at conferences, embedded our findings to under-graduate and post-graduate curricula, produced industry reports and submitted evidence to a UK Parliamentary enquiry into the future of journalism.
By exploring innovation methods, processes and roles within news media organisations across Europe and LatinAmerica, the team considered the wider ecosystem, investigating a sample of media innovation funders to better understand their role approaches and impact.
Download the final report:
