Journalism Innovation in Democratic Societies (JoIn-DemoS)

Which journalism has a future and relevance? How do innovations in journalism influence the quality of reporting and thus the public in democratic societies? These are central questions posed by a new, large-scale research project that will investigate the development of journalism in Germany, Austria and Switzerland over a period of three years starting in autumn 2020. The research-teams are based at the Journalism Institutes of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany , the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland and the CMC-Institute at the Austrian Academy of Sciences / University of Klagenfurt as well as the research organisation Medienhaus Wien in Austria. The project is supported by the national research funds DFG, FWF and SNF. The project leaders Klaus Meier (D), Andy Kaltenbrunner and Matthias Karmasin (A) and Vinzenz Wyss (CH) describe: " We experience torn public spheres, fragmented democracies and so-called post-factual political discussions. These are great challenges. With practice-oriented basic research we want to analyse how innovations can advance professional quality journalism." Such innovations include, for example, investigative research teams, journalistic start-ups that finance their work through membership models, new forms of data journalism or the use of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube as sources, but also channels for interaction and distribution for independent journalism - with all the opportunities and risks that entails. Several dozen case studies and expert panels in the German-speaking countries are planned, but also a comparison with Northern and Southern Europe and classification according to clearly defined innovation and quality criteria. The D-A-CH consortium is supported by the Spanish journalism researcher Jose Garca-Avilés and his team from Universidad Miguel Hernndez/Valencia. The researchers there were among the first in the world to produce a scientifically sound, national journalism innovation ranking. In total, more than a dozen scientists will be working on this project from autumn 2020. The research results are intended to provide international orientation and advice for media policy as well as for the organisation of media and editorial offices in order to promote innovations that strengthen the quality of journalism and its role in society.

Since digitalization, journalism has been undergoing radical change. Innovations in journalism play a key role in this process. The project "Journalism Innovations in Democratic Societies" examined such innovations in a five-country comparison. First, the research teams from Austria, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and UK identified the 20 most important innovations in each country for the period from 2010 to 2020. These were then examined on the basis of 100 case studies. The focus was on the objectives of the innovations, framework conditions that hinder and promote their implementation and their social impact. The most important results at a glance: (1) The most important innovations in Austria included, for example, collaborative, investigative journalism, data journalism, the introduction of paywalls and diversity initiatives. Some areas of innovation received high ratings in all five countries, such as data journalism, collaborative, investigative journalism or journalism in social media. (2) Three main goals were identified: (a) Innovations are intended to give journalists more creative freedom. (b) Innovations should enable the media brand to respond better to the challenges of the market. (c) Innovations aim to create a stronger connection with the audience. (3) The framework conditions that favor innovation include both internal factors - such as human, financial and technological resources, work processes, knowledge, practices, and professional culture - and external factors - such as the legal framework, the market, the audience and the economic situation. In addition to the generally lamented lack of financial and human resources, the - external and internal - obstacles to innovation include scarce resources for R&D, weak leadership, low motivation, and internal resistance in established media. (4) From a societal perspective, innovations such as data journalism, collaborative investigative journalism, comprehensive interaction with the audience and diversity in newsrooms and reporting address and strengthen the democratic function of journalism by making journalism more transparent, combating misinformation and bringing it closer to its audience. (5) Interaction with society: Economic and socio-political conditions play a decisive role in the development of innovations in journalism in all five countries. But there are significant differences: The media markets in Austria, Germany and Switzerland reacted more slowly to digitization than the UK and Spain. In Germany and Switzerland, government initiatives to introduce high subsidies, partly to promote innovation, failed politically. But even strong, economic intervention by the state, as in the case of Austria, could neither halt the financial losses of the traditional media nor preserve journalistic jobs. In the UK and Spain, where such direct state subsidies have never played a role, there was a strong "creative destruction" that triggered a boom in journalistic start-ups. National media policy and the extent and type of intervention have thus become decisive factors for the future of journalism.