“Journalists in the digital era: caught in the Web?”

1. “Journalists in the digital era: caught in the Web?” Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou Department of Journalism & Mass Communication Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

2. Core topic • The challenges that journalism is faced with due to the evolution of interactive platforms of information and communication such as weblogs and public/citizen journalism. • The development of new interactive technologies questions the need for the intermediary role of journalism and poses new challenges for its future necessity. ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

3. Framework of the study • Our research questions fall well within the broader scientific discussion regarding the future of journalism in the digital era: • Can journalism still be of value or it is made redundant? • What challenges do journalists face in the digital era as far as their • Role • Professional values and ethnics • Working practices are concerned? • Do weblogs and citizen journalism constitute a threat for professional journalism? ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

4. Our study • Empirical study among Greek journalists working in • Daily political newspapers • Television channels • Radio stations • Method: structured questionnaire with close-ended questions • 450 questionnaires were distributed… • and 394 were returned… • Resulting to a response rate of 87,5% • The data were analyzed with the statistical software SPSS.13 using descriptive statistics. ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

5. Demographics • 55,9% men & 44,1% women • Main sample aged 26-35 years old (57,8%), 36-45 (29,3% ) • Educational level: school graduates (12,4%), technical school graduates (21,9%) university graduates (46,6%), post-graduates (14,4%) • The majority of journalists works in two or more jobs (39%) • Less than 2/3 belong to a professional journalistic union ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

6. Internet: informational, research or communication medium? • Informational medium to a very large (54,8%) and a large extend (29,4%) • Secondly as a research medium as a very large (49%) and a large extend (31,2%) • Numbers fall significantly in the case of its exploitation as communication medium: 28,4% uses it to a very large and 26,1% to a large extend. ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

7. the most Decrease of employment Impingement of working rights/ Uninsured work Low wages Lack of steady working hours the least Competition of online media Need for advanced technological knowledge Multiple sources The competition of other mass media Issues concerning the modern journalist ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

8. Importance given to journalistic functions • (marked as very important/extremely important) • Fast transmission of information: 87% • Provide meaning/context to facts: 77,2% • Criticize political and financial institutions: 67% • Promote public deliberation: 54% • Promote topics of interest to special social groups: 45% • Influence public opinion: 37,4% • Entertain the public: 42,3% • Attract advertisers: 23,1% ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

9. The journalistic profession is threatened by… ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

10. Commercial sites that offer information for publicity reasons ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

11. Pure online media that update their content constantly ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

12. Politicians that can communicate with the citizens directly ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

13. Citizens acting as journalists ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

14. Weblogs vs. Journalism? ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

15. Future role of journalism ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

16. Conclusive remarks (I) • Journalism goes through a deep crisis as far as its role and professional viability are concerned • These problems are connected to • The lack of entrenchment of the profession • The intrusion of political and financial interests in the scope of journalism • The attachment of media owners to strong political and financial powers ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

17. Conclusive remarks (II) • Journalists have less power in their hands • In an institutional level: their produced work is influenced and controlled by the sensitive political interests of media owners • In a business/management level: through micro-management which involves high levels of control by the media managers and the rejection of empowerment of the staff. • As a consequence, the intervention scope of journalists is shrinking. ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

18. Conclusive remarks (III) • Weblogs do not constitute –as yet- a model of alternative journalism that is different that traditional journalism. • Journalism who work in mainstream traditional media and have blogs, do also maintain the control of the information that are provided and stick to the traditional role of the gatekeeper even in a medium that structurally supports participative communication. • The Internet does not constitute -for the time being at least- an important factor of the revival of journalism or a filed of systematic development of participative journalism. ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

19. Conclusive remarks (IV) • Journalism should develop into a profession that will go beyond the transmission of information and invest in the provision of meaning of facts. • Journalism’s comparative advantages are critical analysis, argumentation and opinion formation. • The tendency is two-fold towards • A development of the journalists’ role as providers of specialized, personalized information • An empowerment of their role as critical analysts ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007

20. Thank you for your attention! Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou: gdimis@otenet.gr ECREA CONFERENCE - BRUSSELS, 10-11 OCTOBER 2007