Caught Between Innovation and Tradition: Young Journalists as Normative Change Agents in the Journalistic Field

Figures & data

Table 1. Journalism is changing … but innovation may not include me.

Journalism today is different from journalism a decade ago.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
54 (93.1%)	6 (100%)	85 (93.4%)	19 (95%)	76 (97.4%)	11 (91.7%)
Journalism needs to continually change in order to remain relevant as society changes.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
50 (86.2%)	4 (66.7%)	84 (92.3%)	19 (95%)	74 (94.9%)	10 (83.3%)
I anticipate being a journalism innovator during my career.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
37 (63.8%)	1 (16.7%)	53 (58.9%)	6 (30.0%)	50 (64.5%)	7 (58.3%)

Table 2. Terms used at least 10 times or more to describe “journalism innovation” and / or “entrepreneurial journalism” *.

	Used to describe journalism innovation	Used to describe entrepreneurial journalism	Total unique times used
Social / social media / social networks	83 (NL, UK) **	10 (UK)	93
Online / Internet	76 (NL, UK)	17 (NL, UK)	93
Technology	65 (NL, UK)	20 (UK)	85
New / novel	36 (NL, UK)	34 (NL, UK)	70
Digital	52 (NL, UK)	9 (NL, UK)	61
Business	5 (NL, UK)	54 (NL, UK)	59
Freelance / freelancer / freelancing	5 (UK)	31 (NL, UK)	36
Innovation / innovative	-	34 (NL, UK)	34
Independent / independence	7 (UK)	25 (NL, UK)	32
Start-up	3 (NL, UK)	26 (NL, UK)	29
Money	-	28 (NL, UK)	28
Multimedia	24 (NL, UK)	3 (UK)	27
Change	18 (NL, UK)	8 (NL, UK)	26
Interactive / interactivity / interaction	24 (NL, UK)	1 (UK)	25
Creativity / creating / creator / creation	10 (UK)	14 (NL, UK)	24
Blogs / blogging	5 (NL, UK)	9 (NL, UK)	14
Adaptability / adaptation	8 (UK)	5 (NL, UK)	13
Citizen / citizen journalism	11 (NL, UK)	-	11

* Similar words (“freelance” / “freelancer” or “digital” / “digitization”) are counted as one term. Words used in combination but expressing related concepts also are clustered together. For example, “business” includes the word by itself plus “build a new business,” and “business plan,” among similar terms.

** The number of times the term appeared in our data set across all years is provided. “NL” and “UK” indicate whether the term was used by students from the Netherlands (total n = 38) and / or the United Kingdom (total n = 226), respectively.

Table 3. Digital tools are important, but I still need traditional skills and ethical principles.

Journalists need to know how to use digital technology
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
56 (96.6%)	6 (100%)	85 (93.4%)	19 (95.0%)	78 (100%)	12 (100%)
Traditional reporting, writing and editing skills are essential for journalists today.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
55 (94.8%)	5 (83.3%)	84 (92.3%)	19 (95.0%)	74 (94.9%)	10 (83.3%)
Adherence to traditional ethical principles is essential for journalists today.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
48 (82.8%)	4 (66.7%)	78 (85.7%)	14 (70.0%)	74 (94.9%)	10 (83.3%)

Table 4. Traditional normative understands of journalist’s social role still work for me.

Journalism should be about holding those with power to account.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
45 (77.6%)	6 (100%)	81 (89.0%)	12 (60.0%)	(not asked)	(not asked)
Journalism should contribute to positive change in society.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
51 (87.9%)	4 (66.7%)	80 (87.9%)	14 (70.0%)	(not asked)	(not asked)

Table 5. Attention to journalism as a business is important … but I won’t be an entrepreneur.

Journalists need to understand basic business principles.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
42 (72.4%)	3 (50.0%)	66 (72.5%)	9 (45.0%)	63 (80.8%)	8 (66.7%)
Journalists need to remain uninvolved with matters related to generating revenue.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
15 (25.9%)	1 (16.7%)	36 (39.6%)	1 (5.0%)	29 (37.3%)	1 (8.3%)
Outside funding sources … will be increasingly important to journalism.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
43 (74.1%)	5 (83.3%)	63 (69.2%)	15 (75.0%)	(not asked)	(not asked)
Journalism must find an audience in order to be valuable.
UK 2017	NL 2017	UK 2016	NL 2016	UK 2015	NL 2015
43 (74.1%)	6 (100%)	75 (82.4%)	13 (65.0%)	(not asked)	(not asked)