Evolving Newsrooms and the Second Level of Digital Divide: Implications for Journalistic Practice in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

News media industry is indeed no exception to witness the transforming impacts of the growing penetration of the Internet and digitalization, especially in the developed economies of the global North. However, research regarding the influence of the Internet and digitalization on evolving newsrooms and journalistic practice in the global South is limited. Particularly, the case of Pakistan is unique in the global South because the country ranks at the last quartile of the Inclusive Internet Index (i.e., 90 out of 120). While Pakistan’s mainstream news media organizations have well-connected newsrooms in terms of the Internet access, there is a research lacuna in terms of digital skills of journalists to use the Internet and other digital tools. Therefore, drawing on the theory of digital divide, this study explores journalists’ access to the Internet and their digital skills to use the Internet and digital tools. This study also investigates how digital incompetency of journalists impacts their routine work and the evolution of digital newsrooms in the mainstream Pakistani news media. To accomplish these aims, this study uses the qualitative method of in-depth interviews (face-to-face) and present findings using inductive thematic analysis.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital divide
• evolving newsrooms
• developing countries
• digital connectivity
• internet access
• digital skills
• Pakistan mainstream news media

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).