Is Mojo (En)De-Skilling?

Abstract

Drawing on Bourdieu’s field theory, this paper examines how the Hindustan Times, one of the leading English dailies in India, integrates mojo (contraction of mobile journalism) into its journalistic practices. Further, this paper explores how journalists respond to the concomitant changes brought about by the adoption of technologised practices in the newsroom. The analysis of qualitative data obtained from participant-observation and in-depth interview reveals that the practice of mojo, which is about learning new apps and tools, producing short videos by and for mobile devices, and disseminating news to digital readers through multiple platforms, emerges as a new rule in the field of journalism. Instead of depending solely on a team of mobile journalists, the newspaper aims to develop capabilities and impart training to journalists across the board in the newsroom. This study also reveals that journalists at the Hindustan Times experienced the practice of mojo as both en-skilling and de-skilling.

KEYWORDS:

• convergence
• field theory
• journalistic practice
• mojo habitus; multi-skilling
• newspaper
• video

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to thank the Executive Editor and Digital Editor of Hindustan Times as well as those journalists who participated in the interviews for their kind support and co-operation. The first author is thankful to University Grants Commission (UGC), India for providing Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) towards carrying out his doctoral research.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The social media data for HT’s main account was last counted on 26 September 2017.

2 The characteristics of mojo articulated above have been adopted from the debate hosted on the MojoCon Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/mojocon/) on what constitutes mobile journalism. This page was created by veteran mobile journalist and trainer Glen Mulcahy, Head of Innovation at the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ.

3 School of Communication, GD Goenka University, organised a workshop on 'mobile journalism for journalists' during April 7–8, 2016 which was conducted by Prof Stephen Quinn and was attended by 20 journalists. Notably, HT sent the highest number of participants. Source: http://www.gdgoenkauniversity.com/schoolofcommunication/20-journalists-participate-in-mobile-journalism-workshop/ (accessed February 16, 2017).