Cross-platform publishing and increasing demands for productivity with less resources have changed journalism dramatically the last years. The same news stories are increasingly reproduced for all the media channels of media houses. Even the Norwegian state-run broadcaster, NRK, are cutting costs and reforming its way of producing news. A PhD dissertation by Ivar John Erdal gives a good insight on how the changes in the media business create new hierarchies in NRK.

In my bachelor´s thesis in Media science, I wrote about how journalists worked at the NRK district office in Møre and Romsdal the autumn of 2008. According to the thesis, producing news for several media channels simultaneously works well with what the journalists call “common news”. However, problems arise with more in-depth news. Journalists keep their cards close to their chest when they have laid down a lot of work making elaborate news, obstructing the efficiency of the new work dynamic.

The thesis also discusses whether reproducing news, e.g. radio news for the web, is time effective and its effects on quality.

You can read my thesis here (in Norwegian).

In Norwegian: Slik er spare-journalistikken

Multimediale arbeidsformer og stadig færre ressurser gjør at den journalistiske arbeidsformen har endret seg drastisk de siste årene. Selv for NRKs del blir det stadig kuttet og effektivisert. Ivar John Erdals doktorgradsavhandling fra 2008 gir et godt bilde av hvordan endringene i mediebransjen skaper nye hierarkier i NRK.

I min bacheloroppgave i medievitenskap tok jeg for meg hvordan de jobbet ved lokalkontoret NRK Møre og Romsdal høsten 2008. Oppgaven viser at stoffdeling og produksjon for flere kanaler samtidig fungerer godt for det journalistene kaller “fellessaker”, men at det stopper opp ved “egensaker”.

Oppgaven diskuterer også hvorvidt reproduksjon av nyhetssaker for andre medier er tidseffektivt og hensiktsmessig for kvaliteten. Les oppgaven her.