Convergence Journalism - Production Analysis Blog

Throughout the convergence unit, I have realised that in practice, convergence journalism has many merits and pitfalls. Sharing information, ideas, audio and visual clips and suchlike enables a news organisation to reach many audiences and therefore traffic can be directed between media. For example, should a story be aired during a radio bulletin, the presenters can direct the audience to the organisation’s website for a more in-depth look at the incident. Additionally, by sharing information, a news story from one medium can benefit from the same authority and quality produced by another. For example, when I was writing sports stories for online news, the television team shared an interview with an AFC Bournemouth player, enabling me to add quotes to my story which I otherwise would not have done. This gave my story added interest, alongside quality and authority.

“Convergence refocuses journalism to its core mission – to inform the public about its world in the best way possible. But nowadays, the best way is not just one way: newspaper or television or the Internet. The best way is a multiple media way…To be successful at convergence, journalists need to understand the strengths of each news medium or outlet and work to develop news stories that dovetail with those strengths. Convergence requires journalists to put the reading, viewing, and browsing public at the center of their work.” (Kolodzy, J. 2006. Convergence journalism: writing and reporting across the news media)

But convergence also has its pitfalls. Most journalists already established in the industry have spent their entire working lives with one medium. To now introduce convergence to these people will cost news agencies both time and money. However, the trend is a big positive for those training to become journalists now, as they will have that advantage over the older, established journalists. Additionally convergence journalism, whilst making the news accessible to as many people as possible, could also potentially limit the news the audience can consume. Each medium runs the same stories through convergence, which they may not otherwise have done. And whilst this helps solve the issue of audience fragmentation by giving different audiences in different areas of the media the same news to consume, it also restricts the choice. Someone listening to a radio bulletin will hear the same stories as if they looked online, which with headline stories may always have been the case, but less so with smaller stories.

Throughout the duration of the convergence unit, I had roles including convergence coordinator, script writer (mainly sports), features writer, news reporter and sports reporter. These each presented me with different challenges and overall, I felt I had strengths and weakness with all of them. The most successful roles for me revolved around sport and I definitely felt more in my comfort zone reporting and writing scripts about sport. I was most productive when reporting on sport and certainly enjoyed my day more. However, I felt my work for online features was also successful and I produced a few good pieces and additionally, I felt I adapted well to my role as convergence coordinator. Usually, working with technology and especially solving technological problems is not my strong point, but during the two days in this role I learnt a lot and was productive.

During the convergence weeks, I discovered strengths and weaknesses in areas of my journalistic practice. I felt that my script writing for television and radio was sound, as well as my writing ability on both online news and features. I adapted my writing style well depending on the media outlet, ensuring that sentences written in radio and television scripts were short and concise, whilst being able to branch out more in online news and particularly features. I also felt that as convergence coordinator, I improved during the two weeks in which I occupied this role – becoming more technically competent and being able to transfer content between groups with increasing ease and speed. Weaknesses included poor efficiency and time management on a couple of occasions and I was disappointed, as a result, to only produce one piece of work in each of two consecutive weeks. Whilst doing something I enjoyed (for example sports reporting) I was a lot more motivated and therefore produced more work and I consider this a weakness too. I felt, in hindsight, that I should have been capable of producing similar levels of content, whether in or out of my comfort zone.

Throughout the unit, I have learnt the value of convergence and what benefits it can bring to a news organisation and I feel such knowledge will leave me well equipped when I enter the industry, as many news organisations are also realising the benefits of convergence. I also found it a valuable practice to learn of some personal strengths and weaknesses I was not previously aware of, as highlighted above.

In hindsight, I should have done more to diversify my portfolio. Whilst I know reporting on sport is a strength of mine, it would have been good to take the opportunity to broaden my horizons and report on other areas to build my confidence and know-how. I could also have been more efficient on the convergence days by researching ideas in advance. I started to do this towards the end, but I should have invested the time prior to the convergence days throughout, in order to produce more content at a quicker rate. As such, I have decided to keep a diary whilst I am completing my work placements in the summer, recording what events are taking place, the duration of the events, locations and any relevant facts surrounding certain events which could be good ‘pegs’ for any articles.

Using this idea, I hope that in the future, my work will be more organised and prepared (or at least as much as it can be in the ever-changing, unpredictable world of journalism!) and this should especially enhance my feature writing. It should also help my news reporting and broadcasting, as by being prepared for certain calendar events, I can ensure I have interviews ready, as well as background information and opinion pieces. This will hopefully enable me to be more productive and focussed. Additionally, I hope to be able to take my experience from the convergence unit into my work placements and future employment, as I have already learnt the benefits first-hand, as well as areas that need improvement and can hopefully share this knowledge with those still coming to terms with the transition within the industry.

In conclusion, the convergence unit has opened my eyes to not only the nature of converged journalism, its positives and negatives, but also to my own personal strengths and weaknesses when working under pressure and having to adapt to numerous variables within the workplace.