Page 14 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

WHAT IS CONVERGENCE AND HOW WILL IT AFFECT MY LIFE?

the organization.” Success depended, he said, on having journalists
who could “think multiple media” and who were comfortable working
across several media platforms.
Paul Horrocks, editor-in-chief of the Manchester Evening News, part
of the Guardian Media Group in the United Kingdom, believes news-
papers have to reinvent themselves to satisfy consumers eager to receive
information. He argues that audiences are converged already and get
information in a variety of ways. Michael Aeria, editorial manager of
the Star Publications Group in Malaysia, similarly sees convergence as
an opportunity for his company to reach multiple audiences. A Danish
newspaper editor, Ulrik Haagerup, believes convergence has “every-
thing to do with mindset” and how journalists see their role in society.
Larry Pryor, a professor with the Annenberg School for Commu-
nication at the University of Southern California, maintains that a
definition is vital because a new idea needs a common vocabulary.
“If we all have a different concept of what convergence means, we
are making it difficult to progress.” For this book, convergence is not
about what Pryor calls “corporate conglomeration,” where big compa-
4 nies merge because of the mutual benefits of amalgamation. Probably
the best known of these was the $165 billion AOL-Time Warner
merger announced in January 2000. This book is also not about the
technological and sometimes utopian view of convergence that pro-
poses that many pieces of digital equipment will converge in a single
box in the living room or study.
This book discusses convergence as a form of journalism. For Pryor,
convergence is what takes place in the newsroom as editorial staff
members work together to produce multiple products for multiple
platforms to reach a mass audience with interactive content, often on
a 24/7 timescale. Professor Rich Gordon of Northwestern University
has identified at least five forms of convergence in the United States,
as summarized here:

● Ownership convergence. This relates to arrangements within one
1
large media company that encourage cross-promotion and
content sharing among print, online, and television platforms
owned by the same company. The biggest example in the
United States is the Tribune Company. President Jack Fuller
said that owning television, radio, and newspapers in a single
market provided a way to lower costs, increase efficiencies, and
“provide higher quality news in times of economic duress”