Journalists at digital television newsrooms in Britain and Spain: workflow and multiskiling in a competitive environment

Abstract

Based on evidence gathered from Spanish and British digital newsrooms, this article addresses the issue of new technology’s impact on journalists’ attitudes and practice in different national and organisational contexts. The study uses evidence from observational and interview research carried out at digital newsrooms owned by six news operations chosen to provide comparative organisational settings in Britain and Spain. The three Spanish organisations included two commercial channels (Telecinco and Antena 3) and one public regional channel (Telemadrid); the British newsrooms included those owned by two commercial companies (BSkyB and Independent Television News) and one public company (the British Broadcasting Corporation). The study explores the perceived rationale for digitisation, its impact on workflow and multi-skilling, and the changes it has brought to journalistic practice. The influence of digitisation is shown to be significant in both countries. However, the evidence indicates that in terms of attitudes, practice and technological provision, the relatively younger, smaller Spanish newsrooms have bought more fully into digitised journalism. Nevertheless, journalists in both countries expressed concerns about the attrition of core journalistic values as journalists become increasingly computer-bound “mouse monkeys” and pressed to trade accuracy for immediacy in the speeded-up world of digital and 24-hour news.