Media organisations : an evaluation of innovation within the media's news content

Abstract

Media organisations benefit from a sound level of importance with regards to delivering the news to their audiences. For this reason innovation should be considered an important factor so to ensure that the most recent and up-to-date ways of communication are used to put forward the latest news to the public. The research questions that this study sets out to answer revolve around innovation in the newsroom and within news content. The initial research question asked how important innovation is deemed to be in newsrooms. This brought about the question of what would make a journalist want to seek innovative practice and what from an organisation's point of view would be deemed to be innovation. This study is carried out by means of an innovation audit within two Maltese media organisations. The findings identify the different attitudes towards several issues related to innovation in the newsroom. Through the extensive literature review conducted, it is also possible to see the results obtained from studies carried out in foreign newsrooms. These case studies provide a snapshot of the phenomenon of innovation and how this is implanted within Maltese newsrooms. The outcomes could not only be of assistance to other news organisations, but could also be used as a pilot study for further research on innovation within Maltese media organisations.