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Pioneer Journalism: The Re-Figuration of the Organization(s) of Journalism

  • Completed
  • 2019 – 2025
  • Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp

Project management: Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp (ZeMKI, University of Bremen), Prof. Dr. Wiebke Loosen (Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute (HBI), Hamburg)

Participating institutions: ZeMKI, University of Bremen, Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute (HBI), Hamburg

Funding: German Research Foundation (DFG)

The fundamental aim of this research project is to investigate pioneer journalism as a driving force behind the re-figuration of journalism and its organizational foundations. By pioneer journalism, the authors mean new forms of journalism that aim to redefine journalism, its function, performance, structures and practices. Pioneer journalism aims to establish new figurations of journalistic production and dissemination. Media and digital technologies play a decisive role in this and often form the basis for new developments. Pioneer journalism can be found in established media organizations, but also in start-ups, accelerators and individual professional pioneers. Our own preliminary work shows that a loose network of pioneer journalism exists across these different actors, which may form the basis for a journalistic pioneer community.

The project investigates the role that pioneer journalism plays in the re-figuration of the organizational foundations of journalism. With reference to this question, pioneer journalism in Germany will be examined on five levels: First, a mapping of individual actors, start-ups, accelerators and established media organizations that are central to the field of pioneer journalism will be created and their areas of experimentation typified. Secondly, a media ethnography is used to explore various organizational figurations of established media organizations that are geared towards innovation. Thirdly, the authors use media ethnography to examine organizational figurations in start-ups, accelerators and individual pioneers. Fourthly, through a qualitative network and standardized Twitter analysis, they reconstruct the network of pioneer journalists through which an overarching journalistic pioneer community may exist. And fifth, these research findings will be integrated into an overarching analysis of the re-figuration of the organizational foundations of journalism – with the aim of typifying patterns of its current transformation.

This project is part of the joint research project “The Re-Figuration of Public Communication in Times of Profound Mediatization: Pioneer Journalism, Audience Relations and Individuals’ Connection to the Public Sphere”, which comprises a total of three research projects that deal with the current state of the re-figuration of public communication from three different perspectives. They all pursue the overarching question of what consequences the profound mediatization has for the re-figuration of public communication. Project A looks at journalism in Germany. Project B deals with the relationship between journalism and its audience and Project C looks at the changes in media repertoires and thus the connection of individuals to the public sphere.

Selected publications

  • Couldry, N./Hepp, A. (2017): The mediated construction of reality. Cambridge: Polity Press.
  • Heise, N./Loosen, W./Reimer, J./Schmidt, J.-H. (2014): Including the audience. In: Journalism Studies, 15(4), 411–430. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2013.831232
  • Hepp, A./Loosen, W. (2021): Pioneer journalism: Conceptualizing the role of pioneer journalists and pioneer communities in the organizational re-figuration of journalism. In: Journalism 22(3). S. 577-595. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884919829277
  • Hepp, A. (2016): Pioneer communities: Collective actors of deep mediatisation. In: Media, Culture & Society, 38 (6), S. 918-933. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443716664484
  • Hepp, A. (2021): Auf dem Weg zur digitalen Gesellschaft. Köln: Herbert von Halem.
  • Hepp, A. (2022): Jenseits der Disruption: Zum Lebenszyklus von Pioniergemeinschaften und ihrer Rolle beim Entstehen einer „digitalen Gesellschaft“. KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-022-00835-6
  • Hepp, A. (2024): Curators of digital futures: The life cycle of pioneer communities. New Media & Society, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448241253766
  • Hepp, A./Loosen, W. (2021): Pioneer journalism: Conceptualizing the role of pioneer journalists and pioneer communities in the organizational re-figuration of journalism. Journalism, 22(3), 577-595. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884919829277
  • Hepp, A./Loosen, W. (2020): Neujustierung holistisch gedacht – und gemacht: Feldbeobachtung, Forschungspraxis, Theorieentwicklung in der Journalismusforschung. In: Schützeneder, J./Meier, K./ Springer, N. (Hrsg.), Neujustierung der Journalistik/Journalismusforschung in der digitalen Gesellschaft: Proceedings zur Jahrestagung der Fachgruppe Journalistik/Journalismusforschung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft 2019, Eichstätt (S. 21-33). Eichstätt: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft e.V. https://doi.org/10.21241/ssoar.70816
  • Hepp, A./Loosen, W. (2022): Beyond innovation: Pioneer journalism and the re-figuration of journalism. In: Ferrucci, P./Eldridge II, S. A. (Hrsg.), The Institutions Changing Journalism: Barbarians Inside the Gate. New York: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003140399-11
  • Hepp, A./Loosen, W./Hasebrink, U. (2024): The Refiguration of Public Communication: A Relational and Process-oriented Perspective. In: ZeMKI Working Paper No. 47 (2024). https://zemki.maltem.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ZeMKI\_EWP\_47\_Hepp-Loosen-Hasebrink.pdf
  • Hepp, A./Loosen, W./Kühn, H./Solbach, P./Kramp, L. (2021): Die Figuration des Pionierjournalismus in Deutschland. In: M&K Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft 69(4), S. 551-577. https://doi.org/10.5771/1615-634X-2021-4-551
  • Kramp, L./Weichert, S. (2017): Der Millennial-Code. Leipzig: Vistas.
  • Loosen, W. (2015): The Notion of the “Blurring Boundaries”: Journalism as a (de-)differentiated phenomenon. Digital Journalism, 3(1), 68–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.928000
  • Loosen, W./Reimer, J./De Silva-Schmidt, F. (2020): Data-driven reporting: An on-going (r)evolution? An analysis of projects nominated for the Data Journalism Awards 2013–2016. Journalism, 21(9), 1246-1263. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917735691
  • Loosen, W./Scholl, A. (2017): Journalismus und (algorithmische) Wirklichkeitskonstruktion. Epistemologische Beobachtungen. M&K 65. Jahrgang 2/2017 Themenheft „Konstruktivismus“, S. 348–366. https://doi.org/10.5771/1615-634X-2017-2-348
  • Schmidt, J.-H./Loosen, W. (2015): Both Sides of the Story: Assessing audience participation in journalism through the concept of inclusion distance. Digital Journalism, 3(2), 259–278. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.930243

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