How can closer collaboration between researchers, students and practitioners in the field of journalism strengthen the industry? The European Journalism Observatory has been operating at this interface for 20 years. To mark this year’s anniversary, representatives from all three groups came together to discuss current challenges, research results and solutions.
At the pre-conference ‘Building a Future for Journalism’ of this year’s European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) conference in Ljubljana, technological as well as content-related and market-related aspects were on the agenda. The event was organised by the German, Polish and Czech EJO teams together with the Slovenian branch of the Federation of European Journalism Students (FEJS).
Changes are affecting various levels of journalism: among other things, editorial work is influenced by new technologies and market conditions, while journalists’ working conditions and the content of reporting are also affected.
Steffen Moestrup from the Danish School of Media and Journalism shed light on how artificial intelligence is already being used in Scandinavian newsrooms and recognises that AI has become an important part of everyday work. Nevertheless, there are differences in how tools are used and not all journalists are already trained to exploit the full potential of AI.
Users are also faced with challenges posed by AI: Venetia Papa and Zenonas Theodosiu from the Cyprus University of Technology examined how AI-generated images were perceived by viewers. Confronted with exemplary images intended to depict the Gaza War, the results showed that the distinction was not always successful – especially when the AI-generated images were used in media that users particularly trusted.
In this context, Victorija Car from the University of Split emphasised the importance of professionally trained journalists, who, in contrast to citizen journalists or fact-checkers, should receive more funding and be given a greater focus in international contexts.
It is not only the digital transformation that is having an impact on the financial situation of media companies, leaving a large proportion of Portuguese local radio stations in a desperate situation, as Miguel Midões from the Polytechnic University of Viseu reported. Changing ways of working can also affect the situation of media professionals. As Hana Řičicová and Karolína Hájková from the Charles University in Prague explained, precarious working conditions influence family planning for journalists in the Czech Republic – especially when they expect little additional support from their media companies, uncertain conditions lead to a postponement of the desire to have children.
The situation of researchers in the field of journalism and communication studies is also worth looking at. A large study, presented by Dina Vozab, University of Zagreb, investigates the professional identities of journalists in Central and Eastern European countries. Despite positive developments, their situation is disadvantageous in some aspects compared to colleagues from Western Europe: among other things, they have less access to well-developed infrastructures, funding opportunities and support, and their research is less likely to be published in international journals.
Presentations of the projects Mediadelcom (Marcus Kreutler), COPE (Susanne Fengler and Richard Brandt) and an analysis of several projects to promote the Bulgarian media system (Bissera Zankova) showed how the connection between research and media practice can offer concrete suggestions for the challenges discussed.
These and other presentations proved that the debates following the pre-conference need to be continued – some of the topics presented will be discussed in more detail in the coming weeks on the EJO.
This article, EJO @ECREA: Exchange between research, practice and students, was originally published by The European Journalism Observatory on October 4 2024