360 | nº 37, pp. 359-384 |July-December of 2023Journalism innovations as a driver for journalistic diversity and inclusion: International examples and editorial...ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicación1. Introduction“e new business model in journalism is not content, because there is enough of that, but identication”, claried an experienced media startup pioneer in Switzerland who has given thought on how to sell democracy-relevant, journalistic content economically well over the last ten years. Identication with a journalistic medium becomes more likely if the audience feels that its way of life, needs, views or concerns are not missed, but repeatedly addressed and represented in a correct and constructive way through mass media reporting (Douglas, 2022: 2109). However, the demographic heterogeneity is increasing, societal attitudes and viewpoints change through public discourses such as the gender debate, social movements like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo or society-wide events such as the Covid19 pandemic; editorial cost-cutting measures and media concentration put topic diversity under pressure (Hendrickx and Ranaivoson, 2021: 2800) and the audience is fragmenting in terms of media consumption habits, needs and content interests (Evers, 2021: 446; Slaets and Verhoest, 2020; Cherubini et al., 2020: 7; Horz et al., 2020: 34; Kümpel, 2020: 11). e awareness for editorial diversity and inclusion –which, with a practical lens, represent the precondition and consequence of the same demand– have therefore increased in recent years but so far seem to have been implemented in measures or institutionalized internationally only to a limited extent by editorial boards (Lugschitz and Kaltenbrunner, 2022: 137; Kaltenbrunner et al., 2021: 347; Horz et al., 2020: 26; Bayer, 2013). In Switzerland for example, legacy media house Tamedia has had a Social Responsibility Board for two years, which aims to provide editors with diversity-relevant tools in the form of manuals (Werbewoche 2020). e Swiss public broadcaster SRG lists diversity as a journalistic quality criterion in its journalistic guidelines under chapter 1.5 “Diversity and equality. e We.Publish foundation, which oers open source publishing tools to independent journalism content providers, runs a Rethink Journalism Hackathon to create digital solutions that will help promote national media diversity (Opendata 2022). In Austria, the “Wiener Medieninitiative” which has been providing nancial support to media diversity-relevant references and inuence the degree of diversity and inclusion accessible to the audience in a positive manner. us, eorts to strengthen innovation in the media industry are an important building block for ensuring future journalism that does not want to distance itself from social reality. However, based on structuration theory considerations, we conclude that large numbers of innovative journalism initiatives are not sucient to institutionalize diversity and inclusion. Instead, these aspects need to be dened explicitly as editorial quality goals which are anchored in an editorial quality management system.Keywords:Innovation; journalism; diversity and inclusion; editorial quality management system; structuration theory.iniciativas periodísticas innovadoras muestran referencias pertinentes a la diversidad e inuyen positivamente en el grado de diversidad e inclusión accesible para la audiencia. Así, los esfuerzos para reforzar la innovación en la industria de los medios de comunicación son un pilar importante para garantizar un ejercicio futuro del periodismo orientado a la calidad, que no quiere distanciarse de la realidad social. Sin embargo, basándonos en consideraciones propias de la teoría de la estructuración, concluimos que un gran número de iniciativas de innovación periodística no son sucientes para institucionalizar la diversidad y la inclusión. En su lugar, estos aspectos deben denirse explícitamente como objetivos integrados en un sistema de gestión de la calidad editorial.Palabras clave:Innovación; periodismo; diversidad e inclusión; sistema de gestión de la calidad editorial; teoría de la estructuración. doxa.comunicación | nº 37, pp. 359-384 | 361July-December of 2023Mirco Saner and Vinzenz WyssISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978startups as well as legacy media houses since 2019, will be extended until 2025 (ots.at 2022). Similar examples can also be found in other countries.But the fact that internationally, only selective eorts can be observed to promote diversity and inclusion in the media industry systematically –from media practice, media education as well as from federal authorities– is remarkable; in order to further fulll its democratic role, journalism must reach as large a segment of the population as possible and present a wide range of viewpoints (Finneman et al., 2022; Masini et al., 2018; Karppinen, 2013). Without diversity eorts now starting, future journalism is supposed to come under pressure –both at the local and national level (Lugschitz and Kaltenbrunner, 2022: 137). erefore, the question arises as to where new momentum can come from to counteract this status quo. Does the media industry recognize diversity and inclusion as a topic area that needs further eorts and are editorial resources invested for it? To approach these questions, we use current qualitative case study data from an ongoing journalistic innovation research in ve European countries. We ask which internationally relevant journalism innovations of the last ten years intentionally address or unexpectedly support diversity and inclusion aspects. We will highlight innovative diversity initiatives in these countries, implemented between 2010 and 2020 and look at their societal intentions and editorial institutionalization. And we show how further relevant journalism innovations within the same period have driven diversity and inclusion, particularly on a micro level. We will base our approach on structuration theory considerations and nd that diversity and inclusion is seen as a key journalism innovation in all ve countries. However, we also conclude that large numbers of journalism innovation initiatives are not sucient to institutionalize diversity and inclusion. Instead, these aspects need to be dened explicitly as editorial quality goals which are incorporated by corresponding assurance instruments anchored in an editorial quality management system.1.1. eoretical considerations and research questionsReferring to (García-Avilés et al., 2018: 27) we dene journalism innovation as “the introduction of something new that adds value to customers and to the media organization, which reacts to changes in products, processes and services through the use of creative skills that allow a problem or need to be identied and solved”. e foundation of our approach are the two premises that journalism innovation is understood as a central prerequisite for addressing current problem areas in journalism (Buschow and Wellbrock, 2020: 2) and secondly, that journalism innovations always reect societal changes (Bruns, 2014: 13.). With this in mind, we understand organizational initiatives with the aim of better ensuring diversity and inclusion, be it as an explicit main objective or an unexpected side eect, as a journalism innovation. In this sense, the question arises whether journalism innovations –understood as independent variable– are drivers for diversity and inclusion.Diversity and inclusion are societal topics that inuence journalism production routines. e debate was largely dominated by gender equality in the past decades, but recently the debate became broader, referring to all groups neglected or discriminated in media representation or newsroom recruitment (Benson, 2020). Overall, there is insucient and contradictory data from content analyses on whether a diverse newsroom really leads to more diverse or inclusive reporting: While some studies nd no impact on reporting (Beam and Di Cicco, 2010), others state at least a partial or locally dependent impact on the representation of ethnicities or race (Sui et al., 2018; Meyers and Gayle, 2015). However, it seems reasonable to assume that without any diversity eorts at
362 | nº 37, pp. 359-384 |July-December of 2023Journalism innovations as a driver for journalistic diversity and inclusion: International examples and editorial...ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónall, little change will occur in the current reporting with its diversity and inclusion decits. Diversity and inclusion in journalism therefore needs continued research (Jenkins, 2019: 230) and can be captured on dierent levels in journalism practice, whereas level a) and b) will provide the basis for the research questions 1 and 2 of this study.a) Exposure or content diversity in topic coverage asks at the micro level about the pluralism of media titles accessible to the audience, as well as the pluralism of opinions, perspectives or formats conveyed by mass media (Moe et al., 2021; Nef, 2020; Masini and Van Aelst, 2017). b) On a meso level, interest focuses on how diverse editorial teams are in terms of age, gender equality, minorities, the integration of employees with a migration background or of other ethnicities, religious and political aliations (Lugschitz and Kaltenbrunner, 2022: 141; urman et al., 2016: 8.).c) On a macro level, diversity is considered in the context of regulating media policy –and thus linked to media promotion– or media ownership (Craufurd Smith et al., 2021; Brogi et al., 2020: 153.; Homann et al. 2015: 1360). Various studies on diversity in reporting as well as in the personnel structure of editorial departments reveal that there are often insucient institutionalized procedures for improving diversity, or institutional commitments do not correspond with the daily experience of editorial boards (Douglas, 2022; Lück et al., 2022; Lugschitz and Kaltenbrunner, 2022: 156; Wenzel, 2021). Looking for reasons for a low institutionalization degree, especially in regional and local media, we must consider that –along with entrenched ideas, weak leadership, skills shortage or amplifying cost pressures (Grubenmann and Weber, 2022: 22; Kueng, 2020)– a part of the established, journalistic work programs can be in tension with the demand for diversity and therefore complicate its implementation. is includes the selection of news according to the principle of news values (Kepplinger, 2011: 56). Journalistic notions of quality can also be an obstacle: Using only easy-to-understand, short sentences, as often associated with tabloid journalism, can be conducive to inclusion eorts. erefore, for a sustainable institutionalization of diversity and inclusion, it is not enough to employ diverse sta or to rely on actions by individuals, but a reorganization of the editorial culture is required, led by a clear commitment by the management and institutional support through the provision of resources (Douglas, 2022: 2110; Cottle, 2000). If diversity and inclusion is understood for what it is, a long-term and complex (Kueng, 2020: 46) organizational quality goal, editorial culture can be slowly shaped –but not imposed– by implementing diversity eorts in an existing editorial quality management system. ough institutionalization through the establishment of an editorial quality management system –not only with a focus on diversity and inclusion– can also be considered a journalism innovation, this thought is situated in Giddens’ structuration theory. From this theoretical point of view, structures –in our case an implemented editorial quality management system– determine options for action (Giddens 1984). us, a rst step to institutionalize diversity and inclusion is to write it down in basic editorial documents, as such documents like quality policies or ethical guidelines form the basis for further quality instruments during the daily production routine (Saner and Wyss, 2019: 157). is includes among others the personnel development dealing with training opportunities, the production process consisting of briengs or acceptance as well as corrective measures like internal or external feedbacks or audience involvement dealing with audience perception (Saner and Wyss, 2019: 154). In the planning of broadcasts or contributions, in fact-checking as well as in acceptance tests or in feedbacks, recursive reference can be made to formulated rules that sensitize editorial members to the topic of diversity (Wyss, 2021: 4). doxa.comunicación | nº 37, pp. 359-384 | 363July-December of 2023Mirco Saner and Vinzenz WyssISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978Such implementation can help diversity leave behind its status as innovation and become the norm (Schwelger, 2020). Moreover, institutionalization makes diversity measurable and data provides the foundation for editorial debates (Kueng, 2020: 47).Based on these considerations, we pursue the following research questions: RQ1: Do internationally relevant journalism innovations support established, journalistic diversity and inclusion aspects, such as variety of topics and opinions or variety of accessible media titles on a micro level, or age, gender, ethnicity or religious aliation on a meso level? RQ2: Do international, innovative journalism initiatives show diversity or inclusion aspects that go beyond the classic items mentioned in RQ1 and have received fewer empirical attention so far, but could have eects on the audience? RQ3: Do international, innovative diversity initiatives show signs of written editorial basic documents which explicitly institutionalize diversity and inclusion aspects?2. MethodologyLiterature on diversity research shows that theoretical embedding needs to catch up and qualitative methodological approaches have been neglected in the past twenty years (Joris et al., 2020; Loecherbach et al., 2020: 605). Especially diversity on a meso level is frequently determined by quantitative journalist surveys, focusing on classic diversity aspects such as age, gender, or race (urman et al. 2016; Weaver and Willnat, 2012). Dietrich-Gsenger and Seethaler (2019: 68f.) conducted an international study on the professional eld of journalism and the socio-demographic characteristics of journalists in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. ey found that journalists in these countries are overwhelmingly male, have often studied, are between forty and fty years old and work as full-time editors. Women continue to be underrepresented in the editorial departments of the three countries. With reference to gender diversity, the authors conclude that “the glass ceiling” is still a reality and that in media systems that have grown historically over long periods of time, it can probably only be broken through targeted control measures. However, this focus on quantitative studies neglects other aspects of journalistic diversity. us, in this paper, we apply a qualitative approach using guided expert interviews. Our approach is in the rst step based on a pioneering inventory of the most relevant journalism innovations of the last ten years in the ve European countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and the United Kingdom (Meier et al., 2022). Both authors are part of the international research consortium who conducted this inventory. During the rst half of 2021, the ve country project teams conducted one hundred expert interviews in total, where the interviewees named the ten most important innovations in journalism and media in their respective country for the period 2010–2020. From this international inventory, each country selected the twenty most important journalism innovation categories. is resulted in a total of thirty-ve innovation categories. For further details on the methodology and the country selection, see Meier et al., 2022. From these thirty-ve innovation categories, only eight categories are among the twenty most important innovations in all ve countries (see Table 1). To be able to compare as many project countries as possible, these eight categories were selected for the present analysis. e extent to which these categories show references to journalistic diversity or inclusion aspects was examined. 364 | nº 37, pp. 359-384 |July-December of 2023Journalism innovations as a driver for journalistic diversity and inclusion: International examples and editorial...ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónTable 1: Innovation categories among the twenty most important journalism innovations in all ve countriesName of InnovationAustria PositionGermany PositionSpain PositionSwitzerland PositionUnited Kingdom PositionData journalism35141Collaborative/Investigative1115113Engagement (data)1621293Social media1134820Diversity41015149Paywalls/Paid content41281613Automation111612710New organizational teams101215319Source: (Meier et al., 2022; 709)Included are data journalism, collaborative (investigative) journalism, engagement on the basis of data, news on social media, paywalls and paid content, automation, new organizational teams and diversity itself. For each of these eight innovation categories, all ve country project teams selected as a case study an innovative journalism initiative that had excelled in the specic category in their country; either because the initiative was frequently mentioned by the consulted experts, because it was pioneering or because it has specialized in this innovation eld and is therefore able to represent the innovation category for the whole industry. e organizations that have been mentioned during the expert interviews for each specic innovation category were given priority in the selection. Within this framework, additional attention was paid to organizational, thematical and geographic diversity: If possible, representatives from legacy media, journalistic start-ups, digital native organizations and entrepreneurial initiatives should be represented. If more than one organization was suitable as a case study candidate in one category, consideration was given to those initiatives that stand out for their specialization in this eld. irdly, if possible, the case study initiatives chosen should be from dierent geographical areas of a country to avoid centralization in the (media) capital cities. Nevertheless, the fact that in the selected countries a pronounced media-centrism exists in cities such as Madrid, London, Vienna, or Zurich can be seen in the case study sample.irty-eight, approximately one-hour guided interviews were conducted between the end of 2021 and summer 2022 along thirty-eight innovative journalism initiatives, mainly via digital conference tools. For two case studies no interviews were conducted by the time this paper was nalized. Twenty-three case studies cover legacy media (including two news agencies), the remaining are digital natives or entrepreneurial initiatives. erefore, the sample covers both established, systemically relevant media organizations as well as promising new media startups and includes initiatives that are widely discussed and observed in the country’s media industry (see Table 2). While legacy media dominate the national samples of all three central European countries, doxa.comunicación | nº 37, pp. 359-384 | 365July-December of 2023Mirco Saner and Vinzenz WyssISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978digital native and entrepreneurial initiatives are more strongly represented in both Spain and the United Kingdom. Within an innovation category, dierent media genres and media types can be analyzed, as the purpose of the analysis is not a comparison of performance between the countries, but an international inventory.ose responsible for the initiative and people who regularly work on it were selected as interviewees. is includes founders, CEOs, heads of division, Chief Product Ocers, Chief Revenue Ocers, editors in chief as well as programme directors, editorial managers, consultants and (specialized) editors. e questions of the case study interviews covered the following dimensions related to the initiative: strategic goals and quality aims, resources invested, preconditions that supported or inhibited the establishing and growing, quality management tools, professional role perception of the persons involved and the perceived impact on the industry and society (see appendix 9.1). Afterwards, the interview statements were transcribed in each country along these dimensions. Referring to our research questions, we thereafter searched the transcripts for diversity and inclusion references that were explicitly mentioned by the interviewees and assigned the ndings to the micro or meso level. At the micro level, in times when quality journalism is under pressure due to advancing media concentration and content cooperations, the question of diversity of topics, opinions and media titles available to the audience is of interest. On a meso level, it is analyzed whether classical editorial diversity demands on gender, age, ethnicity or religion aliations, as well as other diversity-relevant aspects can be found.Diversity itself was identied as one of the twenty most relevant journalism innovations in all ve European countries between 2010 and 2020 and is seen in all these countries as an innovation that has a radical impact on society (Meier et al., 2022). However, the fact that diversity made it onto this list at all is largely thanks to this broad-based, societal attribution of importance. On average, the aspect of diversity was mentioned only three times per country. is fact cannot necessarily be taken as evidence for a general, deep degree of institutionalization, but it may at least be an indication of a still modest diversity awareness in the media industry. Five of our thirty-eight case studies focus explicitly on the topic of diversity and inclusion. is includes in the ve countries the following initiatives:Spain:Pikara Magazine, an entrepreneurial project with a gender perspective born in November 2010 out of the Basque network of journalists. It is committed to an intersectional feminism. Germany:Auf Klo, a digital native which was founded in 2016 to raise awareness of feminist issues and cover a variety of topics for teenage girls. To be depicted are queer-feminist and diverse topics and the programme is designed inclusively. United Kingdom:Black Ballad, a digital native which began as a free blog in 2014 and ghts against how poorly black women writers, their stories and experiences are represented across women’s media. ey give black women opportunities and support their journalistic talent while also delivering content and articles addressed to black women. Austria: e Biber academy has been part of the Viennese magazine Biber since 2012. e magazine targets young people with a migration background. Every year, the academy oers about twelve scholarship holders –almost all with migration background– mentoring, workshops and practice for entering journalism to make newsrooms more diverse. 366 | nº 37, pp. 359-384 |July-December of 2023Journalism innovations as a driver for journalistic diversity and inclusion: International examples and editorial...ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónSwitzerland:Chance 50:50, a project launched by the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC which primarily revolves around ensuring that women are better represented in reporting. e idea for editorial teams is to participate voluntarily. Since about 2019 the Swiss German Public Broadcast station SRF has been part of that international initiative.Table 2: e selected case study initiatives and their media organizationsInnovation categorySwitzerlandType of mediaData JournalismVisuals team Neue Zürcher Zeitung NZZlegacy mediaCollaborative (investigative) journalismResearch desk Tamedia/TX Grouplegacy mediaEngagement on the basis of dataDigital Platform “Star-Sherlock”, Ringierlegacy mediaNews on Social MediaTikTok News channel, SRF/SRGlegacy mediaDiversityMedia format “Fifty-fty”, SRF/SRGlegacy mediaPaywalls and paid contentPaywall Tamedia/TX Grouplegacy mediaAutomationSoftware LENA, Keystone-SDAnews agencyNew organizational forms and teamsNewsroom “Südostschweiz”, Somedialegacy mediaInnovation categorySpainType of mediaData JournalismDatadistadigital nativeCollaborative (investigative) journalismCiviodigital nativeEngagement on the basis of dataEl Español digital nativeNews on Social MediaSphera Sportsdigital nativeDiversityPikara MagazineentrepreneurPaywalls and paid contentEl Mundolegacy mediaAutomationNewtral.esdigital nativeNew organizational forms and teamsEl Paislegacy media
doxa.comunicación | nº 37, pp. 359-384 | 367July-December of 2023Mirco Saner and Vinzenz WyssISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978Innovation categoryUnited KingdomType of mediaData JournalismOur World in Data digital nativeCollaborative (investigative) journalismBellingcatdigital nativeEngagement on the basis of datano case study-News on Social MediaBBC TikTok channellegacy mediaDiversityBlack Balladdigital nativePaywalls and paid contentFinancial Timeslegacy mediaAutomationUrbs Media/RADARentrepreneurNew organizational forms and teamse Bureau of Investigative Journalismdigital nativeInnovation categoryGermanyType of mediaData JournalismBayerischer Rundfunklegacy mediaCollaborative (investigative) journalismSüddeutsche Zeitunglegacy mediaEngagement on the basis of dataIppen DigitalentrepreneurNews on Social MediaARD-Tagesschaulegacy mediaDiversityAuf Klodigital nativePaywalls and paid contentBILD Zeitunglegacy mediaAutomationRheinische Postlegacy mediaNew organizational forms and teamsMain-Postlegacy mediaInnovation categoryAustriaType of mediaData JournalismORFlegacy mediaCollaborative (investigative) journalismDossierdigital native 368 | nº 37, pp. 359-384 |July-December of 2023Journalism innovations as a driver for journalistic diversity and inclusion: International examples and editorial...ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónEngagement on the basis of datano case study-News on Social MediaZIB Zeit im Bild, ORFlegacy mediaDiversityBiber academylegacy mediaPaywalls and paid contentKleine Zeitung, Styria Media Grouplegacy mediaAutomationAPA Austrian Press Agencynews agencyNew organizational forms and teamsKleine Zeitung, Styria Media Grouplegacy mediaSource: authors’ own research and compilation3. Results3.1. References of journalism innovation categories to diversity and inclusione following section examines the extent to which the eight journalism innovations categories mentioned above, which are among the twenty most relevant in all ve countries (see Table 1), show relations to diversity and inclusion. All references that were explicitly mentioned during the interviews are summarized below per innovation category.Table 3: Diversity and inclusion reference levels and itemsInnovation categorySwitzerlandSpainUnited KingdomGermanyAustriaData JournalismMicro and Meso:Journalistic added value through new, quantitatively based stories/issues; need for interdisciplinary teams (journalists, designers, programmers); Greater importance of visualizations: visualizations must be comprehensible for colour blind people.Micro: Dealing with issues with less public attention; thereafter, dissemination of the topics covered through legacy media.Micro and Meso:Oer longer, detailed stories on important issues as social inequality which are less fast and short than what is usually produced; media organizations write articles that are enabled by our data; need for interdisciplinary teams (developer, technicians, researcher, data journalists).Micro and Meso:Dierent thematic focus than other editorial oces, because we infer the topics from evidence-based data; need for interdisciplinary teams (e.g. designers).Micro and Meso:Data- and thus fact-based stories; need for interdisciplinary teams (graphic designers and programmers).