A chance to deliver news and information
to consumers in a new and different way, or
to expand the franchise
Everything to do with
mindset
Forms of Convergence
Ownership Convergence
Applies to the partnerships between
large media companies that permits
‘synergy’ cross-promotion and
content sharing between print and
television owned by the same
company
Tactical Convergence
The partnerships that have arisen
in the US media. T.C. does not
require common ownership
Structural Convergence
Occurs when media companies
re-organize the newsroom and
introduce new positions. It is more
related to newsgathering than
management
Information-gathering
Convergence
Occurs at the journalistic level and
is for situations where media
companies require reporters to be
multi-skilled
Storytelling Convergence
It operates at the level of the
working journalist, though it needs
management support for
equipment. Every new medium
offers innovative ways to tell stories
Driving Convergence
It change attitudes and
lifestyles of news
consumers
The growth of the World
Wide Web has introduced
another competitor for
advertising, and at the
same time the Web has
produced more niche
markets
Convergence makes it
possible to reach many
more members of an
audience
Barriers
Legislation that forbids a company
from owning a daily newspaper and
a television channel in the same
market has understandably limited
the convergence process
Union concerns for their
members’ future
Companies with strong
mono-media traditions
such as in the UK or France
tend to focus on their
traditional strength
Convergence included a
focused leadership, the
same owner, a flexible
culture, co-location of media
outlets, previous
relationships between
potential partners and no
unions
So....
Convergence produces many
challenges, for both journalists
and publishers.
Convergence is about
doing better journalism
Journalism needs to be a product of
‘‘sense-making based on synthesis,
verification and fierce independence.
Introduce convergence as a way to
save money, reporters could
become too busy to verify the
information they find and resort to
publishing material supplied by
professional spin-doctors