A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Pioneers as Peers: How Entrepreneurial Journalists Imagine the Futures of Journalism
Authors: Ruotsalainen Juho, Heinonen Sirkka, Hujanen Jaana, Villi Mikko
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication year: 2023
Journal: Digital Journalism
Journal name in source: DIGITAL JOURNALISM
Journal acronym: DIGIT JOURNAL
Volume: 11
Issue: 6
First page : 1045
Last page: 1064
Number of pages: 20
ISSN: 2167-0811
eISSN: 2167-082X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.1996252
Web address : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2021.1996252
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/68440317
The article investigates the futures of journalism that pioneering entrepreneurial journalists anticipate. This comprises the different imaginaries that journalists employ to make sense of journalism's present potentials, anticipate its possible futures, and inform their decision-making. By analysing semi-structured interviews with Finnish entrepreneurial journalists, the article identifies a peer-to-peer imaginary on which the interviewees draw and construct to anticipate the potential futures of journalism. In this peer-to-peer imaginary, journalism is produced in journalists' and audiences' peer networks of affinity and shared interests. The imaginary promises elevated audience engagement and increased income from audience members. It also emphasises journalistic work that is often seen as ideal: autonomous, multi-skilled, self-expressive and non-routine. Despite these potentially preferred outcomes, the imaginary risks distancing journalism from its public roles and embracing more individualised and market-oriented approaches. The peer-to-peer imaginary can shape a journalism that is increasingly elitist by orienting it towards serving paying audiences, contributing to the fragmentation of public discussion by its focus on niche interests and playing into the power interests of global social media platforms that govern much of the digital media infrastructure. The imaginary, thus, mirrors the prevailing contemporary tendency to employ emancipatory visions of digital technologies for commercial objectives.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |  |
Funding information in the publication:
This research was supported by the Media Industry Research Foundation of Finland (201710119) and the Finnish Foundation for Economic Education (170332).
