Hackathons and Journalism: Looking for the “Innovation of Innovation”

Originally developed in the Information Technology sector, hackathons are events designed to drive collaboration and entrepreneurship, while promoting innovation. As diverse teams compete against each other, building creative solutions with time and resource constraints, hackathons foster the interdisciplinary design of products, often for creative and fun purposes. In line with Open Innovation strategies, scholars have framed hackathons as events focusing on openness, knowledge transfers, and its orientation for innovation. Previous research has examined individuals’ motivations to participate in hackathons and their outputs, but few studies have focused specifically on media hackathons and their goals, processes, and outcomes. As Boyles (Journalism, 21:1338–1354, 2020a, Journalism Studies, 21:336–351, 2020b) argues, journalism hackathons are most successful when collaboration integrates media outlets, civic organizations, and community leaders. This chapter explores whether media hackathons foster innovation in practice. Using a methodology based on the analysis of eight case studies of events held in Europe, the USA, South America, Africa, and Asia between 2018 and 2023, we examined a range of descriptive parameters (duration, organizer, competition format, stakeholders, goals, orientation, outcomes, etc.). The analysis includes a typology of media hackathons and explores the main advantages and weaknesses of these dynamic spaces that foster innovation in the industry, where hackers are becoming relevant actors that often provide valuable skills for journalistic work.