Convergence in Journalism: Perspectives and Prospects

The liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation of the market that marked the 1990s, set forth a chain of technological innovations leading to the emergence of the transnational conglomerates in the media industry. The senders, messages, medium and even the receivers are being consolidated and the journalistic and business models are blurring. This chapter looks at the evolution of these phenomena and the perspectives on journalism in the converged environment, its prospects in the converged media and the latest trend of ‘de-convergence’. The chapter includes a general understanding of the phenomenon of convergence, the converged media platforms, the emergence of social media as the converged space, examples of journalism in a converged environment, citizen participation, changing reporting techniques, supply chains and block chains, new regulations, the concept of de-convergence and its effect on journalism. It also includes interviews with working journalists to provide a first-hand experience to the reader and to understand the functioning of multimedia journalists in a converged environment.