Local press in front of digitalization: innovation and viability of proximity journalism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12795/Ambitos.2024.i64.02Keywords:
innovation, local press, business model, sustainability, digitalizationAbstract
Adaptation to the digital age and new communication dynamics are challenges that local press companies are facing. As a result of the transformations that occur in the media ecosystem, innovation becomes nuclear to guarantee the success of these projects. The need to introduce changes in local media occurs in a trend of concentration of ownership and globalization, and implies the creation of organizational change management models (Noam, 2016), taking into account that it is not a process linear (Dönders, 2019). Villi and Picard (2019) argue that media companies have to create new processes, products, ways of presenting content and relationships with consumers, as part of the contemporary business model. With a methodology based on case studies (Flyvbjerg, 2006; Vennesson, 2008) in Catalonia (Spain), this article focuses on the integration of innovation in the local press, for its necessary adaptation to the digital scenario. The results show that innovation is closely linked to the viability of projects, and that the integration of local newspapers into the digital era depends on achieving a solvent business model. Furthermore, the research concludes that the sector is poorly articulated to face this challenge, and that it is waiting for larger media to find a model that they can replicate on a local scale.
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