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Abstract

In the current media landscape, convergence represents a key analytical concept for understanding the rapid developments and the reshaping of news organizations into multimedia providers. Such redefinition entails changes in the rationale of media corporations and has turned out to be central for public service broadcasting (PSB). Yet relatively little work has focused on the implications of convergence for these particular broadcasting organizations at the newsroom level. As a contribution to filling this gap, this article reports on case study research conducted inside the main Scottish public broadcaster, BBC Scotland. Based upon in-house documents and semi-structured interviews, the research findings describe what is happening inside this major news centre and in what way convergence is shaped and embedded within this organization, in terms of news production and journalistic practices. These findings are put into perspective with regard to previous studies, as well as with contextual issues, such as the reinvention of the PSB model in the 21st century, with special mention made of the BBC, and the specific Scottish politico-communicative scenario.

Keywords

BBC Scotland broadcasting convergence newsrooms PSB

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News production in the ‘post-broadcasting’ era: BBC Scotland’s move towards convergence

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