More Than Ink-Stained Wretches: The Resocialization of Print Journalists in Converged Newsrooms

Abstract

Newsroom experiments with convergence—a sharing of news staffs, technologies, products, and geography—disrupt not just the norms and routines of newspaper news work hut, more profoundly, the professional socialization of print journalists and their perception of themselves as a distinctive kind of news worker. This article draws on case studies of four converged newsrooms to examine conceptual and sociological shifts among newspaper journalists. Findings suggest print journalists are undergoing resocialization to an expanded view of professionalism; ingrained habits and learned skills related to newsroom structure and storytelling norms are more resistant to change.