Journalism after all: Professionalism,content and performance – A comparison between alternative news websites and websites of traditional newspapers in German local media markets

Abstract

In light of the problems traditional news organizations are facing in many countries, it has been suggested that journalism’s relevance as the sole provider of news in an increasingly networked society is decreasing and that the Internet has given rise to new kinds of amateur, citizen, and participatory forms of content production, changing the nature of traditional journalism and threatening its institutions. The study presented here suggests otherwise. Taking a look at the German local news market and presenting a survey of the alternative news websites that have entered this market in recent years, it suggests that it is not so much journalism’s standards and practices – its institutional characteristics – that are changing, but its organizational framework.