Abstract
Media institutions found themselves forced to use multiple platforms to reach the audience, who now follows different media products through television, radio, newspapers, websites and smartphone applications. This has led to extensive changes not only in the structure of newsrooms, but also in the way they operate. This study explores the size of convergence among these multiple platforms and the pattern of their workflow through a case study of Al Jazeera Mubasher’s newsroom.
To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher devoted a chapter to the discussion of Al Jazeera Network, and another to the definition of convergence means and how it appeared and evolved. Afterwards, he examines the levels of multiplatform convergence in newsrooms, demonstrating, using content analysis and ethnographic participant observation, that Al Jazeera Mubasher’s newsroom falls under the fourth level of the Dynamic Scale, a model developed by Larry Dailey, Lori Demo and Mary Spillman to measure convergence levels in the newsrooms. The researcher also concludes that Al Jazeera Mubasher’s newsroom is classified as a second-generation newsroom (Newsroom 2.0), or a “cross-media platform Newsroom”, as per the model developed by Dietmar Schantin.
Moreover, the study points out that videos represent the “central domain” of Al Jazeera Mubasher’s newsroom since the majority of its platforms focus on visual content. Ultimately, the researcher develops a workflow model explaining how materials flow among the different platforms at Al Jazeera Mubasher newsroom.
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