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Audience metrics as disruptive innovation: Analysing emotional work of Finnish journalism professionals

Laura Ahva

Laura Ahva

Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere UniversityFinland
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Ahva, Laura
 et 
Liisa Ovaska

Liisa Ovaska

Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere UniversityFinland
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Ovaska, Liisa
  
05 juin 2023
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Publié en ligne: 05 juin 2023
Pages: 152 - 171
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2023-0009
Mots clés
© 2023 Laura Ahva et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Summary of findings on emotional work among Finnish journalism professionals on audience metrics as a disruptive innovation

Register of emotions Key relations, dimensions, and objects in the emotional work The relationship between emotional work and managing disruption and innovation
Relief, contentment, and confidence Emotional work in this register deals with differences internal to the news organisations, mainly in the past, when metrics prompted both hype and resistance. Alleviation arises via the routinisation of metrics and agreement within the present work culture on the algorithmic audience as a feasible conception of audiences. Emotional work as alleviation: The early days of disruption caused by metrics were intense and focused on click-baiting, but this is interpreted as over. Currently, subscription metrics support a sense of control over the audience. However, managing the disruption with the aid of subscription metrics has made business thinking a part of the everyday routines of individual journalists.
Excitement, curiosity, and motivation Emotional work in this register aids in seeing metrics as a technological tool that has a legitimate and beneficial role for the future of journalism. Inspiration here relates to the view that metrics can increase newsrooms’ capabilities, both journalistically and technologically. Emotional work as stimulation: Managing the fast disruption–innovation cycle requires encouragement for constant learning. The technical competencies needed for surviving future disruption demand scale, speed, and predictive use of data-processing, but these must be relevant also for improving core journalistic capabilities related to newswriting.
Stress, worry, and irritation Emotions are deployed to manage the present contradictions related to internal and external power hierarchies, along with a sense of reduced self-determination. The emotional work focuses on the problem of how to marry autonomy (a fundamental professional value of journalism) with data-driven metrics-based thinking. Emotional work as balancing: Dealing with disruption and innovation is an ongoing acute issue in newsrooms and requires resources and balancing from the organisations’ leaders. A sense of competition frames how newsrooms are run, and a truly sustainable way of practising data-led management in journalism is yet to be found.
Langue:
Anglais
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Sujets de la revue:
Sciences sociales, Sciences de la communication, Communication de masse, Communication publique et politique
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