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that conflict between the professional ideals and reality appears as a result of certain social and cultural circumstances and the working environments that
limit the individual autonomy of journalists. References Carpentier, N. (2005) Identity, Contigency, and Rigidity: The (Counter-)hegemonic Constructions
of the Identity of the Media Professional. Journalism 6(2): 199–219. Fielden, L. (2012) Regulating the Press. A Comparative Study of International Press
Councils. Report. Oxford: The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Kirchner, L. (2012) Self-Regulation Done Right: How Scandinavia’s press councils
keep the media accountable. Columbia Journalism Review, 24 April. Lauk, E. &
Denton, M. (2011) Assessing Media Accountability – in Europe and Beyond. In: Eberwein, T., Fengler, S., Lauk, E. & T. Leppik-Bork (eds.) Mapping Media
Accountability – in Europe and Beyond. Köln: Herbert von Harlem Verlag, 217–228. The Leveson Inquiry. (2012) An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and
Ethics of the Press. London: The Stationery Office.
PN 282 Precarious Working Conditions in Journalism? A Comparative Analysis of the Situation in Austria, Germany and Switzerland
C. Lauerer1, N. Steindl1, M.I. Lohmann2, F. Dingerkus3
1 LMU Munich, Department of Communication Studies and Media Research, Munich, Germany
2 Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies, Vienna, Austria
3 Institute of Applied Media Studies ZHAW, Winterthur, Switzerland
Traditional business models of media companies are seriously challenged by intensified competition in the advertising market due to financial crises and
the new players in the online environment, as well as by a low willingness to pay for information (online) among the audience (Beck et al., 2010; Reuters
Institute, 2015; Nielsen, 2015). Media companies respond to this challenge mainly by cutting costs: reduction of expenses for stuff, material as well as re‑
search, and increase of workload, working hours as well as temporary contracts at the same time (Blöbaum, 2007; Beck et al., 2010; Herbst & Kweton, 2012).
These precarious tendencies within the profession of journalism are worrisome for the individual journalist on the one hand, and with regard to the role
of media as the fourth estate in Western societies like Austria, Germany and Switzerland on the other. If media companies’ business models fail to ensure
appropriate working conditions, not only job satisfaction is likely to decrease; it is also questionable, if journalism is still able to meet quality standards and
perform its functions in society. With regard to the group of freelance-journalists Gollmitzer (2014) has already concluded that their working conditions
are precarious. Is that also true for journalism in Austria, Germany and Switzerland in general? These countries were by far not hit by the financial crises
as hard as others, such as Greece, Ireland or Portugal. Therefore, within the European context we consider the comparison of these three neighbors rather
as a touchstone for relative continuity. While the three countries can well be thought of as a unit representing relatively stable economies and political
structures within Europe, they differ from each other when it comes to the competitive situations: variation in the extent of subsidies, the phenomena
of free newspapers in Austria and Switzerland, and the German media as competitors for the national media of their smaller neighbors due to missing
language barriers between the markets. Also, within the countries different types of media organizations are facing financial problems to different extents.
It is necessary to no analyze the working conditions in journalism on both, the level of media systems as well as on the organizational level. References
Beck, K., Reineck, D. & Schubert, C. (2010). Journalistische Qualität in der Wirtschaftskrise. Berlin. Blöbaum, B. (2007). Journalism and Change: Theoret‑
ical Framework and Empirical Research. Paper presented at ICA Conference 2007. Gollmitzer, M. (2014). Precariously employed watchdogs? Perceptions
of working conditions among freelancers and interns. In: Journalism Practice, DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2014.882061. Kramp, L. & Weichert, S. (2012). In‑
novationsreport Journalismus. Ökonomische, medienpolitische und handwerkliche Faktoren imWandel.
(13.10.14) Nielsen, R.K. (forthcoming). The increasingly digital business of news. In Witschge, T., Anderson, C.W., Domingo, D., & Hermida, A. (eds.) Sage
Handbook of Digital Journalism. London: Sage Publications. (22.02.2016) Reuters Institute
for the Study of Journalism (2015). Digital News Report 2015.
News%20Report%202015.pdf (22.02.2016)
PN 283 Mediatization of Journalism: Comparing European Digital Mediascapes
Z. Peruško1, A. Čuvalo 1, D. Vozab1
1 University of Zagreb, Centre for Media and Communication Research, Zagreb, Croatia
This article explores patterns and sources of influence on professional practices of European journalists and the way they differ across different media
systems, in a multilevel, cross-national comparative research design. The research is more broadly framed within mediatization theory and aims to explore
the relationship of increased media logic in journalistic practices (Kammer, 2013, Kunelius, 2014) with specific digital mediascapes. Journalism is known
to be culturally specific in historical terms (Chalaby, 1996), and cross-country studies show differences in journalistic milieus in different political regimes
(Hanitzch, 2011). In this article, we posit that journalistic practices are influenced by the structural framework of the media system, in a similar fashion as
audience practices (Peruško, Vozab & Čuvalo, 2015). The institutional framework of media system is conceptualized with the model of digital mediascapes
that applied to 22 European Union countries produced three structural clusters/ media systems (Peruško et al, 2015).The digital mediascape concept defines
media systems in terms of the contemporary multimedia markets, globalization processes, cultural industry framework, as well as in relation to the level
of institutional inclusiveness (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012) i.e. democracy and freedom of expression. The data on journalistic values and practices are
from 30 west, central and east European countries included in the 2012–2015 WJS. Cluster analysis will be performed again to define digital mediascapes
clusters on the expanded number of countries, to match the country spread in the WJS, i.e. including more non-EU eastern European countries. Factor and
cluster analyses will be performed in order to show types and patterns of influences on journalistic practices. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis will be
performed to relate the individual level variables to the macro-level clusters of digital media systems. References: Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. 2012. Why
nations fail: The origins of power, prosperity, and poverty. New York, NY: Random House. Chalaby, Jean K. 1996. Journalism as and Anglo-American Inven‑