Journalism Innovation Labs 2.0 in Media Organisations: A Motor for Transformation and Constant Learning

Abstract

Media organisations and their newsrooms are not structurally equipped to adapt to the dynamic transformation that is increasingly demanded of them. To change this, ten years ago, growing numbers of media organisations began founding journalism innovation labs within their operations. More recently, a new generation of innovation lab has come about that builds on the experiences of the first labs. This paper examines—on the basis of organisational culture and innovation culture as theoretical framework—how journalism innovation labs 2.0 in media organisations are organised and which learnings the lab members have made compared with the pioneers of the first generation. The explorative study focused on five labs in Germany. In some phases of the innovation process the new labs benefited from the pioneering work of the predecessor labs. However, changes in the lab organisation became apparent. A developmental leap is reflected in the manifold efforts of the lab employees not to stay in their laboratory environment but instead to act as an innovation motor for the transformation of their media organisation by knowledge transfer, sharing of new ideas and approaches through advanced training, comprehensive and transparent innovation communication, agile project accompaniment, and personnel rotation. The innovation labs 2.0 apply a process of constant learning and dynamic change.

Keywords

• journalism innovation labs
• newsroom innovation
• media innovation
• innovation culture
• newsroom management
• journalism transformation