Fluid institutional logics in digital journalism

Abstract

The negotiation of competing institutional logics is relevant for organisations active in multi-institutional domains. News organisations are active in the domains of democracy and business, and, through digitisation, they are active in the digital technology domain. This article describes how journalism negotiates competing logics of these domains, i.e. professional, market, managerial, and technology (tech) logics. Analysing n = 744 individual NiemanLab Predictions for Journalism from 2014 to 2019, findings indicate that journalism aggregates and integrates competing logics in a fluid way, keeping synergies across logics and plurality of logics high. The field of journalism is shaped by the competition of four logics: While tech logics induce changes in professional, market, and managerial logics, professional logics remain the dominant moral compass for journalists.