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Convergence

Convergence is the merging or melding of media, for example, the merging of newspapers, radio, and television on the web, and the creation of multiple versions of a story for different media. There are many dimensions to convergence, including business consolidation, technology integration, functional convergence of news services, audience fragmentation, geographic convergence and changes in government regulations that make convergence possible. Convergence is a once popular buzzword that has fallen out of favor, and returned to popularity again because, while the term may have been overused, it captures a process that has been underway for some time, with significant implications for journalism. It is a response to both rapid changes in technology and shifting consumer behavior. Some scholars view convergence as inevitable (a result of the changing media environment); others view it with alarm, arguing that it is driven primarily by the profit motivations of large media conglomerates. For students of journalism, convergence has implications for the training they need, how they will produce news in the future and how they perceive news distribution in a multiplatform media landscape.

A Timeline for Convergence

Media convergence has been underway for decades. Some trace its origins to the convergence of computers and telecommunications in the 1970s. Satellite technology in the 1970s and 1980s also fostered convergence. One example is cable news channels such as CNN that merged television news with a dedicated cable channel and satellite distribution. Starting in 1982, USA Today began merging a newspaper with a television news style of colorful, graphically intense, concise stories and distributing the paper via satellite to local printing plants. By the early 1990s, many in the newspaper industry recognized a need to redesign content for multiple media to satisfy different customer needs (Tewlow 1993).

Everette Dennis (2003) identifies four stages of convergence. The first was an awakening of recognition in the 1980s that computing was becoming a core component for many media industries. Second, the Internet became a practical tool for millions of households starting in the mid-1990s. The third stage, in the late 1990s, was an uncritical acceptance of the web as a dominant new medium that was predicted to take over traditional media industries. A fourth stage, in the early 2000s, was the seeming failure of that model and a renewed confidence in older business models for media. Convergence as a concept made a comeback a few years later, admittedly with a more conservative and realistic perspective about future media trends. Journalism research centers such as the Poynter Institute and the Media Center at the American Press Institute began to track convergence and provide analysis of its impacts.

The Many Dimensions of Convergence

Business consolidation is one cornerstone of convergence that has been underway for some time. Consolidation of media properties began with the formation of large chains of newspapers and groups of TV and radio stations under the ownership of a single company during the second half of the twentieth century. It picked up speed in the 1990s and the first decade of the twenty-first century as very large media conglomerates were formed, as with the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications into Time Warner. Media conglomerates typically control a number of subdivisions operating across multiple media platforms, such as newspapers, television stations, magazines, and websites. Business consolidation has required that companies seek efficiencies across their media properties. At one extreme, this usually means personnel layoffs. But it can also involve newspaper reporters writing stories for the company's websites and television news operations. A variation of this process is when a story written specifically for one medium is adapted or “repurposed” for another medium, perhaps by others. On the business side, a sales person may sell advertising for all of the company's media holdings. Facilities may be consolidated, so newspaper personnel may work side by side with those of a television station and website. With modern telecommunication links such as fiber optics, companies can create virtual staff consolidation where people at different locations can share resources as if they were in the same space.

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