Russian Journalists’ Work Structure

For citation: Vyrkovsky A.V., Vartanov S.A., Galkina M.Yu., Kolesnichenko A.V. et al. (2016) Struktura rabochego protsessa rossiyskogo zhurnalista [Russian Journalists’ Work Structure]. Mediaskop 2. Available at: http://www.mediascope.ru/?q=node/2105

© Andrey V. Vyrkovsky

PhD, Associate Professor at the Chair of Media Theory and Economics, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), a.v.vyrkovsky@gmail.com

© Sergey A. Vartanov

PhD (Physics and Mathematics), Senior Researcher at the Laboratory for Integrated Studies of Topical Issues of Journalism, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), sergvart@gmail.com

© Marina Yu. Galkina

PhD, Researcher at the Laboratory for Integrated Studies of Topical Issues of Journalism, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), Marina.galkina@mail.ru

© Aleksandr V. Kolesnichenko

PhD, Associate Professor at the Chair of Periodical Press, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), Apil-7@yandex.ru

© Anastasia Yu. Obraztsova

 Researcher at the Laboratory for Integrated Studies of Topical Issues of Journalism, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), Obraztsova.anastasia@gmail.com

Abstract

The article presents the results of the research of Russian journalists’ and editors’ work structure on the basis of the process approach. The authors have calculated the time expenditures on various processes and estimated the frequency of communication channels use.

The results reveal that the most time-consuming process in journalists’ daily work is texts writing, in the second and third positions there are sites viewing and media reading (acquisition and processing of secondary data). Visiting events takes the fourth position. According to the respondents, the total time spent in obtaining secondary data takes about 40% of the time, and it is comparable to the text writing time.

First-hand data obtaining time (calls, e-mails, visiting events, personal communication) takes up about a third of the working day. In general, personal communication and visiting events occupy about 6% and 13% of the time respectively. The results confirm that convergence and news technologies influence the correspondents’ work, though this impact is comparatively limited.

The research reveals that the most time-consuming process in editors’ work is text editing (nearly 30% of the time) and writing materials (about 15%). Other most widely used processes are "viewing sites for searching and gathering information", "viewing news feeds", "media reading " and "conversations with subordinates". About 10% in all.

The authors point out that the implementation of new epistemological technologies in newsrooms raises concerns about the survival of the oldest and the most valuable sources – non-mediated ones. The results confirm the assumption that newsroom work is highly individualized because of the dramatically different work patterns being used by correspondents and editors.

Keywords: newsrooms; correspondents; editors; processes; convergence; technologies; work structure; communication channels; epistemology.

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