Conglomeration, Digital Disruption, and COVID-19: Upheaval-Driven Changes to the Roles of U.S. Local Television News Directors

Authors

Suzanne Lysak, Chapman UniversityFollow
Keren Henderson, Syracuse University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-18-2024

Abstract

This mixed methods study analyzes how broadcast news directors renegotiate their roles under organizational and cultural times of change. Even before COVID-19, local television news directors, one of the two predominant groups of journalism managers in the United States, were experiencing shifts in roles related to their growing work responsibilities. These changes were the result of long-term workplace upheavals including conglomeration and digital disruption. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, news directors found themselves managing through this additional, short-term upheaval. The authors of this study sought to discover how industry upheavals impact broadcast newsroom management roles.

Comments

This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Electronic News, volume 19, issue 1, in 2024 following peer review. This article may not exactly replicate the final published version. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1177/19312431241293468

This scholarship is part of the Chapman University COVID-19 Archives.

Recommended Citation

Lysak, S., & Henderson, K. (2024). Conglomeration, Digital Disruption, and COVID-19: Upheaval-Driven Changes to the Roles of U.S. Local Television News Directors. Electronic News, 19(1), 41-63. https://doi.org/10.1177/19312431241293468

Copyright

The authors