Overview

"The content of news has not changed much over the last century--politicians, celebrities, wars, crime, and sports dominate past and present headlines. Yet, the ways in which journalists both gather and disseminate information have been turned on their head. Gone are the days of editors assigning stories to writers, who then research, inquire, and present what they found in a compelling yet accurate fashion. Today's journalists are coding, programming, running analytics, and developing apps. These ""news nerds"" are industry professionals working in jobs at the intersection of traditional journalism and technologically intensive positions that were once largely separate. Consequently, news nerds have changed the institutionalized view of journalism, which now accounts for these professionals. News Nerds explores how technological, economic, and societal changes are impacting the institutionalized profession of journalism. Allie Kosterich draws on a mixed-methods research design that blends interviews, social network analysis of LinkedIn data, job postings, and industry publications to make sense of how skills and practices become entrenched throughout the news industry. Taken together, these data reveal the ways in which the profession is evolving to incorporate new technological skillsets and new routines of production.In telling these stories and sharing these findings, Kosterich directly confronts what happens when new skillsets and new ways of understanding and producing news start to collide with the old routines of journalism. News Nerds introduces the notion of institutional augmentation--a process of institutional change that is not restricted to the expected binary outcome of the reinstitutionalization of something new or failure as a fleeting fad. Instead, as in the case of news nerds and journalism, there exists an alternative possibility in the coexistence of supplementary institutions. News Nerds provides a timely and relevant analysis of contemporary journalism and a model for understanding how industries react to the emergence of new career trajectories and new categories of employment."

Full Product Details

9780197500354

Table of Contents

Reviews

News nerds are the data journalists, news app developers, and web designers transforming how news stories are discovered and told. Allie Kosterich skillfully uses interviews, employment histories, trade press coverage, and conference proceedings to describe how these newsroom innovators have augmented reporting and changed accountability reporting for the better. If you've ever wondered who's behind the graphs, stats, and apps at news sites, this is the book that tells their tale. * James T. Hamilton, Hearst Professor of Communication, Stanford University * News Nerds is an ambitious and exciting book that reveals just how much the profile, roles, and skills of the professional journalist has fundamentally changed. Through an innovative mix of network career analysis, interviews, and analysis of the trade press, Allie Kosterich shows how news organizations have increasingly fashioned those wielding data, analytics, and technological skills into journalists creating new forms of journalism. Kosterich shows us how this has augmented the institution of journalism in the U.S., with sweeping implications for how the press navigates changing economic and technological contexts and its increasingly contested relationship with the public. * Daniel Kreiss, Edgar Thomas Cato Distinguished Professor, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media * News Nerds is an engagingly written and methodologically innovative analysis of an important ongoing transformation affecting the institution of journalism. Kosterich brings an incredibly impressive range of data sources and analytical approaches to bear to demonstrate how journalism has been restructuring itself in response to technological and economic change. This is institution-level scholarship of the highest order. * Philip M. Napoli, James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy and Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy, Duke University * The rise of the news nerd is not so much a story of the revenge of the nerds saving journalism through data but is instead a reminder that institutions and professions adapt to change, and change doesn't just happen when new technologies emerge. Kosterich develops the concept of institutional augmentation, moving beyond tired binaries of change outcomes in organizations, a theoretical contribution relevant to all industries that find themselves in the throes of technological upheaval. * Nikki Usher, author of News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism *

"News nerds are the data journalists, news app developers, and web designers transforming how news stories are discovered and told. Allie Kosterich skillfully uses interviews, employment histories, trade press coverage, and conference proceedings to describe how these newsroom innovators have augmented reporting and changed accountability reporting for the better. If you've ever wondered who's behind the graphs, stats, and apps at news sites, this is the book that tells their tale. * James T. Hamilton, Hearst Professor of Communication, Stanford University * News Nerds is an ambitious and exciting book that reveals just how much the profile, roles, and skills of the professional journalist has fundamentally changed. Through an innovative mix of network career analysis, interviews, and analysis of the trade press, Allie Kosterich shows how news organizations have increasingly fashioned those wielding data, analytics, and technological skills into journalists creating new forms of journalism. Kosterich shows us how this has augmented the institution of journalism in the U.S., with sweeping implications for how the press navigates changing economic and technological contexts and its increasingly contested relationship with the public. * Daniel Kreiss, Edgar Thomas Cato Distinguished Professor, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media * News Nerds is an engagingly written and methodologically innovative analysis of an important ongoing transformation affecting the institution of journalism. Kosterich brings an incredibly impressive range of data sources and analytical approaches to bear to demonstrate how journalism has been restructuring itself in response to technological and economic change. This is institution-level scholarship of the highest order. * Philip M. Napoli, James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy and Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy, Duke University * The rise of the news nerd is not so much a story of the revenge of the nerds saving journalism through data but is instead a reminder that institutions and professions adapt to change, and change doesn't just happen when new technologies emerge. Kosterich develops the concept of ""institutional augmentation,"" moving beyond tired binaries of change outcomes in organizations, a theoretical contribution relevant to all industries that find themselves in the throes of technological upheaval. * Nikki Usher, author of News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism * This book assesses the institutionalization of new types of editorial positions in US news organizations... The book is an excellent companion to Jason Whittaker's Tech Giants, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of Journalism. Recommended for higher education journalism, mass communication, and visual arts programs. * Choice *"

News nerds are the data journalists, news app developers, and web designers transforming how news stories are discovered and told. Allie Kosterich skillfully uses interviews, employment histories, trade press coverage, and conference proceedings to describe how these newsroom innovators have augmented reporting and changed accountability reporting for the better. If you've ever wondered who's behind the graphs, stats, and apps at news sites, this is the book that tells their tale. -- James T. Hamilton, Hearst Professor of Communication, Stanford University News Nerds is an ambitious and exciting book that reveals just how much the profile, roles, and skills of the professional journalist has fundamentally changed. Through an innovative mix of network career analysis, interviews, and analysis of the trade press, Allie Kosterich shows how news organizations have increasingly fashioned those wielding data, analytics, and technological skills into journalists creating new forms of journalism. Kosterich shows us how this has augmented the institution of journalism in the U.S., with sweeping implications for how the press navigates changing economic and technological contexts and its increasingly contested relationship with the public. -- Daniel Kreiss, Edgar Thomas Cato Distinguished Professor, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media News Nerds is an engagingly written and methodologically innovative analysis of an important ongoing transformation affecting the institution of journalism. Kosterich brings an incredibly impressive range of data sources and analytical approaches to bear to demonstrate how journalism has been restructuring itself in response to technological and economic change. This is institution-level scholarship of the highest order. -- Philip M. Napoli, James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy and Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy, Duke University The rise of the news nerd is not so much a story of the revenge of the nerds saving journalism through data but is instead a reminder that institutions and professions adapt to change, and change doesn't just happen when new technologies emerge. Kosterich develops the concept of institutional augmentation, moving beyond tired binaries of change outcomes in organizations, a theoretical contribution relevant to all industries that find themselves in the throes of technological upheaval. -- Nikki Usher, author of News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism

Author Information

Allie Kosterich is an Assistant Professor of Communications and Media Management at the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University, and a fellow with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. She researches transformation in media industries.

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