In 2019 John Mills (University of Central Lancashire, UK), Ana Cecilia B. Nunes (PURCS-Brazil), Eduardo Campos Pellanda (PUCRS-Brazil) and João Canavilhas (University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal) were awarded the emma Research Grant. For their research project:
Innovating Journalism Structures and Processes: Media Labs, Innovation Teams, methods and beyond” (2019-2020)
This collaborative research project for international research teams in the field of quality journalism was funded by emma with 5000 Euros.
In 2020, Ana Nunes and John Mills discussed an update of their research project including a presentation of the most important insights during an #emmatalk.
Adopting a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative perspectives, the team reviewed previous research projects, designed and conducted workshops with journalism innovators and media lab leaders, developed a set of 68 innovation cards, interviewed five funders and 14 news media practitioners and consultants, all to explore a central theme for the news innovation.
More than presenting these data, the three-year investigation resulted in:
- a 6-stage maturity model for news innovation to assess, manage and cultivate innovation: a new tool based on factors such as actors involved & leadership, strategy, innovation perception & culture, process and performance management.
- a workshop methodology to envision journalism innovation structures: with a digital template for virtual facilitation and instructions along with cards for face-to-face experiences, released to the community.
- a news innovation website: with methods pack, resources, papers published, research project history and findings, along with additional materials.
- a range of academic and industry publications: over the course of the project, we have published in Journals, and books, speaking at conferences, embedded our findings in undergraduate and post-graduate curricula, produced industry reports and submitted evidence to a UK Parliamentary enquiry into the future of journalism. By exploring innovation methods, processes and roles within news media organizations across Europe and Latin America, the team considered the wider ecosystem, investigating a sample of media innovation funders to better understand their role approaches and impact.
Now the full results are available in a research report here.