Current Study: Newsroom in the Home Office

BERN, Switzerland and VIENNA, Austria, May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In the current study "Newsroom in the home office", Austrian journalist and media manager Marcus Hebein examines how the major daily media houses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are coping with the immense impact of the health crisis and draws a picture of the future of newsrooms in Europe's largest media market.  53 representatives - editors-in-chief, managing directors and members of staff representatives - from 36 of the most important and largest editorial departments took part in the study.

Subject:

Just over 20 years ago, media companies began tearing down walls in their editorial departments. Almost all of them have since built newsrooms and placed their journalists side by side in open, large spaces.

Then the big upheaval came. Since March 2020, the newsrooms have been empty. From one day to the next, thousands of workplaces in Germany, Austria and Switzerland suddenly stopped booting up their computers for months. But production was still running at full speed.

The current study examines the impact of Corona on newsrooms of the largest media houses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and shows what "New Work" means for the future of editorial departments.

Excerpt from the main results:

• At least one third of employees in editorial departments will regularly work from home in the future. Previously, home office was practically non-existent as a regular working.
• Newsrooms are getting smaller.
• More and new job profiles will move into newsrooms and work there alongside journalists.
• The infrastructure will change.
• Media companies will have to actively address the issue of "New Work" in order to positively support their brand and image - and to remain attractive on the labor market.
• Video conferences divide editorial teams.
• In addition, the study examines the question of what continues to speak in favor of the newsroom and which groups are among the strongest proponents of home offices. The study also shows why internal communication will be one of the decisive factors in making newsrooms successful in the future.

And what do you miss most after a year in the home office? It's the coffee chat, the informal communication. It was the clearest result of more than 60 questions. Almost all editors-in-chief and members of employee representatives miss - in rare consensus - the short talk in the newsroom.

Key data on the study:
For the study, a quantitative survey was conducted between February and March 2021. 53 top representatives from 36 editorial departments in Germany, Austria and Switzerland took. The following media houses took part, among others: SZ Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit, Bild Zeitung, NZZ Neue Züricher Zeitung, Blick, Die Presse, Kurier, public service broadcasters, major news agencies.

The author:
Marcus Hebein is an Austrian journalist and media manager. As head of the editorial department of the Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA, he completed the integration of the news agency's new newsroom in Bern. Before that, he was deputy editor-in-chief at the Austrian news agency APA - Austria Presse Agentur in Vienna for many years. As an editorial manager, Hebein has visited the newsrooms of the major media houses in almost all European countries. He currently advises international editorial departments and companies.

The study can be obtained free of charge for editorial use, provided the author is acknowledged. For other use the study can be obtained at a price of 490,- Euro  (pdf, 43 pages).

Contact: Marcus Hebein, [email protected]/ +41 79 511 73 51

SOURCE Marcus Hebein