The convergence of newsrooms in Bolivia: the continuity of print culture

Abstract

Previous studies on the impact of technology on journalism tend to conclude that it has left behind traditional practices, norms and values. Others, focused on journalistic convergence, tend to approach it as a management process, developing ideal models of editorial integration. This article examines the nuances of the development of newsroom convergence in Bolivian press, particularly in the newspapers La Razón and Página Siete. Under a qualitative methodological approach, convergence was investigated based on a variety of factors (the news routines, the institutional policy and the perception of journalists). The results suggest that although the digitalization of communication platforms has involved changes for journalists and their work, the logic of traditional journalism, anchored in the printed form, still persists in convergent environments. In addition, we find that convergence develops, not as integration, but as an occasional cooperation of newsrooms in terms of data exchange and mutual information alerts. This process is a struggle between two different journalistic cultures, one seeking to impose itself and remain in force above the other. Thus, the research allows us to demystify those theoretical currents that point to the rupture of traditional journalistic practice as a generalized phenomenon, motivated by technological development.