What is the role of journalism in social innovation? asks Taneli Heikka, of University of Jyväskylä. The doctoral thesis analyzes four cases of journalism-related social innovation in the USA and Finland.

The researcher argues that journalism is increasingly required to operate in flexible roles in networks of social innovation. However, innovations that affect journalistic work often emerge from outside the newsrooms.

The study criticises the professional journalism’s ideology of objectivity: in this era journalistic work requires openness to professional and personal change. The author suggests that professional journalists could also seek to contribute to journalism-related innovations in collaboration with the civil society.

The thesis is titled “Dialogic Journalism: How Can Journalists Participate in the Networks of Social Innovation” and it can be found here.

Picture: TechChill17_KL-30 by Krists Luhaers, licence: CC BY 2.0