Diffusion of innovations in digital journalism: Technology, roles, and gender in modern newsrooms

Abstract

This study examined journalists’ use of technology, their gender identity, and how they rate themselves as adopters of innovations. Through the lens of diffusion of innovations, this study conducted telephone interviews with 68 U.S.-based digital journalists and applied an explanatory mixed-method research design in order to examine journalists’ adoption of digital journalism technologies. Men and women did not significantly differ in their uses of most technologies and shared equivalence in terms of adoption ratings; however, men did use DSLR and video cameras more than women, while women used nonlinear video editing software significantly more than men. In addition, while men felt significantly less supported by their employers to learn new innovations, this did not lessen their self-evaluation as adopters of innovations. Men also showed significantly more personal agency in choosing stories to cover.