Organizational and occupational innovation when implementing a Covid-19 live tracker in VG newsroom

Abstract

Academic research on whether and how innovation during crises results in durable changes in practice remains scant. The Covid-19 pandemic brought with it new opportunities to look at both innovation and transformations in news work during coverage of the breaking news or monster stories related to it. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews at three different times during the pandemic lock down year of 2021, we engaged with a core group (or “heavyweight team”) of editorial managers, digital managers, and an editor-in-chief to generate unique data on this topic. For this inquiry, we enjoyed unique access to the Schibsted-owned VG newsroom in Norway, which was already known for its innovative means of handling disruptive changes and improving practices and routines. Our findings related to VG's Covid-19 Live Tracker initiative in particular suggest that occupational and organizational discourses of professionalism work together to produce altered roles and tasks, empowered interdepartmental teams, and ultimately the trust of both the audience and the authorities.