Autonomy in Local Digital News: An Exploration of Organizational and Moral Psychology Factors

ABSTRACTThis mixed-methods study examines autonomy and shifts in the evolving digital news industry. Autonomous agency of news workers is an essential indicator of how journalism work is fulfilling its role as the Fourth Estate in American democracy. This work responds to calls in media ethics, media sociology and moral ecology to better understand how organizational structure and individual moral psychology factors influence the levels at which digital news workers exhibit autonomy within their digital news organizations. Using participant observation, a unique survey and respondent interviewing, I worked for one year with a digitally native hyper-local news organization to examine how organizational structure, leadership, socialization, and individual factors influenced autonomy levels in the staff. Results found overall high levels of autonomy in the editorial staff, but with many constraints such as financial pressures, perceived lack of time, a high pressure to perform multiple jobs and duties outside of the scope of typical legacy journalism job descriptions. AcknowledgmentsThis article is based on my dissertation work at Colorado State University, and I would like to thank my advising team for their expert guidance: Dr. Ashley Anderson, Dr. Patrick Plaisance, Dr. Katie Abrams, Dr. Bernie Rollin and Dr. Elizabeth Tropman.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the author upon reasonable request.Additional informationFundingI received a generous grant from the Don W. Davis Program in Ethical Leadership from the Bellisario College of Communications at Pennsylvania State University to enable my travel to work with one digital hyper-local news organization, The Golden Gate (the name has been changed to protect the employees and the organization).