The role of serendipity in the story ideation process of print media journalists
| Published date | 09 September 2019 |
| Date | 09 September 2019 |
| Pages | 995-1012 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-11-2018-0186 |
| Author | Matthew Bird-Meyer,Sanda Erdelez,Jenny Bossaller |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
The role of serendipity in the
story ideation process of print
media journalists
Matthew Bird-Meyer
School of Information Science and Learning Technologies,
University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
Sanda Erdelez
School of Library and Information Science,
Simmons University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and
Jenny Bossaller
School of Information Science and Learning Technologies,
University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to build upon the studies o f journalism from an LIS perspectiv e by
exploring and differe ntiating the purposive behavior of newspaper r eporters from their se rendipitous
encounters with infor mation that lead to new st ory ideas. This paper als o provides a path toward
pedagogical improvem ents in training the mod ern journalism workf orce in being more open to creat ive
story ideas.
Design/methodology/approach –This study utilized semi-structured telephone interviews. Participants
were recruited via e-mail after collecting contact information through the Cision database. The study sample
was drawn from newspaper reporters who work at or freelance for the top 25 metropolitan newspapers in the
USA, in terms of circulation size, based on data from the Alliance for Audited Media. A total of 15 participants
were interviewed.
Findings –This paper provides insight into the story ideation process of journalists in that the study
participants generally do not think about how they are coming up with story ideas as much as they are
striving to place themselves in situations where, based on their experience and interests, they know they are
more likely to encounter a good idea. Each encounter proved meaningful in some powerful fashion, which
speaks to the historical importance of serendipity in achieving breakthroughs and discoveries in a wide
variety of fields.
Research limitations/implications –The sampling frame for this study was relatively small,
representing 8 percent of the total number of working newspaper journalists from the top 25 newspapers in
the USA, in terms of circulation size. Therefore, the findings are not generalizable to the entire population of
journalists in this country.
Practical implications –The findings point to the importance o f a prepared mind in facil itating
serendipitous episodes. In the case of journalism, that means developing a heightened news
sense and cultivating routines where they place themselves in trigger-rich environments.
Pedagogically, journa lism education must inclu de courses in creative stor ytelling to help train the
modern newspaper workf orce in an ever-expandi ng and competitive med ia landscape. These cou rses,
ideally paired with techniques and models from the field of information science and learningtechnologies,
could help train young journ alists in methods that enhan ce their ability to identif y, seek and pursue
serendipitous stories .
Originality/value –This paper fulfills a nee d in journalism studies in finding varia bility in news
routines by utilizing an inter disciplinary approac h that combines journalism st udies and library
and information scie nce models to probe how jo urnalists encounter ideas incidentally. Previous
research in this area has fo cused on how news consumer s serendipitously enc ounter information.
This paper takes a fresh appr oach to explore how crea tive ideas are encountere d serendipitously in t he
construction of news.
Keywords Newspapers, Written communications, Information Science,
Generation and dissemination of information, Research, Social sciences
Paper type Research paper
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 75 No. 5, 2019
pp. 995-1012
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-11-2018-0186
Received 13 November 2018
Revised 16 May 2019
Accepted 17 May 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
995
Print media
journalists
Introduction
The study of serendipity in the field of journalism is a relatively novel endeavor, especially
from an interdisciplinary perspective that incorporates models and theories from the areas
of library and information science and journalism. This type of pursuit is timely as
information science researchers in the past have mostly focused on active, specific and
direct searching. For the past 25 years, the study of information behavior has seen a
growing trend in nonlinear, opportunistic discovery of information as our modern digital
environment inspires a shift from focusing on information searching and seeking to how we
are exposed to information (Agarwal, 2015; Foster and Ellis, 2014; Savolainen, 2016).
Research into the phenomenon of serendipity in the field of human information behavior
is well established (Agarwal, 2015; Erdelez, 2004; Makri and Blandford, 2012a, b; McBirnie,
2008; McCay‐Peet and Toms, 2015). There is interest in the exploration of serendipity in
journalism, primarily in how news readers encounter information (Yadamsuren and Erdelez,
2010; Van Damme et al., 2014). However, Malmelin and Virta (2017) searched the journalism
literature and found that serendipity has not been systematically researched in the area of
journalism and media work, inspiring them to study how serendipity affects the story
ideation process of journalists at a single magazine.
Serendipitous information acquisition is particularly important for journalists as this
phenomenon helps lead to unique story ideas, interesting angles or sources of information
that help solve certain problems. These serendipitous ideas can lead to award-winning
stories or stories that help shape legislation or contribute to a deeper understanding
of society.
This paper builds upon the studies of journalism from an LIS perspective by exploring
and differentiating the purposive behavior of newspaper reporters from their serendipitous
encounters with information that lead to new story ideas. Soloski (1989) said in order to fully
understand the story ideation process, it is important to examine news professionalism in
terms of how news organizations affect the behavior of reporters and editors. Information
science is the primary field with the theories and models to capture this shift in focus from
purposeful searching to encountering and bumping into information serendipitously.
Literature review
As an interdisciplinary study, the literature in the field of journalism was reviewed along
with the literature in library and information science. The literature from journalism focuses
on the story ideation process of journalists, the reporting routines of journalists, and the
sociology of news. The LIS literature covers information needs, information seeking,
serendipity and opportunistic discovery of information. Together, this body of literature
traces a complementary trajectory whereas information scientists are increasingly exploring
the role serendipity plays in a wide range of disciplines and situations, and journalism
scholars are exploring variations in routine news reporting behaviors.
Construct of story ideation
The work of Tuchman (1978) and Molotch and Lester (1999) laid the foundation for the
assumption that journalistic routines do not vary among media organizations or journalists.
This assumption was strengthened by Eliasoph (1988), Cook 1998, Oliver and Maney (2000)
and Ryfe (2006). Vlad and Becker (2009) argue that the lack of variability in news routines
limits the value of this concept in news construction research. To find value in probing
deeper into the processes of news construction, “The researcher needs to find situations
where the routines are not followed or in some other way are altered in order to understand
why the routines are not followed or differ and to understand the consequences of the
routines”(p. 63).
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