Although the term newsroom is still embraced by the media industry, it’s slowly being replaced by the converged environment, and the shift is as much about space as it is about linguistics.
As a realm that shapes activity, the converged environment—a byproduct of the media convergence phenomenon—is a charged, open and integrated space that enables workflows tailored to today’s media drivers: mobile platforms, social media, video, niche fan bases in lieu of mass audiences, data as a driver of decision making, Twitter as a vehicle for breaking news, and apps as a source of specialized content. In essence, the converged environment is a live-streaming workplace, a zone where news and content flow continuously and speed to market is everything.
Because the forces shaping the converged environment have become drivers within the span of just a few years, the standard news media environment (and, by extension, the standard news media operational model) has struggled to respond accordingly. Only recently have we seen spatial responses tailored to support the workflows inherent to a converged environment.