The Research - Foreword

This research starts from the distinction between “incremental” and “disruptive innovation”, the latter being a kind of innovation that is in complete discontinuity to what happened previously. The aim of the research is to study and define which factors cause a disruptive innovation and wheter there is a model that can be successfully adopted in news media.
News media have a controversial approach to innovation. In fact editorial companies tend to establish and perpetuate the distinctive aspects of their business: editorial formats, operating routines, decision processes. The introduction of new technologies is often the Troyan horse that facilitates the adoption/implementation of more radical structural changes within the companies, their organization and hyerarchy. An example is the introduction of new design format in the daily press: most of the times the new format give to the publisher the opportunity to transform the editorial process and reassess the organizational structure of the newspaper.
Generally speaking news media appear very resistant to innovate products, formats, organizational structure and processes, unless they are compelled to change by external factors (i.e. competition). The relatively few examples of authentic disruptive innovations developed in the news media sector (CNN in the late 80s, the surge of online media, etc) confirm this assertion.