Tomsk Online News Journalism from the Perspective of Media Professionals

The article addresses how representatives of the Tomsk media community evaluate the development of Tomsk online news journalism, reflecting on their professional biographies and routine practices. The study is based on a fragment of the professional worldview. Through 14 semi-structured interviews, four groups of the online news journalism segment in the Tomsk media system were identified. The first two groups are the newspapers websites and news feeds on the websites of TV and radio companies. These media are assessed by the respondents as less competitive players on the Tomsk online news journalism market. The other two groups are the news agencies, and the online news portals and the urban online media. These media are the leaders of the segment, according to the experts interviewed. The findings reveal that over 30 years, there has been a qualitative shift from the first experiments with news items to professional news journalism in the sphere of online news media in Tomsk. In addition, during this period, many newsroom staff members have reconsidered their practices for handling news; and some media have shifted toward “big stories”.