Diffusing Digital Innovations in Journalism: A Thematic Synthesis of Internet-Based Publishing, Mobile Journalism, and AI

Abstract

Digital technologies have transformed contemporary journalism by reshaping newsroom routines, professional roles, and audience relations. Although scholarship has examined internet-based publishing, mobile journalism (MOJO), and artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism, these developments are often treated separately, limiting understanding of how adoption unfolds unevenly across journalists and media organizations. Guided by Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory, this article conducts a literature-based thematic synthesis of research published between 2005 and 2025 (n = 45) to explain patterns of adoption and their professional consequences. The synthesis shows that digital tools diffuse primarily due to perceived relative advantage (speed, reach, efficiency, and connectivity), but adoption is constrained by complexity (skills demands and workflow disruption) and compatibility tensions with core journalistic norms such as verification, accountability, and editorial judgment. Across the three technology clusters, internet-based journalism expands participation and engagement while intensifying speed–verification pressures and blurring professional boundaries; MOJO enhances field flexibility and real-time reporting but increases time pressure and multi-skilling demands; and AI enables data-driven reporting and automation yet raises heightened concerns regarding transparency, synthetic media risks, and labor displacement. Cross-cutting findings highlight misinformation and trust volatility as both consequences of rapid diffusion and constraints shaping institutionalization over time. By integrating these strands through a diffusion framework, the article clarifies how and why digital transformation becomes normalized unevenly in newsroom practice and outlines implications for responsible adoption, particularly in fragile and resource-constrained media environments.