근로시간 단축이 취재와 뉴스를 어떻게 바꿔 놓았는가? : 주 52시간제 도입에 따른 취재관행과 뉴스생산에 대한 기자 인식을 중심으로

This study was conducted to examine how the institutional change in working hours of “52 hours a week” affects the news production process of media organizations. In particular, this study conducted in-depth interviews with reporters working for daily newspapers, broadcasting companies, and news agency to find out how the reduction of working hours has changed the news production process. The analysis results are as follows. Reporters responded that the coverage time was shortened, the number of contact with beat sources decreased, and that the traditional way of reporting, through face-to-face contact, decreased. In addition, reporters responded that gate-keeping process is getting loose within the organization, coverage and editorial meetings have been decreased., and information sharing and teamwork are weakening. Reporters were concerned about their social function as a watchdog as “field coverage” was neglected due to working hours restrictions. We discussed how working time variable has brought about the changes to the Korean journalism ecosystem with the perspective of reporter access and observation, selection and filtering of facts, and editing and distribution.