Cyberfactories

Book excerpt: ÔOnly the polyglott Barbara Czarniawska, a keen ethnographer of organizations, could give us a picture of the production of news in the age of digital reproduction. By a close description of the process through which news agencies elaborate this exquisitely complex product Ð the piece of news Ð she manages to give us a realistic interpretation of what technology and globalization do to journalism. Far from indicating the end of the trade and the dissolution of its credibility, her careful and witty account shows the many ways in which authority of information may be regained. Walter Lippmann would have loved this book.Õ Ð Bruno Latour, Sciences Po Paris, France ÔTT, Ansa, Reuters are not intermediaries that transfer information to their clients, rather they are producers of the news. . . or better, in this book, they are fac(s)tories. This passionate journey into the management of overflow of news input and output starts with the question: when a flow is an overflow? How do people daily survive such overflow? Read the book and discover how the answer is simpler than expected!Õ Ð Silvia Gherardi, University of Trento, Italy Have you ever wondered how organizations decide which news is important? This insightful book portrays in detail everyday work in three news agencies: Swedish TT, Italian ANSA and the worldwide Reuters. This unique study is about organizing rather than journalism, revealing two accelerating phenomena: cybernization (machines play a more and more central role in news production) and cyborgization (people rely more and more on machines). Barbara Czarniawska reveals that technological developments lead to many unexpected consequences and complications. Cyberfactories will prove essential to researchers interested in contemporary forms of organizing, studies of technology, and media. It will also appeal to a lay reader interested in how news is produced.