A doctoral dissertation titled “The Dynamics of Digital Content Production in Smart Newsrooms and Its Relationship to Staff Performance and Participant Engagement: A Survey Study of the Iraqi News Agency, Middle East News Agency, and Agence France-Presse” was discussed at the College of Mass Communication, University of Baghdad. The dissertation was submitted by Khalid Jabbar Abbas, a researcher in the Department of Digital Journalism.
The discussion committee was chaired by Professor Dr. Hussein Ali Noor, with Professor Dr. Siham Hassan as supervisor. Its members included Professor Dr. Azhar Subaih Ghantab, Professor Dr. Huda Fadhil Abbas, and Assistant Professor Dr. Bayraq Hussein Juma, as well as Professor Dr. Taha Abdel Ati as an external member.
The study aimed to examine the relationship between staff performance, participant engagement, and the dynamics of digital content production in newsrooms. Its key objectives included assessing the readiness of digital infrastructure at news agencies, measuring the impact of digital tools on the dynamics and speed of news production, evaluating staff satisfaction with the newsroom work environment, and identifying the main challenges hindering the development of staff performance and content production.
The study recommended developing a comprehensive digital transformation strategy for the Iraqi News Agency and Middle East News Agency to transition toward smart newsrooms. It also called for diversifying digital content through the production of interactive formats, developing specialized training programs for news agency staff, and upgrading the websites of both agencies in line with modern engagement indicators. These measures would help integrate audiences into the media production process through the adoption of a participatory model.
The researcher reached several findings, most notably a statistically significant correlation between staff performance and the dynamics of digital content production, as well as a moderately strong correlation between participant engagement and the dynamics of digital content production in newsrooms.
