Developments in the newspaper industry from the 1970s to the 1990s provide important insights into the relationship between technological innovation and workplace reorganisation. The analysis presented in this book of the negotiations, disputes and agreements that have been reached at newspapers around the world has illustrated the need to examine not just die workplace itself but the societal context in which workplace reorganisation takes place. By focusing on a company such as News Corporation it also becomes evident that part of this societal context concerns die development of global investment of capital in technological innovation.

The Workplace

The comparative national and global perspective adopted in this study has revealed body similarities and variations in the processes and outcomes of negotiation over technology and workplace reorganisation. All of die newspapers analysed have undertaken extensive programs of technological innovation and workplace reorganisation since 1970, and similar technologies were introduced in each instance. The fundamental technological shift involved die introduction of computerised pre-press production systems to replace hot metal techniques, while there were also computer-related developments in press production systems. Wherever such systems were introduced, a modification in die skills required in die newspaper industry occurred, and the possibility existed of challenging pre-existing craft specialisation and job demarcations. Fundamental differences emerged between sites in their response to such challenges, however, and these differences were related to die processes and outcomes of negotiation between actors in the workplace over innovation.