Doctoral student Allie Kosterich and Dr. Matthew Weber are leading the research initiative to examine the transformation of the news media industry in reaction to the development of digital communication technologies. Specifically, this includes a large-scale longitudinal study examining strategies employed by media organizations for disseminating news and information in online networks. In addition, this initiative is working toward a systemic analysis of the challenges facing modern news organizations as newsrooms adapt to increasing complexity in the digital news landscape by examining the changing composition of newsroom workforce employment histories, educational backgrounds, and skill sets. Other topics of interest under this initiative include the examination of the generative mechanisms that help drive growth of news media startup organizations and of the communicative actions that help establish legitimacy for news media mobile applications.