Participatory Journalism: Guarding the Internet’s Open Gates, a new book authored by UBC journalism professor Alfred Hermida and other leading new media scholars, offers insights into the changing relationship between journalists and the public.
The book provides a first-hand look at the workings and challenges of online journalism on a global scale, examining how news organizations are handling comments on stories, user-generated content and citizen journalism.
Prof Hermida and his co-authors suggest that journalists see the audience as “active recipients” of the news. Citizens are expected to act when news happens, by taking a photo or emailing in a news tip, and then react by commenting.
Users are seen as idea generators and providers of story tips at the start of the journalistic process and then in an interpretive role as commentators who reflect upon the material that has been produced by the journalist.
The crucial and central processes of deciding what news is, and how to cover and present it, remains almost entirely under the journalist’s control.
Published by Wiley-Blackwell, Participatory Journalism is based on a collaborative research project by a team of journalism scholars from Europe, North America and Israel.
It provides insights into how journalists at websites affiliated with leading national newspapers in 10 Western democracies, including Canada, are thinking about, and dealing with, the inclusion of content produced and published by the people once viewed simply as the audience.
The data for the book is drawn from in-depth interviews with more than 60 news professionals, with each chapter presenting the views of journalists in the 10 countries, highlighting both similarities and differences, both national and individual.
The book is aimed at academics, journalists, policy makers and consumers of news who want to gain a greater understanding of digital news.
Participatory Journalism: Guarding Open Gates at Online Newspapers by Jane B. Singer, Alfred Hermida, David Domingo, Ari Heinonen, Steve Paulussen, Thorsten Quandt, Zvi Reich, Marina Vujnovic, is out now.
