Both sides of the story:Assessing audience participation in journalism through the concepts of inclusion level and inclusion distance

Wiebke Loosen & Jan-Hinrik Schmidt@jpub20team

Future of Journalism Conference | Cardiff| September 13th, 2013

Source: Loosen & Schmidt 2012: 874

Audience participation in journalism

AudienceInclusion performance

Inclusion expectations

Inclusion performanceFeatures f. audience participation

Work process/routines

Journalistic output/products

Inclusion expectationsJournalistic role conception

Images of the audience

Strategic rationales

Journalists

Participatory practices

Degree of community orientation

Motivations for participation

Expectations concerning impact/influence of audience participation on journalism

Inclusion distance

Inclusion level

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Study design: four case studies

• Focus here: Comparison between 1st and 2nd case study: Tagesschau (newscast) and political talk show based on the survey data

TV PrintInformation oriented daily newscast daily newspaper

Debate oriented weekly political talk show weekly newspaper

• Multi method design: in-depth interviews (newsroom staff, audience members), surveys (newsroom staff, users of the website), content analysis of user-generated content/comments

Case Study Respondents Sample size Field time survey

Daily TV Newscast

Editorial department members 63 (of 130) 06/07 2012

Online users 4.686 08/09 2012

Weekly TV Talk Show

Editorial department members 10 (of 20) 07/08 2012

Online users 354 11 2012 - 01 2013

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Operationalization of inclusion expectations (surveys)

AudienceInclusion performanceInclusion performance

(Expected) inclusion expectations

Journalists

Inclusion level

Inclusion distance

Inclusion level

(Expected) inclusion expectations

Assumed importance of participatory functions

Importance of participatory functions

Self image of journalistic role External image of journalistic role

Assumed motivations Motivations for participation

General assessment of part.:• Strategic rationales• Impact on journalism

General assessment of part.:• Strategic rationales• Impact on journalism

Source: Loosen & Schmidt 2012: 8744 of 12

Comparative logic in the research project

Case study 1: newscast

Case study 2: talk show

Audience expectations Inclusion distance Journalists

expectations

Audience expectations

Inclusion distance

Journalists expectations

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ExampleJournalistic role conception: self-image and external image (Newscast)

1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 51

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

3.38

4.8

2.11

3.23

4.68

2.41

4.24

1.84

32.75

3.053.28

4.32 4.24

3.16

2.89

2.45

3.152.94

Journalists (n= 60-63)

Audi

ence

(n=

4.57

0-4.

636)

1. show new trends and highlight new ideas2. inform objectively and precisely as possible3. provide entertainment and relaxation4. give the audience topics to talk about5. explain and convey complex issues *6. provide audience with opportunity to maintain

ties among themselves *7. point to interesting topics and further

information **8. provide useful information for the audience and

act as advisor / guidance9. encourage/moderate discussion among

audience *10. build/maintain relationship to audience *11. share positive ideals *12. control politics, business and society *13. criticize problems and grievances ***14. inform the audience as fast as possible ***15. give audience opportunity to express opinion

on topics of public interest **16. concentrate on news that is interesting to an

audience as wide as possible ***17. provide people with opportunity to publish their

own content ***18. get into conversation about current events ***19. present my/their own opinion(s) to the

audience/to the public ***

Means based on a 5-point-Likert-scale with 1=”disagree completely” to 5=”agree completely”; 6=”don’t know/can’t say” (excluded for calculation of mean) // *** p < .001 ** p < .01 * p < .05 (T-Tests; Levene-Test for homogeneity of variance).

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Comparative logic in the research project

Case study 1: newscast

Case study 2: talk show

Audience expectations

Inclusion distance Journalists expectations

Audience expectations Comparing Audiences

Inclusion distance

Journalists expectations Comparing

Journalists

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ExampleMotivation for participation via mail to the editors (Newscast & talk show)

Means based on a 5-point-Likert-scale with 1=”disagree completely” to 5=”agree completely”; 6=”don’t know/can’t say” (excluded for calculation of mean) // *** p < .001 ** p < .01 * p < .05 (T-Tests; Levene-Test for homogeneity of variance).

1. To expand my own knowledge by interacting with journalists and other viewers/users

2. To feel included in a community3. Out of boredom4. To propose a topic that is important

to me5. To share my knowledge and

experiences6. To support and advocate a certain

concern, event or group7. To find help with a problem8. To leave the passive viewer’s role9. For self-expression and self-display10. To fulfill my civic obligations11. To build a relationship with the

editors *12. To assist the journalists in their work13. To vent anger and frustration14. To state my opinion publicly *15. To point out errors in news stories **

1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 51

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

3.38

2.86

1.42

4.08

3.153.26

2.44

3.82

2.39

3.39

2.01

2.96

2.61

3.85

2.87

Newscast User (n= 35-38)

Talk

show

Use

r (n=

68-

73)

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Comparative logic in the research project

Case study 1: newscast

Case study 2: talk show

Audience expectations

Inclusion distance Journalists expectations

Audience expectations

Inclusion distance Differences in Inclusion Distance

Journalists expectations

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ExampleDifferences in inclusion distance regarding self-image and external image

-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2-2

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

-0.06-0.02

-0.34-0.45

-0.65-0.6 -0.53-0.43

-0.64

-0.93

-0.030.03

-0.21-0.32

0.310.37

-0.77

-0.11

-0.97

Distance newscast

Dist

ance

talk

show

1. inform as objectively and precisely as possible

2. show new trends and highlight new ideas3. encourage/moderate discussion among

audience4. build/maintain relationship to audience5. get into conversation about current events6. provide people with opportunity to publish

their own content7. convey positive ideals8. give audience opportunity to express

opinion on topics of public interest9. criticize problems and grievances10. present my/their own opinion(s) to the

audience/to the public11. provide useful information for the audience

and act as advisor / guidance12. point to interesting topics and further

information13. explain and convey complex issues14. give the audience topics to talk about15. concentrate on news that is interesting to

an audience as wide as possible16. provide entertainment and relaxation17. provide audience with opportunity to

maintain ties among themselves18. inform the audience as fast as possible19. control politics, business and society

Difference in distance = difference between mean differences of the two case studies10 of 12

Journalists find it less important in both case studies

Users find it less important in both

case studies

Summary, challenges, and further steps

• Example “inclusion distance within case study”: Small inclusion distance = high congruency between journalists and audience members regarding journalistic role conceptions at the newscast

• Example “comparing case studies”: Motivations to send mails to the editors are very congruent between the audiences groups of the newscast and the talk show

• Example “comparing inclusion distances”: True for both case studies: journalists tend to regard many items as being less part of their journalistic profession than audience members consider them as part of journalism; a lot of these items refer to more participation oriented tasks beyond classical journalistic goals

• Challenges of comparing:- groups of different homogeneity and size (editorial staff vs. disperse audience)- online- and TV-journalists and online-only audience- individual self-assessment with assessment of groups of others

• More case studies needed to compare inclusion distances at different journalistic media

• Aggregated/representative data needed to compare inclusion distance between journalism and audiences in different countries/media systems

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(Re-)discovering the audience. Journalism under social media conditions.

Project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

Team: Nele Heise, Wiebke Loosen, Julius Reimer, Jan-Hinrik SchmidtBlog: http://jpub20.hans-bredow-institut.de/

Twitter: @jpub20team