The Audience:Involved and In Motion

Discusses various types of audience participation in the journalistic process, from acting as sources to citizen journalism

Provides an overview of mobile devices and their potential for users and journalists

Provides an overview of social media and their potential value to journalists and journalism organizations

Mainstream news organizations are no longer gatekeepers who control what topics are disseminated and discussed.

Audiences can now respond to items in the news, and even influence and create it.

News process is no longer a one-way flow of information from journalist to reader, but a collaboration.

Types: Experts People with a personal connection to a

story May be located through social media

or a notice on the website.

Somewhat similar to traditional letters to the editor.

Strongly affected by the emergence of Web 2.0 culture

With important differences: Response to the story can be immediate. There can be more responses (and responses to

responses). Responses appear in the same location as the

original story.

Substantive contribution to a news story (not just a comment)

“Community editorial” Contributions may come in after a specific call for

eyewitness accounts. CNN’s iReport

Some sites are made up entirely of content submitted by users. PictoryMag.com

Distributed reporting Audience members are harnessed in an organized

way to cover a particular story Wikis: Collaborative sites that contain linked

information about a particular topic Wikinews

Nonjournalists play the predominant role in the creation of journalistic content Professional-amateur (pro-am) journalism

Open source journalism A professional journalist begins the story or acts

as a facilitator and then bring citizens into the process at various levels.

Example: The Forum in New Hampshire

http://blogmaverick.com/2004/03/16/the-best-thing-about-a-blog/

2002 – Trent Lott (R-Miss)“I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of him. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.”

2004 – Dan Rather, CBS2004 - Washingtonette2005 – Eason Jordan, CNN

Andrew Sullivan (“The Odd Lies of Sarah Palin”)Kevin Sites, Yahoo (www.kevinsitesreports.com)

Chris Albritton, Back to Iraq Daily Kos Dooce PerezHilton

What are your thoughts on citizen journalism and other forms of audience involvement?

Do you think there’s potential in these sorts of contributions, or do you feel that journalism ought to be left to professionals?

Smartphones: Internet-capable phones Short message service (SMS; texting) Multimedia messaging service (MMS)

Netbooks Tablet computers In-car mobile devices

Mobile and small—can go anywhere Always-connected status Short bursts of up-to-the-second information Participatory journalism—

Users can instantly send an image and message to a media organization.

Ability to stay connected with social media

Media organizations are adapting/tailoring content for these users:

Adapting content for smaller screens Creating websites and apps Using SMS to send out breaking news Mobile content reduced from Web version

Arose from Web 2.0 movement of early 2000s.

Internet becoming more user-centered. Small- or large-scale social interactions

among friends or professionals.

A publicity tool to promote stories and other content

A user-comment and feedback tool to foster audience involvement

A reporting source

What do you think of this statement? “Social tools are inspiring readers to become citizen

journalists by enabling them to easily publish and share information…. The future journalist will be more embedded with the community than ever, and news outlets will build their newsrooms to focus on utilizing the community and enabling its members to be enrolled as correspondents.” —Vadim Lavruski, Mashable

Do you agree or disagree? Why?