Civic and Citizen Journalism 2011 Abstracts
Interactions of news frames and incivility in the political blogosphere: Examining news credibility and political trust • Porismita Borah, Maryville University • The anonymity and flexibility of the online world allows the free expression of views. This same anonymity and unconstrained expression can initiate uncivil debate. The political blogosphere is thus replete with uncivil discussions and becomes an apt context to examine the influence of incivility on news frames. Moreover, although there is an increasingly growing literature on framing, few have examined framing effects in the new media landscape. Thus, the present study brings in literature from incivility and framing effects and uses an experiment embedded in a web survey to examine the influence of incivility on news frames for perceptual outcomes such as news credibility and political trust. Findings show that incivility increases the credibility of a news article while decreasing political trust. Further, results demonstrate the interactions of incivility and news frames. For instance, news credibility is increased only in the value-framed condition. Implications are discussed.
Exposing the digital news photo hound: A study on the normative structure and routines of citizen photojournalists • Tara Buehner and Julie Jones, University of Oklahoma • A growing trend in journalism is the rise of the citizen-captured images. However, no study has examined the common traits, values, and influences upon citizen photojournalists – photographers who post images on news-sharing sites. This paper sought to do exactly that through in-depth interviews with Yahoo! You-Witness-News members. Findings suggest that citizen photojournalists are savvy with regard to news values and conventions but have the freedom to be creative, consistent with creators of user-generated content.
The Refrigerator as a Megaphone: Addressing the Motivations of Citizen Photojournalists, Tara Buehner, University of Oklahoma • Journalists are losing their gatekeeping role, as citizens create and disseminate their own material. Some have a news-making intent, while others simply find themselves at the scene of breaking news. Due to the pervasiveness of digital cameras, much of this content is photographic in nature. Because little research exists regarding the motivations of citizen photojournalists, in-depth interviews with photographers on a citizen journalism site were conducted. Motivations include validation, self-expression, affinity, entertainment, altruism, and community-seeking.
Not paid to play: A case study of online community participants and the effects of non-monetary motivation upon public journalism • Robert Gutsche Jr and Rauf Arif, The University of Iowa • This paper is based upon interviews with six non-paid community members who write columns and blogs for a local U.S. newspaper. It provides insight into the continued evolution of public journalism. Our major finding concerns the issue of compensation and its influence upon the standards of community participants in their collaboration with the newspaper. We also provide attempt to stretch the normative approach of media production from traditional media to a new media environment.
Case of the #UTShooter: Citizens working around, with, and for traditional news media • Avery Holton, University of Texas-Austin • Scholars have examined what motivates people to seek out news and information through various platforms, most recently analyzing how and why citizens use social networking platforms such as Twitter to engage in the news process. Using open-ended questionnaires and content analysis, this study identified previously unrecognized motivations for citizen engagement in the news process via Twitter, using the recent case of the shooting at the University of Texas at Austin as a backdrop. The findings encourage new avenues of research and suggest updates to current definitions of journalism.
Exploring Contexts in Citizen Journalism: A Conceptual Framework • Nakho Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison • The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework for qualitatively exploring contexts in citizen journalism case studies. Specifically, dimensions of purpose, external conditions and internal dynamics will be discussed. Based on arguments on the normative directions of community and communication, historical research of media and social action elements of citizen journalism, this paper explains why they matter and what needs to be explored.
News Innovation and the Negotiation of Participation • Seth Lewis, University of Minnesota • This paper examines the Knight News Challenge and its winning proposals as a way of exploring intersecting concerns about innovation and participation in journalism. A qualitative analysis finds that innovators negotiated issues of professional control and open participation in three ways: (1) embracing the idea of participation as a taken-for-granted assumption; (2) envisioning a symbiotic relationship between professionals and citizen collaborators; and (3) acknowledging that yielding control, in some cases, could result in better journalism.
No Experience Necessary: The Perceived Credibility of Citizen Journalism • Sara Netzley and Mark Hemmer, Bradley University • The news credibility crisis and the rise of citizen journalism have created new questions regarding the usefulness of citizen-generated content, particularly when compared to content created by professional journalists. This article explores the results of an experiment asking college students at a private Midwestern university to assess the credibility of an article that they either were told was written by a professional journalist or by a citizen. The perceived credibility the articles received based on their authors has key implications for news credibility research in a landscape where online media and citizen journalism are on the rise.
#Forward!: Twitter as Citizen Journalism in the Wisconsin Labor Protests • Aaron Veenstra, Narayanan Iyer, Namrata Bansal, Mohammad Hossain, Jiwoo Park and Jiachun Hong, Southern Illinois University – Carbondale • Recently, Twitter has become a prominent part of social protest movement communication. This study examines Twitter as a new kind of citizen journalism platform emerging at the aggregate in the context of such “crisis” situations. Specifically, we undertake a case study of the use of Twitter in the 2011 Wisconsin labor protests. Our findings suggest that Twitter and the use of mobile phones allow individuals to become conveyors of existing news and new information producers.
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