Participitory Journalism Interest Group
Extended Abstract • A multi-level analysis of commenting’s effects on journalism practice • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder; David Wolfgang, Colorado State University • This study examines how allowing reader comments on news stories influences journalism practice. Through in-depth interviews with journalists working at both organizations that perform in-house comment moderation and organizations that employ outside organizations such as Facebook to do moderation, the study aims to illuminate how comments can influence newswork on multiple levels of analysis, all the while decreasing journalistic autonomy. The paper concludes by theorizing how to both protect autonomy while still prioritizing community participation.
Extended Abstract • Citizen News Content Creation: Perceptions on Professional Journalists and the Additive Double Moderating Role of Social Media and Traditional News Use • Manuel Goyanes, Carlos III University; Homero Gil de Zúñiga • Since the emergence and growing popularity of digital technologies and social media platforms, the relationship between professional and citizen journalism has been challenging. In recent years, however, this critical relationship has de-escalated due to a growing collaboration in shaping a complemental news repertoire. This study examines how social and traditional news use and users’ perceptions on professional journalism affect citizens’ news content creation. Based on survey data from Spain, we first find that social media use for news and users’ positive perceptions on professional journalism predict citizens’ news production behavior. Second, social media use for news and traditional media consumption are explored as additive moderators over the relationship of users’ perceptions on professional journalism on citizens’ news content creation, showing a positive significant effect. This study contributes to current conversations on the potential symbiotic association between professional and citizens journalism, arguing that citizens’ perceptual appraisals on professional journalism are key in fostering public’s participation through news content creation.
Extended Abstract • Audience as Boundary Worker: Deconstructing the CNN Live Broadcast from the San Bernardino Shooters’ Apartment • Volha Kananovich, Appalachian State University; Gregory Perreault • Through a textual analysis of online comments in response to live broadcast from the San Bernardino shooters’ apartment, we explore the rhetorical strategies the audience used to assert themselves as legitimate agents of boundary work. Although commenters did rely on established legitimating strategies (e.g., acting as proto-professionals), they appropriated them in distinctive new ways (e.g., by parodying, rather than authentically emulating, the journalistic style), as well as used novel tactics: direct address and rhetorical questions.
Extended Abstract • Ventriloquism as a Communicative Strategy of Journalists on Twitter • Erin Perry, Wayne State University; Ashley Teffer; Crystal Coleman; Subhashini Pandey • This study is a qualitative textual analysis of journalists’ social media engagement regarding a 2019 Lifetime docuseries about R&B singer R. Kelly, who has spent years entangled in allegations of sexual crimes against women and girls. The study analyzes Twitter activity of 401 journalists, news organizations and other profiles affiliated with the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and Atlanta Journal-Constitution to reveal the six strategies journalists employ during participatory communication on Twitter about a social issue.
Extended Abstract • Comments that hurt. Incivility and offensive speech in online discussion of minority-related news • Magdalena Saldana, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; Valentina Proust • This study relies on a content analysis of 1,176 news articles and 4,225 user-generated comments to explore the extent to which news coverage of minority groups fosters deliberative or negatively passionate discussions in online contexts. We found high levels of incivility traits in the public conversation posted to several news topics. Findings indicate marginalized groups are the target of offensive speech at higher rates than other groups. Implications for the discipline are discussed.
Extended Abstract • Seeing 360-Degree: Toward a Framework of Authentic Representation of Indigenous Communities Through Citizen-driven Reporting • Jiun-Yi Tsai, Northern Arizona University; Rian Bosse, Arizona State University; Nisha Sridharan, Arizona State University; Monica Chadha, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University • Literature on how journalism practices attend to Native people’s needs for accurate representation is scarce. Qualitative analysis of 15 in-depth interviews with tribal members illuminates the agentic processes for Indigenous citizen journalists to offer 360-degree authentic representation, empowering indigenous people of various tribal affiliations. 360-degree reporting encourages meaningful interpretations of humanizing Native people, engenders media trust through evoking feelings of relatability and belonging, and strengthens Indigenous identity by foregrounding the focus on peoplehood. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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