Beyond News, User-generated content on Dutch media websites

Journalism Studies, 2004

News organisations increasingly view user-generated content as a vital resource for audience engagement and empowerment. Researchers have investigated the production practices and journalistic cultures surrounding user-generated content but have paid less attention to the audiences who produce and consume the content. This paper seeks to fill this gap in knowledge, drawing on a series of focus groups to understand why audiences value particular forms of user-generated content and renounce others. Further, by comparing focus group findings to data from in-depth interviews with BBC producers and journalists, it explores how audience perceptions differ from those of producers. In particular, the paper focuses on why and how audiences value news-based user-generated content (in the form of images, footages and eyewitness accounts), which is perceived as authentic, immediate and “real.” This is contrasted with a dislike for audience comment, or opinion-based contributions, seen as ill-informed, repetitive and extremist. By contrast, BBC producers and journalists are more concerned with the UGC as a tool to supplement traditional news-gathering practices.

" This research provides a review of research on user generated content in the Israeli online journalism landscape. Findings reveal that scholarly attention has been focused primarily on user comments, with initial insight on the role of blogs and citizen journalism in Israeli journalism landscape. Methodologically, research is derived primarily from interviews with newsroom staff, and case study content analyses. The review suggests that future research should complement current data with user-based inquiry about orientations and use of UGC, and examine the role of Israeli culture in the practice of UGC. "

New Media & Society, 2008

The mainstream online news media face accusations of being slow to respond to so-called 'grassroots' or 'citizen' journalism, which uses the World Wide Web, and in particular blogs and wikis, to publish and promote independent news-related content. This article argues that the adaptation of established news websites to the increasing demand from readers for space to express their views is driven as much by local organisational and technical conditions as it is by any attachment to traditional editorial practices. The article uses qualitative research interviews with the editors and managing editors of nine major British news websites to reveal the debates journalists are having about their changing roles, the challenges of meeting commercial expectations and legal obligations and the innovations taking place in online newsrooms. It provides journalism and interactive media scholars with case studies on the changes taking place in journalism's relationship with its consumers.

2008

The phenomenon of citizen journalism and the wider trend of user generated content are creating new challenges and opportunities for mainstream media. Traditional news media, like newspapers, tend to show increasing interest in the ways in which user generated content can be integrated into the professional news making process. Yet, scarce but growing research on participatory journalism suggests that the adoption of user generated content in the newsroom is hindered by several contextual factors on different levels of the newsroom organisation. By taking a social constructivist approach to examine the development of participatory journalism, we have tried to gain a better understanding of what these factors are and how they shape the adoption of user generated content. Empirical evidence was sought through twenty semistructured interviews with the newsroom staff of two Belgian newspapers and one local community website. One of our main conclusions is that participatory journalism is developing rather sluggishly; however this is often due to newsroom structures, work routines and professional beliefs rather than unwillingness among professionals to open up the news production process to user contributions.

European Journal of Communication, 2002

This research note reports the findings of two web-based surveys of online journalists, conducted in the Netherlands and Flanders in 1999 and 2001. By indicating their basic, occupational and professional characteristics, the survey results provide a profile of the online journalists working for Dutch and Flemish print, broadcast and online-only news websites. The results suggest that 'technology-driven', 'audience-oriented' and 'service-minded' are three appropriate adjectives to describe the first generation of online journalists in the Low Countries.

This essay takes upon the factors, which have led to a radical shift in the field of journalism over the last few decades and how and why the news industry is no longer the only source of accessing information across the world. It assesses users being one of the main causes of a radical shift in business model of journalism especially with the rise of web technologies and critically analyzes their contribution to journalism. It delves deeper into their role in collection, creation and dissemination of news and information and how it has evolved and made its place in the field of journalism. This is further supported by an analysis of iconic events such as the London Bombings, Hurricane Katrina, the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and other significant incidents, which reflects role of users in disseminating news. It further highlights the shift of the role of users in journalism with the rise in alternative media. It finally embarks upon its impact on the social, cultural and political structure of the world and how it is shaping the road map of news reporting in the future.

Journalism Practice, 2008

This study examines how national UK newspaper websites are integrating user-generated content (UGC). A survey quantifying the adoption of UGC by mainstream news organisations showed a dramatic increase in the opportunities for contributions from readers. In-depth interviews with senior news executives revealed this expansion is taking place despite residual doubts about the editorial and commercial value of material from the public. The study identified a shift towards the use of moderation due to editors’ persistent concerns about reputation, trust, and legal liabilities, indicating that UK newspaper websites are adopting a traditional gate-keeping role towards UGC. The findings suggest a gate-keeping approach may offer a model for the integration of UGC, with professional news organisations providing editorial structures to bring different voices into their news reporting, filtering and aggregating UGC in ways they believe to be useful and valuable to their audience. While this research looked at UGC initiatives in the context of the UK newspaper industry, it has broad relevance as professional journalists tend to share a similar set of norms. The British experience offers valuable lessons for news executives making their first forays into this area and for academics studying the field of participatory journalism

International Communication Gazette, 1999

The Internet is changing the profession of journalism in a number of ways, which this article looks at in terms of so-called digital, or rather online journalism. This article focuses in particular on the question of if, to what extent and in what respects online journalism differs from traditional journalism. The developments on the Internet in terms of journalism and, more specifically, news on the World Wide Web are presented, leading to a discussion of the three characteristic keywords: interactivity, personalization and convergence. This in itself leads to an analysis of the standards and skills of journalism and journalists online. In conclusion, it is argued that these keywords and journalistic skills and standards closely reflect a contemporary global trend towards community journalism -also known as civic journalism or public journalism -which is an area deserving more study in any analysis of journalism and the Internet.

This article describes and analyses the production, consumption, and form of Live Blogs at a popular UK newspaper website and contributes to related debates in journalism studies. Qualitative research interviews with journalists and editors, a reader survey, content analysis, and web metrics were used to obtain data about production practices, product outcomes, and the consumption stage of the product lifecycle. The study finds that Live Blogs are a popular daily component of the news site, used increasingly to cover serious breaking news. Although rarely authored exclusively on location, they may utilise more original sources than traditional online hard news formats. Their frequent updates mean factual verification is cursory, but compensatory factors, including their attribution practices, contribute to a positive evaluation of their objectivity by readers. Live Blogs—with their timeliness, navigational simplicity, and bite-sized content units—suit readers’ consumption of news in the workplace. Live Blogs may increase online news readers’ interest in public-affairs content, and their inclination to participate. This study contradicts some existing scholarship on sourcing practices, content preferences, and immediacy in online news, while supporting the observation that news is increasingly consumed at work. It makes the novel suggestions that Live Blogging is uniquely suited to readers’ at-work news consumption patterns and that the format provides journalists with a means to manage the competing demands of their elite and mass publics.