ARTICLE: Participants’ perspective on participatory journalism

This article focuses on ‘participatory journalism’ from the perspective of participants. How do they view and evaluate their participation in journalism? The study is based on 32 in-depth interviews with participants from two different participatory journalistic environments. Study is written by Merel Borger,  Anita van Hoof, both of University Amsterdam, and José Sanders, of Radboud University Nijmegen. The data revealed that participants had … Continued


ARTICLE: Local newspaper and folk theories of journalism

To understand journalism, we need to understand how people understand journalism, writes Rasmus Kleis Nielsen. To make sense of journalism examining so-called “folk theories of journalism” is crucial. By “folk theories of journalism” the writer means the popular beliefs about what journalism is, what it does, and what it ought to do. The study presents three folk theories that … Continued


ARTICLE: Personal data as a currency for accessing news

In changing media environment news organizations need to enrich the services they offer to their readers. Tom Evens and Kristin Van Damme investigate whether and to what extent people would be willing to share personal data with news organisations as a new currency for accessing more news content. Article presents the results of a Belgian big data project … Continued


ARTICLE: Live online coverage of breaking news

Has the adoption of live online coverage, such as Twitter, facilitated a more “multiperspectival” journalism through the inclusion of “non-official” sources? ask Daniel Bennett. The article looks at the opportunities and limitations of live pages for the incorporation of “non-official” sources. Writer analyses the BBC’s coverage of Utøya killings in 2011 and the Mumbai terror attacks in … Continued


MEVI2016: Trust in the globalized media

The Finnish Conference for Media and Communication Research began on Friday 8 April. It takes place in Helsinki, Finland and lasts until Saturday afternoon. The conference is themed around trust in the media, and the lack thereof. The keynote speakers to the event are Andrew Chadwick of University of London, and Gunn Enli of University … Continued


ARTICLE: Reader comments should be seen as journalism

Readers’ contributions posted below online news stories can serve to extend journalism, not just comment on it, writes James Morrison, of Robert Gordon University. The author analysed the reader comments to 308 online news stories posted on the websites of national UK newspapers. According to Morrison, many of the comments offered not only opinion, but … Continued


REPORT: Robo-journalism, ad blocking, and other predictions

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) has published a forecast of the digital media trends of 2016. Authored by the Institute’s own Nic Newman, the report covers developments in media business, technology, and consumer tendencies. Among Newman’s predictions is the coming-of-age of virtual reality, the continued decline of television viewership, surge in ad … Continued


ARTICLE: Political journalists are in “journalism-centered bubble” on Twitter

So far studies have not explored why and how journalists use social media to follow and interact with one another and what kind of networks emerge through this, write Christian Nuernbergk. His newly published study explores German political journalists’ interaction networks and what information they share on Twitter. By combining content analysis and network analysis the … Continued


ARTICLE: Comments make journalism look bad

The presence of online user comments deteriorates the journalism’s perceived quality, write Fabian Prochazka, Patrick Weber and Wolfgang Schweiger, all of University of Hohenheim. The authors conducted an online experiment on 942 audience members. The respondents were shown news stories with different types of comments or with no comments at all. News stories that had … Continued


BOOK: Bad news on economy, more investments?

Unlike usually thought, bad economic news don’t necessarily decrease public spending and private investments and purchases, writes Juliane Lischka, of University of Zurich. The author studied the content of German and Swiss newspapers between 2002 and 2011 and compared it to various economic indicators from that time. Bad news can actually increase spending, as people … Continued