Shift in participatory patterns

viewing, selecting, navigating

dissemination

newsgathering,

production, responding



Audience participation levels


Dazed and confused gatekeepers

Throughout the research process it has been apparent that journalists hold their professional skills in high regard and they are generally dismissive of the capability of readers to produce journalism. Content gathered or produced by the public is most often viewed as poor quality, inaccurate or defamatory and to be used only as a source of information, feedback or to fill a gap in resources on an ad hoc basis. Journalists therefore assign readers roles in the newsgathering and responding stages only, but are unwilling to let them into the production stages. As Heinonen (2011) found in similar international research, journalists are more hesitant to assign users proactive roles as co-workers or view them as integral participants in the actual process of creating journalistic news content. However there are some exceptions to these traditional approaches. The Citizens’ Eye and Leicester Mercury project in this PhD study sought to move toward this more collaborative co-worker approach, but the project was short lived due to a variety of reasons, including the loss of key members of staff driving the pilot. The Leicester Mercury editor Keith Perch resigned and the Leicester Mercury Citizens’ Eye project co-ordinator Mark Charlton took voluntary redundancy in the 2012 round of job cuts. Again economic imperatives took precedent over this potentially successful collaborative project.

Yet despite evidence that the role of journalist-as-gatekeeper still remains in-tact the data also indicates that most journalists are aware of the need to adapt and they see their role as changing, something which most embrace. Rather than acting as gatekeepers of information who decide which news makes it to the public domain (new breakers), journalists see themselves as increasingly playing the role of authenticators of information, who provide accurate, reliable news with a broader analytical context (verifiers and analysers). These changes are perceived by journalists as strengthening their ‘professional’ status rather than undermining it. The skills and training obtained by journalists enable them to be trusted sources of quality news which will continue to set them apart from citizen journalists and the wider public. However despite seeing themselves as “the defining actors in the process of creating news” (Heinonen, 2011, p.52) most journalists in this study also recognise the need to interact with their audiences to a greater extent and acknowledge that there is more demand from the public to be involved in the news process, even if journalists will only enable this within certain boundaries as discussed above. This has enabled a space for a “greater diversity of voices” (Hermida, 2011c, p.187) who may have been held back at the gates in the past. Indeed the desire from journalists to interact more with readers is in many cases curtailed by economic constraints or a lack of clarity of what is expected of them, again due to a failure in communication and leadership.

An interesting contradiction revealed in this research project is the existence of traditional gatekeeping as discussed above, alongside secondary gatekeeping (Shoemaker and Vos, 2009) from audiences. Although journalists see themselves as defining what is newsworthy and despite the fact that they rarely allow audiences into the production stage of the news process which includes the selection of content, they are actually influenced by audience news selection preferences. There is evidence of the use of web analytics to gauge the most read and most commented on stories on the case study websites and to place stories in more or less prominent positions on the website in response to these. Journalists also often talk about follow up stories in response to reader comments. Although this would have existed in the past in response to the Letters Page it has become more prevalent in the Web 2.0 era due to the quantity of data available. It appears that news selection is increasingly being influenced by what is popular with readers rather than what is in the public interest or deemed newsworthy. This secondary gatekeeping could arguably be seen as serving an economic and civic function. By responding to demand the case study sites are following the market to try and increase website hits but simultaneously there are responding to stories that matter to the public which may have been overlooked by journalists, and as the data suggests this is often stories on public affairs rather than sensationalist or entertainment based stories.

A further significant finding of this research, which is currently understudied, is that journalist-audience participation via Web 2.0 appears to have developed the desire for journalists to build a personalised brand. The journalists most active on social media networks and blogging platforms see it as an opportunity to build a personal brand, as well as to promote the brand of their news organisation, by interacting and engaging with audiences. Journalists are able to create a more personal identity and personal following which they perceive as more attractive to readers than their homogenous, faceless news organisations. Simultaneously, whilst building a personal brand they are also indirectly promoting their associated news organisation, by identifying themselves as a journalist for said organisation. It would therefore be interesting to research further whether there is a demand from audiences for this more personal approach in local British newspaper companies as other studies would suggest (Broersma and Graham, 2011; Hermida et al, 2011).

As well as journalists building personal brands online, news companies are utilising audience participation within Web 2.0 as a means to build their company brand across multiple platforms. This thesis has substantiated other recent research (Broersma and Graham, 2011; Dickinson, 2011; Phillips, 2011) that also illustrate how news organisations are using social media networks as marketing tools to promote their brand and direct people to their website or newspaper. Also by increasing participatory elements on their websites, news companies are aiming to build a loyal customer base which is invested in their product and more likely to return because they enjoy the participatory elements on offer.

Highlighted throughout this thesis has been the fine balance faced by journalists between economic and civic obligations. Audience participation is subject to professional, market and social factors (Domingo, et al, 2008) but in this thesis the market factors currently appear to be the strongest force. Local British newspapers operate within a commercial model and therefore it should be expected that economic goals will drive the business. However as Vujnovic (2011) argues although money is needed to underwrite the social goal of journalism, the augmentation of media revenue should not be the goal in itself. But with their exceedingly high profit margins, as discussed above, it appears that local news publishers have tipped the balance too far in favour of commercial goals. Indeed current profit margins are likely to be unsustainable (Fowler, 2011) which may force such companies to redress the balance between economic and civic obligations.

The solution to this imbalance may actually lie outside the conglomerate news organisations such as Northcliffe Media and Newsquest. The independent local newspaper industry in Britain which is based on a variety of business models is fairing much better in the current economic climate. These companies have much lower profit margins and lower debt levels, and many are family-owned. Meanwhile the Maidenhead Advertiser is the UK’s only trust-owned local weekly newspaper, which distributes profits to local causes. All of these independent newspapers concentrate on local news and sport and devote substantial coverage to local government, crime and courts as well as community events (Fowler, 2011). They are also developing new methods of online and digital delivery. Former regional newspaper editor Neil Fowler (2011) argues that these small business models “could be the foundation for the future” (p.24) because the current economies of scale model is failing both the market and the public.

There is a growing belief among some commentators that there needs to be a radical change in ownership of such bodies if they are to survive and the conduit of local news and scrutiny is to remain” (Fowler, 2011, p.22).

Furthermore Fowler argues that the big four UK regional press publishers – Johnston Press, Trinity Mirror, Northcliffe Media and Newsquest – should return their hundreds of newspaper titles to local ownership (Ponsford, 2011).

British independent charity Nesta, which invests in innovate community projects, also believes small businesses could hold the key to the future of local media and redress the balance between economic and social needs. The charity launched an investment programme in 2012 to understand the potential economic and social opportunities for hyperlocal media in the UK (Nesta, 2012). The programme – Destination Local – offered 10 organisations up to £50,000 to develop the next generation of hyperlocal media services who would make the most of mobile technologies to deliver geographically relevant local media. Jon Kingsbury, programme director said the aim of the programme was to understand whether these new technologies and platforms could deliver sustainable, scalable models that served local communities and delivered economic benefit (Nesta, 2011). Furthermore Jeremy Silver, Nesta creative industries lead specialist of the technology strategy board, argued that the business models of traditional local media, print and broadcast, had been undermined by the internet but the future may rest with a new model:

The combination of social media with location-aware technologies, the lowering of barriers to entry for self-publishing, and the high degree of user-engagement now visible online suggests that new models for local media might emerge out of new smarter uses of enabling technologies. We believe that the UK could be a great source of innovation in this field and that this could have value to communities around the world (Nesta, 2012).

The same argument is being made in America, where small businesses are beginning to find successful online business models. As Briggs (2012) convincingly argues the building of the future of news “is more likely to happen in new entrepreneurial ventures than through continuing to try to right the unwieldy old ships of media” (p.xv). Furthermore Briggs reasons that these new enterprises should be economically and socially balanced in approach by serving society in a sustainable and profitable way. They must also create a new relationship with the public and collaborate with them (Briggs, 2012).

The title of this thesis points to the examination of the changing relationship between British local newspaper journalists and their audiences within the context of Web 2.0. Within this title there is an assumption that the relationship is changing although it does not state what it is changing from and to. A thorough analysis of the structural and cultural changes in the two news rooms in this study strongly indicates that this ‘changing relationship’ is in a constant state of flux and the exact nature of this change is still unquantifiable. Rather than the relationship shifting from one thing to another, it is in a process of disruption and fragmentation with journalists and audiences taking on multiple contemporary roles whilst simultaneously maintaining some of their traditional roles.

This thesis has attempted to explore a series of research questions to ultimately examine to what extent is a new form of collaborative journalism emerging in local British newspapers within Web 2.0? As the summaries in section 13.2 suggest there are gradual shifts occurring in local British newspapers and the relationship between journalists and audiences is evolving, albeit at a relatively moderate pace. Economic conditions and dismissive attitudes toward the public are restricting journalists from fully engaging with their audiences although the potential for collaboration exists.

Nether-the-less the research confirms the existence of pockets of collaborative journalism although these tend to be experimental in nature. Individual projects such as the Citizens’ Eye initiative as well as individual journalists, are embracing collaborative methods even if they are not embedded into the culture of the news organisation as a whole. For example Leicester Mercury politics correspondent David MacLean talked of opening up documents to the public via his blog to enable people to identify news stories or offer expert input, a device commonly used by the Guardian website as part of its open source journalism policy (Guardian, 2009). Meanwhile Sam Shepherd, digital projects co-ordinator at the Bournemouth Daily Echo was developing collaborative communities via social media network Flickr with the public playing an active role in supplying content, moderating it and selecting which photographs should be published in the newspaper and on the website.

This is just one example of how social media networks in particular are enabling audiences to participate in all stages of the news production process and there is a growing trend amongst individual journalists to embrace this change and work with their audiences. This is also creating a more interactive news process with journalists publically communicating back and forth with audience members on social media networks.

There is also evidence that journalists are going beyond traditional sources of information to harness “collective intelligence” (O’Reilly and Battelle, 2009; Jenkins, 2008) from the public although this is usually then verified with official sources. Although journalists are aware that the public is a valuable source and resource, and that there is some convergence of roles between journalists and audience members, there is little support for the view of the public as co-workers. The argument that journalists should be working with “gifted amateurs” to form a “profitable cooperation of hybrid activity” (Lewis, 2011, p.4) is not supported in this thesis, suggesting attitudes of local newspaper journalists are similar to their national counterparts as described by Heinonen (2011).

It is however possible to speculate that under a different business model with less economic constraints journalists may be able to innovate and experiment with collaborative models and develop this form of journalism in the future, which in turn may lead to a shift in attitudes which views audience participation in a more positive light.

The findings in this study have highlighted many of the challenges faced by journalists and the ways in which journalism and audience participation is altering in local British newspapers due to the impact of interactive technologies. As outlined in Chapter 3 a case study approach was deemed the most approach research method to tackle the research questions raised, particularly as this enabled the researcher to study a “contemporary phenomenon within its real life context” (Yin, 2003, p.13). However despite a taking a triangulated approach with both qualitative and quantitative methods, the study, as with all research, remained limited in its scope. This section therefore addresses the limitations of the study and how these areas can be exploited for further research to develop additional knowledge in this field of inquiry.

The two case study sites were selected for their unique elements within a typical commercial framework and because the case study design sought comparison rather than replication. The argument set out in Chapter 3 explained that by building on a pattern of case studies from across the world it was possible to generalise findings (Roberts, 2005). Indeed the findings of this study have illustrated that many, although not all, of the findings concur with international research by a variety of scholars. This study can therefore be placed within an international framework and help to build a knowledgeable and empirical in-depth picture. Generalisation is therefore possible (Seawright and Gerring, 2008; Flyvbjerg, 2006; Yin, 2003) even with the use of just two case studies. However in order for the results to enhance the generalisability of this research further comparisons would be necessary to allow the unique features of the cases to be more readily identifiable (Bryman, 1989). This PhD study focused on two local British newspapers within an industry that includes 1,300 core newspapers and 1,500 websites (Newspaper Society, 2010) in Britain alone. It would be particularly fruitful for further replication case studies to be carried out at newspapers within the Northcliffe Media and Newsquest publishing companies who own 314 newspapers between them (see Table 3.1) as well as comparative studies at newspapers owned by Johnston Press and Trinity Mirror, the top two regional newspaper publishers. Furthermore given the conclusions outlined in section 13.2 a significant area of research that is urgently required is a comparison with independent local newspapers to understand whether the restrictions identified in this study exist within a different business model.

During preparation for this thesis it became apparent to the researcher that investigation into the field of local British newspapers and the internet was slight, thus justifying how this study was able to identify a gap in the research and bring forth a contribution to knowledge. A large part of this gap was a lack of research on audiences and a focus on journalists, as argued in Chapter 1, section 1.5. This study has attempted to partially fill this gap by using quantitative and qualitative methods to record audience data. However it must be acknowledged that the total number of responses from audiences in the online questionnaire and telephone interviews was slight. The questionnaire elicited 177 responses from Leicester Mercury online users and 328 from Bournemouth Daily Echo online users. Given that there were no financial resources to support the questionnaire, no incentive for users to take part and the placement and promotion of the questionnaire relied entirely on the good will of the case study sites the response rate was satisfactory. The completion rates of 67 per cent and 72 per cent respectively were also deemed acceptable. However in real terms the responses represented just 0.05 per cent of the Leicester Mercury’s 388,000 monthly unique users and 0.09 per cent of the Bournemouth Daily Echo’s 382,000 monthly unique users. That being said the questionnaire was only promoted for two weeks on each of the case study websites meaning that the responses may have represented 0.09 per cent of Leicester Mercury online users and 0.17 per cent of Bournemouth Daily Echo online users. Furthermore the reader interviews involved an even smaller sample of five Leicester Mercury readers and 12 Bournemouth Daily Echo readers. These numbers represent only a fraction of the potential online audience and therefore a widespread and potentially funded audience research project would be needed to record more representative results.

Although the audience research data was limited in its representativeness the qualitative data drawn from journalists was much wider and representative in scope. A third of all editorial staff were interviewed at both case study sites (19 at the Leicester Mercury and 18 at the Bournemouth Daily Echo) and much consensus was found within each case study site and between them. This number of interviews represented a much higher proportion of staff than many research projects in this field have conducted. For example research by Singer et al (2011) conducted 67 interviews between 24 newspapers with no more than five staff members interviewed at each. Similarly an in depth case study of Media General’s converged Tampa News Center in Florida by Garrison and Dupagne (2003) interviewed just 12 journalists out of a total 415. And two comparative case studies by Aviles and Carvajal (2008) of multimedia news rooms in Spain interviewed 10 out of 85 journalists at Novotecnica and seven out of 107 journalists at La Verdad. The data derived from journalists interviewed in this PhD thesis was therefore considerably more substantial in volume. Yet there was further capacity for interviews with more senior members of staff. The interviews in this study focused on editorial staff from trainee reporters to the editor but did not include interviews with staff with regional or national positions within the company. Many of the findings discussed the motivations and economic imperatives of the two newspaper companies as well as the motivations of journalists. However information about the two companies as a whole were largely speculative in nature as they were gleaned from journalists’ perspectives. Although the editors at both case study sites were able to represent the company and were more aware of the strategic plans there was no representation from general managers, regional digital teams or those in charge of digital media operations across the company. It would therefore be useful for further research to explore whether the perspectives of journalists matches with the reality and the perspectives of the strategic decision makers.

Another area for development, as identified in Chapter 9, is the need for greater understanding on the deliberative nature of audience participation. This thesis has concluded that online audiences are participating in greater numbers and are being exposed to a wider range of voices and opinions than their offline counterparts but it is unclear whether this leads to further political action or ultimately influences their voting decisions. The value of participation was largely explored from an accessibility and inclusivity perspective for audiences and from a journalistic and economic perspective for journalists but the measurable value to democracy was limited. Again larger audience research would be needed in order to tackle these research areas, something which was beyond the resources of this study.

As argued at length in Chapter 3, the advantage of case study research is that it allows for the examination of a subject within a real time context. However this is also one of the disadvantages particularly for a PhD research project which may take several years to complete. This study has gathered data in a rapidly evolving field which is constantly undergoing change, restructure and the introduction of new technology. In the year it took to collect the data many changes occurred at both the case study sites in regards to staffing, projects, policies and the use of online technology. For example the Citizens’ Eye project at the Leicester Mercury was all but abandoned, as discussed in Chapter 12, and the editor of the newspaper, Keith Perch, resigned. Furthermore Northcliffe Media announced job losses and restructuring in the editorial department. Meanwhile the thisisleicestershire.co.uk website was redesigned with new features such as the ability to rate comments and upload user generated content. The newspaper also launched a Facebook page which was not in existence during the research interview period. At the Bournemouth Daily Echo there were also job losses and restructuring, and the editor Neal Butterworth also left the newspaper. Although the website did not change, Newsquest introduced a new social media policy and more of the newspaper’s journalists began using Twitter for their job.

All of these changes within a relatively short space of time are evidence of the need to continually update research and they identify areas where this particular study could gain further data. The content analysis of the Facebook profile at the Leicester Mercury could be carried out on a larger sample and the content analysis of Twitter users could also be expanded at the Bournemouth Daily Echo. It would be interesting to compare whether journalists at the Bournemouth Daily Echo are now using Twitter in a similar fashion to journalists at the Leicester Mercury now they are more familiar with the medium and it is becoming part of normal practice. Similarly changes may have been made to the confusing moderation systems at both case study sites. Furthermore it would be interesting to explore how a change of editor at both newspapers has impacted on attitudes towards Web 2.0 and audience participation.

The two case studies in this research have highlighted changes in journalism but also where the status quo is being maintained. As the industry goes through rapid technological transformation it is important for research to keep abreast of the impacts on journalism and journalists through continual analysis. This PhD thesis therefore aims to add to the emerging patterns of case study research in the field of news and audience participation whilst also acknowledging that it is only the beginning of further, recurrent research.

13.5 Use of methodologies

This thesis has used a combination of traditional qualitative and quantitative methods (interview, questionnaire, observation) whilst also developing new techniques to construct a viable content analysis. The rationalisation for the use of these methods was set out in Chapters 3 and 4 and was further substantiated by the volume and richness of data examined in Chapters 6 to 12. Certainly the length of this PhD thesis is in part due to the quantity and quality of data that the methods extracted. That being said the researcher recognises that the methods had limitations in their construction and utilisation particularly as both were carried out by one individual, allowing for a greater risk of subjectivity. As discussed in section 13.4 further comparative or replication case studies would validate both the analysis and the methodological approaches. It would also be useful to incorporate software to record and compare the ages, length of service and job title of journalists in greater depth so more comparisons could be made across different newspaper titles, in particular to discover whether the age-related findings of Robinson (2010) are contradicted at other case studies.

The method of data collection that requires most reflection is the content analysis of social media networks Twitter and Facebook, due to their unique nature. Although all content analysis methods are largely original in nature as they depend on many variables, they are usually based on similar research and can follow existing patterns, with the use of familiar software. However as considered at length in Chapter 4, for this thesis the researcher had to construct a coding system for a field of research that was largely untapped. Twitter and Facebook are in their infancy in research terms and as such there was little material published which used content analysis as a method for examining them. Indeed the researcher only found relevant Twitter-related research by searching on Twitter itself, rather than through traditional means. The problem of a lack of related research was compounded by the fact that Twitter and Facebook are constantly evolving websites which introduce new layouts, tools and navigations procedures several times a year and they contain live information which is updated in real time. It was therefore difficult to devise a content analysis for two websites that never remained static in content or design. Furthermore the software available to capture content on both websites was not appropriate to this study as it focused on capturing trends based on key words rather than entire individual profiles. The researcher therefore had to construct a unique coding category and unique way of capturing the material, both of which are outlined in Chapter 4, sections 4.5.2 and 4.5.3. The advantage of this approach meant that the content analysis could be tailored to the research questions and literature review of this study and could set a template for other researchers looking to analyse similar content as this field of research develops.

The methods designed in this PhD thesis have already made an impact on further research and are currently being developed by academics at The University of Sunderland. A paper based on Chapter 11 of this thesis was presented at the MeCSSA 2012 conference (Canter, 2012), where it won the SAGE Convergence prize (University of Bedfordshire, 2012) and attracted the interest of scholars researching Twitter, disintermediation and the changing role of the sports journalist (Hall, 2012). Working with his colleague John Price, Lee Hall aims to develop a content analysis to capture the interaction on Twitter between users and journalists, and between users and football clubs and users and football players (personal communication, May 15, 2012). The content analysis will use the coding categories set out in this thesis as a starting point, in particular the different types of interaction that can happen on Twitter classified as Traditional, Informal and Personal in this study, as defined in Chapter 4.

Local journalism is facing an uncertain future following the “crisis” (Culture, Media and Sport Committee, 2009, p.3) brought about by increased competition for people’s media consumption and advertising revenues. Local newspapers in particular are “in the jaws of an extraordinary pincer movement of structural change and economic downturn...with potentially alarming ramifications for local democracy and the generation of news” (Fowler, 2011, p.22). Chapter 1, together with section 13.2 of this chapter, have outlined efforts being made by governmental and charitable bodies to secure the future of local news to make sure journalists are able to continue to provide a public service to local communities.

Results of this research would suggest that big media companies such as Northcliffe Media and Newsquest are failing to fully meet the participatory needs of their local audiences and their dominance in the market place means they are able to drown out other voices rather than facilitate wider democratic engagements. Therefore if there is to be anything that can be described as local journalism in the near future it needs to come through reflective engagement with audiences and journalists gained through academic research such as this thesis.

Furthermore the future of local journalism depends not only on research but on collaboration between academics, journalism educators and practitioners. As recent research by Harcup (2011) illustrates teaching and research influence each other continually and research into journalism is vital for society and democracy. The same study also identifies that research “could be beneficial to media industries” (p.29). This notion is not a new one and even before the introduction of the web Bourdieu strongly advocated the role of academics in the public sphere (Webb et al, 2006). Furthermore the French sociologist called upon journalism to give social scientists, critical writers and artists a greater voice to strengthen the deliberative ideal of reasoned discourse.

This thesis therefore makes a plea for pragmatic engagement between journalists, researchers and educators to enable journalism programmes to equip students with the appropriate skills needed to enter digital, multi-platform news rooms. As Price et al (2012) also argue the confusion amongst journalists over the accepted use of social media networks could be reduced with clearer guidance and education in how to use these platforms. However it is impossible to teach digital journalism theory and practice unless educators have a clear, contemporaneous understanding of what is happening in local news rooms. Only by being informed by research can journalism educators have a greater understanding of what is happening in such a disparate industry. The benefits of such research would be twofold; firstly to inform journalists and the industry on emerging patterns, best practice and audience expectations and secondly to feed this information into journalism education so when students enter the marketplace they are leading the industry rather than following it.

The role of academics can help to break down barriers between the ultimate autonomy that journalists seek according to Bourdieu (2005) and the normative role Habermas (1989) wishes journalism to play in the public sphere. Indeed the Guardian Media Group, which operates the Guardian newspaper and website, is already making strides in this field having worked with the University of Cardiff, City University and London School of Economics on numerous applied research projects. The core purpose of the Guardian Media Group is to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian (GMG, 2012) which in turn strengthens its cultural capital and moves its position towards Bourdieu’s (2005) autonomous pole in the journalistic field. However despite this autonomy the Guardian Media Group works collaboratively with academics and the public, to create the open source journalism referred to above in section 13.3. It is therefore possible for journalists to be autonomous, overcome structural constraints and to facilitate the public sphere simultaneously, thus enabling them to partially dissolve professional boundaries - however this is currently the exception rather than the rule.

Research such as this thesis also has a role to play by not only highlighting the good and bad practices of the journalistic field but by informing journalism of the future. Collaborative and participatory journalism has the power to engage audiences and increase democratic involvement amongst audiences. Indeed a greater focus on, and development of, collaborative journalism for its democratic value could help journalism address its current malaise which is weighted far too heavily on economic capital, the problems of which have come to the forefront of British consciousness via the 2012 Leveson Inquiry into press ethics. But in order for journalists to move closer to the field of cultural capital and gain greater integrity and reputation, they need to “open the door to civil society” (Benson, 2009, p.189). Finally, not only do journalists need to be less economically motivated but they also need to approach audience participation with less scepticism.

Despite its normative tones this research does not hail Web 2.0 as the panacea of collaborative journalism, but prefers to view it as a useful tool with great democratic potential when placed in the correct hands. Journalists are the ultimate driving force in this field and they have to overcome structural constraints, cultural traditions and seemingly passive audiences to create a truly collaborative model of journalism.