Search

Independent news websites and press played a vital role in creating spaces of contention in the context of the Moroccan pro-democracy movement of 2011. This article looks at the role of this press in disseminating alternative narratives in the hybrid media and political environment that followed the pro-democracy movement. Based on extensive interviews with journalists, this article examines journalists' practices in countering hegemonic media and political discourse, to understand how they contribute to—or hinder—the formation of counter publics under tough repression. The article uses the critical frameworks of dominant and counter-publics and Judith Butler's concept of silencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the degree to which graduates of a 10-year-old master’s program in community journalism have been aiding the “process of community” by helping citizens negotiate community structures and processes, by listening to citizens, and by helping lead their communities. Findings from a survey of graduates and from a content analysis of graduates’ news stories reveal that graduates value all three of these community journalism dimensions, particularly listening to citizens. However, there is a gap between graduates’ aspirations on the one hand and the actual work produced and career paths on the other, consistent with harsh workplace realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the public journalism movement met its demise in U.S. newsrooms around the turn of the 21st century, new market models and technological tools now make it far easier for journalists to accomplish the goals of the now-dead movement. Through in-depth interviews with 19 journalists at digitally native news nonprofits (DNNNs), this study seeks to examine whether this relatively new market model practices a new form of public journalism, one prior research dubbed public service journalism. The results show that, indeed, this market model does practice public service journalism. These results are interpreted through the framework of Habermas’s theory of the public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media scholars have primarily assessed journalistic role perceptions through the survey method. We propose conceptual and operational definitions for four role enactments observable through content analysis: dissemination, interpretative, adversarial, and mobilization. We also examined how journalistic role enactments in stories related to organization type (nonprofit and for-profit) and reporter workload. Results show that nonprofit journalists were more likely to include interpretation in stories, whereas for-profit journalists were more likely to enact the dissemination and mobilization roles. In addition, as reporter story number increases, it significantly predicted enacting the dissemination role, while suppressing the interpretative role, and especially the adversarial role enactment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses topics within the issue, including social media news sharing, agenda setting, and citizen journalism, as well as the journal's move from Chicago style citation to American Psychological Association (APA) style citation.

This study examines the extent to which professional journalism adopts and uses citizen journalism, such as user-generated content (UGC) and user-submitted stories (USS), at the individual, organizational, and community levels. In doing so, the study adopts a web-based survey of top U.S. news editors (n = 142) coupled with U.S. Census Data. The study reveals that experience as online journalists and online staff size play roles in the adoption and use of UGC. The study also finds that community structural pluralism is related to the adoption and use of news stories written together by professional and citizen journalists. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examined the joint effect of message and personality attributes on online news sharing. In two experiments (N = 270, N = 275), readers indicated their likelihood to share news representing two content domains and three informational utility dimensions. A moderated mediation path analysis was used. On average, news consumers shared news containing informational utility. Opinion leaders shared news irrespective of informational utility because they discerned informational utility in news that, objectively speaking, lacked such utility. In one experiment, opinion leaders also were more likely than nonleaders to share news perceived to contain informational utility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With the increase in citizen-generated news, the need to understand how individual predispositions interact with news sources to influence perceptions of news credibility becomes increasingly important. Using a web-based experiment, this study examines the influences individual predispositions toward the media and politics have on perceived credibility of mainstream and citizen journalism. Analyzing data drawn from a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, results indicate that media skepticism and political cynicism interact, such that cynics and skeptics perceive citizen journalism as more credible, while non-cynics and non-skeptics think mainstream journalism is more credible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using time series analysis to gauge intermedia agenda setting in a sample of eighteen U.S. political blogs, two elite traditional news entities, and their eleven political newsroom blogs across three issues in 2007, this study reveals that traditional media were unable to set political blog agendas. Ideologically diverse political blog networks were also able to set traditional media's online news agenda, and, to a lesser extent, their newsroom blog agenda. Findings point to a dilution of traditional media's singular agenda-setting influence and to greater interdependence between traditional media and political blogs than suggested by hyperlink studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of professional journalism to democratic citizenship is well-established, but the proliferation of online user-generated news begs the question of whether citizen journalism plays a similar role. Use and trust of both professional and citizen journalism were investigated for their associations with political knowledge and participation. User-generated journalism was negatively related with knowledge of national political figures, but strongly and positively associated with higher levels of online and offline participation; professional news media produced gains in knowledge and offline participation. Trust in user-generated news amplified the link between citizen journalism and online participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether information about a writer and hyperlinks on a citizen journalism Web site affected the perceived credibility of stories. Participants read stories from a popular citizen journalism Web site and rated the stories in terms of perceived credibility. Results show that hyperlinks and information about the writer do enhance perceived story credibility. Credibility is enhanced most greatly when both hyperlink and writer information are included and, to a lesser extent, when just hyperlink or writer information is present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research utilizes Shoemaker and Reese's Hierarchy of Influences to understand how routines influence online citizen journalism and online newspaper content. Reliance on routines affects the diversity of content publicly available. Overall, online daily newspaper journalists were more likely to rely on routines than online citizen journalists. Newspaper journalists relied more heavily on external sources, while citizen journalists used more unofficial sources and opinion. Thus, publication type is related to the presence of content that reflects media routines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]