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This article draws on the case of La Gordiloca, a Facebook-based journalist from Laredo, TX, to interrogate the increasing role of social media within news-making processes. Applauded by The New York Times as a paragon of twenty-first century journalism and under scrutiny from local businesses and law enforcement for defamation and misuse of official information, she occupies a space between digital journalist and social media celebrity. Combining a content analysis with focus groups of Laredo residents, we argue that her work reflects a constitutive paradox unique to social media journalism: Whereas new technologies expand opportunities for citizens to participate in the process of news production, they also enable the corrosion of norms/practices that oriented previous forms of news production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on legal treatise and be more pointed by not only reciting the history of the law and intrusive newsgatherings with issues regarding prying, spying and lying.

Even democracies endowed with the most active free press struggle to maintain diversity of news coverage. Consolidation and market forces may cause only a few dominant players to control the news cycle. Editorial policies may be biased by corporate ownership relations, narrowing news coverage and focus. To an increasing degree this problem also applies to social media news distribution, since it is subject to the same socio-economic drivers. To study the effects of consolidation and ownership on news diversity, we model the diversity of Chilean coverage on the basis of ownership records and social media data. We create similarity networks of news outlets on the basis of their ownership and the topics they cover. We then examine the relationships between the topology of ownership networks and content similarity to characterize how ownership affects news coverage. A network analysis reveals that Chilean media is highly concentrated both in terms of ownership as well as in terms of topics covered. Our method can be used to determine which groups of outlets and ownership exert the greatest influence on news coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several recent studies have examined how professional journalists use social media at work. However, we know little about the differences between younger and older journalists' use of social media for newsgathering. We conducted 16 in-depth interviews comparing eight young journalists (median age = 24) with eight older journalists (median age = 50) in Norway. The younger journalists reported using multiple social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, to collect politically significant information, news observations, sources and comments. By comparison, the older journalists reported relying heavily on elite sources on Twitter. This reluctance to use a variety of social media platforms may limit older journalists' exposure to a variety of news sources. As a result, younger journalists seem to follow a more multi-perspectival approach to social media and may be more innovative in their newsgathering. Hence, younger journalists may be exposed to more diverse types of news sources than older journalists. Together, the findings indicate a generational gap in 'networked publics' concerning how younger and older journalists approach newsgathering in social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how journalistic practices have evolved as news producers learn the importance of ensuring trusted individuals gathering content on the ground are kept safe. This research, in particular, focuses on the relationship between BBC journalists and those producing content and information in Syria to whom there is a duty of care. Drawing on interviews with BBC news journalists, this study finds that relationships with citizen journalists and social media literate activists have become more networked and complex over the past five years. Contributors have become trusted sources of content and intelligence, and journalists have at times encouraged eyewitnesses to participate in the newsgathering process. For an international broadcaster this poses challenges, both ethical and physical. Journalists must navigate the path between ensuring high-value information and content can be accessed while maintaining a rapport with people operating in a conflict zone. Journalists must fulfil their duty of care to these individuals, ensuring their safety in a country which is one of the most dangerous in the world to report from. Findings indicate a change in approach by news producers in terms of engagement with citizen journalists covering Syria. These changes in working practices are based on experience gained over 10 years where journalists have interacted with citizen journalists and eyewitnesses in breaking news situations across the globe. From the perspective of the journalist, a critical apparatus has also been developed to ensure links with citizen journalists can continue and flourish while minimising risks and challenges to both parties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Various studies conclude that from the point of view of journalists, the media convergence brings an improvement in the quality of journalism. Others argue that this phenomenon is rather a managerial subterfuge, as it requires fewer staff, and by default fewer journalists. The media convergence encourages the public to participate in the process of creating the content, but as a downside called upon is the difference in participation in that certain segments of the public are neglected and are unable to participate in the new media culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the public and citizen journalism movements of recent years and offers some perspectives on how the current and future journalism can function to benefit democratic public life. A major argument of this article is that ‘conversation’ defines news as a process of negotiated social meaning and that it should be the organizing principle of today’s journalism. It is also argued that traditional journalistic principles such as objectivity and distance may no longer be useful to today’s citizen journalism and that we see a rise of new journalistic principles such as interactivity and transparency. Finally, borrowing from deliberative democracy literature, a bottom-up flow model to connect citizen and public journalism is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports findings from two studies regarding the role citizen reporting plays in emergencies. Findings from first study, a content analysis of citizen reporting about the Haiti Earthquake, Gezi Park Protests (Istanbul), Xynthia Storm (Europe) and Boston Bombings, indicates that citizen reporters were predominantly engaging in reporting of straight news. Citizen reporters were more likely to report their own observations than reporting or summarizing information they gathered from mainstream news sources. Relatedly, we found that citizen reporters were more likely to give voice to alternative sources of information, like bystanders or witnesses of incidents, than sources, such as government representatives. However, we also found that use of alternative sources does not necessarily translate to providing viewpoints that may contextualize the events. Namely, we found that episodic frames, rather than thematic frames, were likely to be utilized by citizen reporters. The second study, online interviews with citizen reporters whose coverage was content-analysed in the first study, found that a sense of editorial independence and disenchantment with the mainstream media's coverage of the incidents were the main sources of motivation for citizen reporters. Results also indicate that citizen reporters tend to adopt a 'publish, then filter' approach to reporting and fact-checking. Implications for information verification issues are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

A survey of county commissioners, chamber of commerce executives and journalists in western Kansas examined perceptions and attitudes toward change in a region of declining population. The surveys were augmented with follow-up interviews. The results showed a strong preference for locally generated news content and a belief that rural journalists should be both objective and community boosters. There was skepticism towards the Internet as a source of local news. While all respondents said they welcome newcomers, only one in five indicated they were comfortable with the rising numbers of Hispanics and Latinos in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea's OhmyNews reports unique consequences of citizen reporting and participation. While many citizen news operations have come and gone, OhmyNews has been remarkably successful and has become one of the most powerful news sites in its country. This case study explores the concept of journalistic professionalism among OhmyNews citizen journalists and assesses whether perceptions of their journalistic work align with Singer's dimensions of professionalism (i.e., cognitive, normative and evaluative dimensions). We then compare these perceptions to those of professional journalists within the organization and integrate them into journalistic role conceptions. Findings show that both groups work through collaboration, checks and balances, and a negotiation of autonomy. Both benefit from the partnership and share similarities, rather than differences, in their effort to remain sustainable in contemporary media culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While news organizations worldwide struggle to adapt to the changing media landscape and large regional papers in Norway decline, the local Norwegian newspaper enjoys some of the highest readership in the world. Since the decentralization of the government in the 1970s, Norwegian culture has witnessed what Skogerbø and Winsvold describe as a “revalorization of the local”: a counter-urbanization in which local newspapers play a key role in preserving a sense of local community identity. This qualitative inquiry uses a media sociology perspective to explore the role community journalists see for themselves in a society that places such salience on preserving local identity, and whether they feel pressure to adapt to a changing media landscape. A total of 36 journalists at nine local newspapers were interviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Journalists have traditionally focused on a small range of elite sources. Far less attention went to ordinary or common people, resulting in little visibility for that community in news output. However, bottom-up Web 2.0 technologies have given common people new communication tools, allowing them to disperse information autonomously. This has made traditional news media aware of a public desire for bottom-up participation in the news production process. Accordingly, some news media have begun to offer their own participation features. Bearing this context in mind, we address the question whether Web 2.0 has helped increase the visibility and importance of the common people in daily news output. Via a content analysis of five Flemish newspapers, the current representation of ordinary citizens is compared to a decade ago, before the appearance Web 2.0. The analysis shows that citizens appear more prominently in the news nowadays. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article addresses the issue of transparency in the newsgathering of the information in blog journalism. At first, the text speaks of the newsgathering in journalistic blogs, then focus on the way here called "transparent newsgathering", which is to reveal the usual route taken to get the information used for posting. Finally, we conclude pointing out how a transparent newsgathering in cyberspace can contribute to producing a better journalism [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to emphasize the complexity of the news production process, the convergence and divergence of blogging from traditional journalism, the relationship of citizens emerging as producers of journalism, the role of journalism in the new media landscape, and the growing influence of blogs on users. We seek to contribute to a wider understanding of contextual and cultural influences on the proliferation of news providers on the Internet, the nature of the challenges that alternative journalism presents to the mainstream, the value of participatory media production, the factual nature of news, and the social construction of news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the circumscribed Canadian charter's section 2(b), which provides the press in National Post and other media-pertinent cases and presents an alternative constitutionalized approach to adjudicating journalist source. It also discusses associated rights of freedom that for journalism that are mentioned in the section. It reports that the section requires that the press guarantee more than journalists possessing in their news gathering capacities.

The conceptual relationships between what has been called citizen journalism, participatory journalism and crowdsourcing journalism in the context of the evolution of user-generated content (UGC) in the media are examined. The research on user participation in the media, since the first studies of interactivity to the most recent work addressing specific issues such as quality or control, is also reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New technologies have facilitated the rise of citizen journalism, which promises to dramatically change the role of citizens in conflict reporting from consumers to producers and victims and witnesses to framers and analysts. If this potential is realised, the implications of this new form of journalism are significant, as they stand to challenge the government's traditional role as the dominant source and interpreter of conflicts. This study examines the degree to which the citizen's role has changed in conflict reporting through a comparative analysis of the 2008 Mumbai attacks in the New York Times, New Zealand Herald, London Times and the Times of India. The study finds that the rise of event-driven conflict news reporting offers a limited window of opportunity for non-governmental sources, particularly at the beginning of the conflict, to influence media coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of news workers were laid off in the United Kingdom and North America in 2008-2009. While daily newspapers were particularly affected, labour cuts also hit broadcasters and news magazines. Popular commentary has often attempted to explain the cuts as a result of Internet competition, aging audiences for news and a slumping global economy. Optimists suggest the rise of new media practices such as blogging and citizen journalism have, despite the contraction of newsrooms, expanded the range of information and opinion available to citizens. This paper is an attempt to clarify what is an unquestionably chaotic moment in journalism. Our focus is the labour of reporting—the quotidian work of gathering information of public interest and packaging it into a story. The paper uses Pierre Bourdieu's field theory to contextualize the use of new media technologies by amateur and professional journalists in an attempt to understand the power relations that inform the work of reporting. We argue that labour rationalization in combination with the use of new technologies, shrinking audiences, 24-hour news cycles, and intensified hyper-commercialization is fundamentally reorganizing the division of labour in newsrooms. Importantly, we argue there is little empirical evidence to suggest that unpaid citizen journalists will replace the lost labour of reporting—the work of collecting information, synthesizing it and presenting it for public consumption via storytelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A content analysis of 86 citizen blog sites, 53 citizen news sites and 63 daily newspaper sites indicated that citizen journalism sites, including both news and blog sites, differed significantly from newspaper sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this article the author discusses incorporating social media in professional news. He notes that there are much debate on the part of citizen reporters to the changing environment of news. He mentions that the emergence of citizen journalism, which was further fueled by social networks, has encountered hostility in some sectors. Moreover, he explores the advantages and disadvantages of integrating citizen journalists' works into professional news.

This article investigates the emergence of innovations in the social movement sector by exploring citizen journalism in South Korea. The findings show that the innovation resulted from brokerage activities among journalists, labour and unification activists, and progressive intellectuals. Despite different cultural visions and interests, these groups succeeded in building coalitions and constituted a sociocultural milieu that promoted reciprocal learning by allowing actors to realize new ideas and to exchange experiences. The empirical part of the study is based on a social network analysis of social movement groups and alternative media organizations active in South Korea between 1995 and 2002. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the results from the 1st Annual Middleberg/Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) Survey of Media in the Wired World. It says that the research analyzed the impact of new communications and social media tools and technologies on journalists and journalism. It mentions that SNCR designated the research to determine how journalists adopt the new tools and technologies and their attitudes towards social media and citizen journalism. It adds SNCR/Middleberg research team in collaboration with TWI Surveys Inc. conducted the study through Web-based survey. It says that the survey highlighted the rapid adoption of media and online communication tools by journalists and the different attitude between youngest and older journalists towards it.

This paper applies gatekeeping theory to examine Community Correspondent, an online citizen journalism web site created by Pappas Telecasting, a privately held television broadcasting company. The company declares the site to be for the non-journalist citizen, and urges people to report on things that matter to them. Because Community Correspondent is one of the first ventures by a local broadcaster into citizen journalism, the study investigates who is contributing, if contributors are fulfilling the site's purpose, and what kinds of items are posted. The study is a content analysis of 179 contributions by citizens to Community Correspondent sites hosted by Pappas stations in three markets-Fresno, Omaha, and El Paso. Citizen contributions were classified as community bulletin board items, station promotional items, comments on stories in the news, original stories, and other. Most contributions were original stories, and more were videos than text. However, more than half the items posted on the El Paso site were submitted by station employees, and most of those were station promotions, contrary to the mission of Community Correspondent. The researcher suggests that the lack of gatekeeping on the Community Correspondent sites contributes to a lack of quality and usefulness of the citizen-generated items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic study of day-to-day practices of citizen reporters, compared to their mainstream counterparts, suggests that ordinary citizens can serve as a vital complement to mainstream journalism, however not as its substitute. The paper develops a version of the “news access” theory, which sees citizen journalists as hindered by their inferior access to news sources, unlike mainstream journalism, where the problem is seen as the superior access of some of their sources to extensive and favored coverage. There are several symptoms for citizen reporters' limited news access: their modest use of human sources; the high proportion of one-source items; their reluctance to interactively negotiate versions with sources; and their contacts with sources tend to be ad hoc exchanges, rather than long-term role relationships. On the other hand, citizen reporters have adopted several mechanisms that help them make up for their comparably limited access. They are much more likely to pursue stories at their own initiative. They tend to predicate their stories on firsthand witnessing, technical sources (mainly Internet), personal acquaintances, and on their own experience. Data were gleaned from a series of interviews in which reporters from Israeli citizen and mainstream news websites explained how they formulated their sampled items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the role of the media during the two months of postelection crisis in 2008 in Kenya. We discuss how people exchanged information during and after the media ban and analyze online discussions and media coverage. Particular emphasis is given to the role of the social media, such as Web 2.0 communication tools and services, which enable citizens to interact or share content online. Our analysis shows that during the crisis, the social media functioned as an alternative medium for citizen communication or participatory journalism. This experience has important implications for the process of democratization in Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is a picture worth a thousand words? Is the power of the photograph overlooked by many writers? In two articles, the BJR celebrates the roll of the photojournalist. Accomplished photographer Brennan writes: "Looking now at old news pictures and newsreels, I cannot believe my work and that of my now my equally ageing colleagues has become archive material. There was much criticism in the 70s and 80s of voyeurism, because of the harrowing images of war, particularly those from Vietnam from... many great, brave, photojournalists. That debate appears to have gone away. Now we are bombarded with images so graphic and instant that the pictures from that earlier time appear almost benevolent... And technology has allowed anyone to be a 'citizen journalist'. Pictures from news events, sometimes taken from cell-phone cameras and usually of poor quality, fetch top dollar with major news organizations. Everyone is a 'news' photographer, triggering an influx by opportunist and mostly untalented snappers that some believe has sounded the death knell for great news photography. I don't believe that's the case. Technology has only enhanced the skills of the new breed of serious photojournalists." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the factors affecting the focused event of the global mass media. Whenever something happens, it simultaneously confirms and disturbs the experience of time. The technically enhanced surveillance of any fleeting, volatile, unrepeatable occurrence in turn gives rise to general coverage. The disappearance of a certain event is subsumed under a general notion of violence or weather, and thus its singularity is only recognizable when it is split off from the impact or harm by distance. Media rely on disappearance as a negative function of repetition in their coverage. Globally, events are covered up by screen memories, and this detachment represses all questions of judgment in favor of pure replay.

The article presents an off-road understanding of organization perspective necessary to understand the state of international news flow in terms of production among Third World and Western countries. It mentions that the production of international news is similar to that of domestic news. It adds that in understanding international newsgathering, it is important to understand news exchange in a perspective proposed by the New International Information Order (NIIO). Moreover, it cites Jeremy Tunstall's view of news organization as a "non-routine bureaucracy."

The article presents a study which examines the new gathering procedures of news involving China by foreign journalists, information sources, and the provided facilities for journalistic activities by the Chinese government. It mentions the importance of understanding the philosophy of the country in studying the relationship of its government with foreign journalists. It states that the disapproval of China in traditional western news gathering is considered partly hypocritical and misconceived. It also considers language barrier as one of the hindrances among foreign journalists since only few Beijing correspondents can read the Chinese language and speak Mandarin.

The article reports on efforts by Steffen Leidel and Elena Ern to improve the quality of content on Latin American blogs and related forms of on-line citizen journalism through "blog re-visto" (www.revisto.de), a project of the German entity Deutsche Welle Akademie. It distinguishes between citizen news gathering and professional journalism, noting that news presented according to journalistic principles carries the highest quality, credibility, and overall value. Finding that Internet connectivity is increasing and improving in Latin America, the article describes the greatest challenge to citizen reporting as ensuring content quality.

The article discusses the systematic ways for the study of journalism worldwide based from Latin America. It notes that a research in Latin America's journalism has many questions which adopt new inquired theories from arguments on globalization to institutionalism. It mentions that technology developments have improved newsgathering and the output of citizen journalism. It points out that the technology has helped the quality of reports, changed the purpose of the press in reflecting public arguments, and fortified the existence of civil interest in press organization.