The Convergence and Society: The Participatory Web conference at the University of South Carolina kicked off with a session on convergence and citizen journalism.
First up was Thomas Baggerman of Capital University, who has looked at US TV stations application of citizen media.
His findings after looking at 103 TV websites confirms what other studies have shown. Most seek to control the kind of content from the public that is published on professional news sites.
In Baggerman’s words, the TV stations “don’t get it”, despite the fact that the broadcast industry talks about citizen journalism as a way of extending the brand, expand coverage at reduced cost and expand the localism of a site.
But the reality is that the TV stations were not using user-generated content to connect with viewers and develop their localism. Overall there was little opportunity for public commentary on the news, but more of an appeal for photos and video from the audience.
One popular form of interactivity were polls. These polls were often found on the homepage but it was not clear if the results would make it to the TV news bulletin.
Baggerman concluded that TV stations are concerned about relinquishing control of their site, which reflects the findings of other studies – journalists are retaining a traditional gate-keeper role towards user-generated content.
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Filed under: academics, education, journalism , Capital University, convergence, participatory web, UGC, University of South Carolina
[...] The Link Posted by Ron Yaros | Permalink | SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “TV Stations and Citizen Journalism”, url: “http://www.merrill.umd.edu/multimedia/index.php/2008/10/tv-stations-and-citizen-journalism/” });Filed under: video | [...]
And if you don’t maintain the gatekeeper role this is what happens: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/apple-denies-citizen-journalist-report/
You don’t have (and you shouldn’t) pull down the gate to let the public in. Moderated content is of a higher value than a free for all. The audience is already suffering from information overload. Journalists’ role should be to reduce the information overload, not to add to it. Editors are more important than ever in today’s landscape.
[...] US TV stations “don’t get” citizen journalism « Reportr.net "The reality is that the TV stations were not using user-generated content to connect with viewers and develop their localism. Overall there was little opportunity for public commentary on the news, but more of an appeal for photos and video from the audience. [...]