This Year’s (News Production) Model

Experiencing Journalism: A new model for online newspapers

Tom asked me to write a brief description of the book chapter I presented at his l New Media Theory (How far have we traveled) conference at Texas Tech April 16, 2010, so here goes: (Editor’s Note:  This was the first-place paper at the conference. Way to go Sue!)

This research explored new approaches to American news production practices by drawing from online journalism literature and in-depth interviews with journalists, citizen journalists and audience members as well as a yearlong ethnography of a news organization going completely digital. In the chapter I proposed a revised online model that suggests there is a new concentration on public experience for journalism in addition to the more traditional functions of news as orienting and instrumental. This model, an expansion of one put forth by scholar Mark Deuze (2003) and Joel Bardoel (1996), incorporates both a participatory mission and the intention to be immersive within converged media platforms. In essence, the model exemplifies the idea that the news has not only taken on the properties of a singular, discrete product but also an open-source process that shifts the productive dynamics in the news reporter-audience roles and relationships.

If you’re interested in reading the whole thing, let me know at robinson4@wisc.edu. The chapter will be published in a book slated to come out in 2011 by Wiley-Blackwell called Online Journalism: Global Perspectives, Local Practices (Eugenia Siapera and Andreas Veglis, eds).