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Citation: Domingo, D., Quandt, T., Heinonen, A., Paulussen, S., Singer, J. and Vujnovic,
M. (2008). Participatory Journalism Practices in the Media and Beyond: An International
Comparative Study of Initiatives in Online Newspaper. Journalism Practice, 2(3), pp. 326-
342. doi: 10.1080/17512780802281065
This is the accepted version of the paper.
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Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/3457/
Link to published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17512780802281065
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Copyright information
The final and definitive version of this manuscript has been published in:
Journalism Practice © 2008; all rights reserved, Routledge / Taylor & Francis Group
Abstract available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512780802281065#.U_tm2bSvvVo
DOI: 10.1080/17512780802281065
Please cite as:
Domingo, D., Quandt, T. Heinonen, A., Paulussen, S., Singer, J. B., and Vujnovic, M. (2008).
Participatory Journalism Practices in the Media and Beyond: An international comparative study
of initiatives in online newspapers. Journalism Practice 2 (3), 326-342.
Participatory journalism practices in the media and beyond: an
international comparative study of initiatives in online newspapers
David Domingo, Thorsten Quandt, Ari Heinonen,
Steve Paulussen, Jane B. Singer and Marina Vujnovic
David Domingo, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication,
University of Iowa, USA / Assistant Professor, Dept. of Communication, Universitat Rovira i Virgili,
Catalonia.
david-domingo@uiowa.edu / david.domingo@urv.cat
Thorsten Quandt, Ph. D., Jun.-Professor of Communication Studies/Journalism, Institut f. Publizistik- und
Kommunikationswissenschaft, Free University Berlin, Germany.
thorstenquandt@t-online.de
Ari Heinonen, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of
Tampere, Finland.
ari.a.heinonen@uta.fi
Steve Paulussen, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, IBBT Research Group for Media & ICT (MICT), Dept. of
Communication Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium.
steve.paulussen@ugent.be
Jane Singer, Ph.D., Johnston Press Chair in Digital Journalism, Dept. of Journalism, University of Central
Lancashire, UK / Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Iowa,
USA.
jbsinger@uclan.ac.uk
Marina Vujnovic, Editor of
Journal of Communication Inquiry
, School of Journalism and Mass
Communication, University of Iowa, USA.
marina-vujnovic@uiowa.edu
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ABSTRACT
This article is a contribution to the debate on audience participation in online media with a twofold aim: a)
making conceptual sense of the phenomenon of participatory journalism in the framework of journalism
research, and b) determining the forms that it is taking in eight European countries and the USA. First,
participatory journalism is considered in the context of the historical evolution of public communication. A
methodological strategy for systematically analysing citizen participation opportunities in the media is then
proposed and applied. A sample of 16 online newspapers offers preliminary data that suggest news
organisations are interpreting online user participation mainly as an opportunity for their readers to
debate current events, while other stages of the news production process are closed to citizen
involvement or controlled by professional journalists when participation is allowed. However, different
strategies exist among the studied sample, and contextual factors should be considered in further
research.
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1. Introduction
Now that newspapers are exploring newsroom convergence and eroding the boundaries between print,
broadcast and online media, participatory journalism seems to add another dimension that questions
previous boundaries—and definitions—of professional journalism. The borderline that separates
professional journalists and their audience seems to be blurring (Bruns 2005; Jenkins 2006).
Until recently, the working routines and values of journalistic culture had remained highly stable for
almost a century (Tuchman 2002; Schudson 2005), even after being declared in crisis (Dahlgren 1996;
Blumler and Gurevitch 1996). Traditionally, journalism has been attached to the institution of the media,
based on the production of news by dedicated paid labour, the journalists. The term ‘gatekeeper’, used to
describe a main task of journalists, indicates their claim to be the ones who decide what the public needs
to know, as well as when and how such information should be provided. The gatekeeper role is
maintained and enforced by professional routines and conventions that are said to guarantee the quality
and neutrality of institutional journalism (Shoemaker 1991; Reese and Ballinger 2001).
But contemporary critics have proposed alternative models such as public journalism (Rosen 1999;
Massey and Haas 2002) that asked for a more reciprocal relationship between reporters and their
audience, suggesting news should be a conversation rather than a lecture (Kunelius 2001; Gillmor 2004).
In the past decade, new communication technologies, particularly network communication, have made it
possible for others also to publish content for a potentially global audience. Of course, the arenas of public
communication and especially news production still are dominated by the media, but in certain spheres,
alternative agenda-setting actors do exist, and they are producing news themselves. Thus, institutional
journalism has encountered—for the first time—a serious challenge to its social function, an activity
parallel to its own.
A new and relevant object of study is how journalists in the established, institutionalised media react in
this situation (Lowrey 2006; Chung 2007; Hermida and Thurman 2007). This article is an initial effort to
explore the extent to which the current development of audience participation opportunities in online
newspapers is redefining journalistic culture, values and practices. We want to examine online media to
see when and how institutional journalism accommodates the public’s capacity to participate in news
communication as more than mere receivers. This is not a normative statement implying that media
institutions and journalists in fact should abandon traditional core tasks in favour of participatory
journalism, but scholarly curiosity about whether institutional journalism empowers and engages citizens
in public communication with newly available means.
