352 / 658
350
Thursday, November 10
0 9 : 0 0 – 1 0 : 3 0
JOS03
Engaging the Public Online
PP 016
When Journalists Go “Below the Line”: Engaging with the Audience via Comment Fields at the Guardian (2006–2013)
T. Graham
1
, S. Wright
2
, D. Jackson
3
, A. Carson
2
1
University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
2
The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
3
Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
Mainstream news media have been struggling with the rise of a network society in which the distinction between journalist, source and audience has
blurred. This is particularly true with the opening up of news articles to readers’ comments. “Below the line” comment fields are one of the most popular
forms of user-generated content within legacy news media. Such spaces are important because they give audiences a space to debate news content with
each other–and journalists themselves–and this could, in theory, shape the practice of journalism and impact both the mediated and general public
spheres. To date, most research on audience participation via comment fields has concentrated on journalists’ experiences and perceptions. Few empirical
studies have analysed the actual behaviour of audiences/journalists in comment sections and then mostly focusing on civility/incivility. This paper begins
to fill these gaps by examining how journalists interact and collaborate with their audience via comment fields. Our research seeks to illuminate how
the bottom-up features of readers’ comments (re)shape traditional top-down journalism practices by making crowdsourcing, audience interaction and
the emergent news sharing culture an integral part of the reporting process. It does so by searching for answers to two crucial questions: To what extent
and how do journalists engage with the audience in comment sections? And how do journalists and the audience together negotiate journalism’s quality
standards in their interaction? The paper ultimately aims to explore the ways journalists interact and collaborate with their audience, and what this tells
us about journalism today, which is more and more influenced by the affordances of a networked online culture. Our research is based on a quantitative
content analysis in combination with a textual analysis of the comment fields at the Guardian from 2006 until the end of 2013 Our corpus consists of all
articles containing at least one Guardian journalist comment. First, the paper quantitatively analyses the number of articles open to comments each year;
the volume of comments received; and how often journalists engage. Second, the paper uses content analysis to analyse all of the comments made by
a random sub-sample of 25 (political and/or environmental) journalists over the 8-year period. As a measure of the journalists-audience interaction, each
comment posted by a journalist is firstly coded for reciprocity (e.g. is it a direct reply to a participant?). Secondly, it identifies the function of the comments
(e.g. arguing, providing/requesting information/sources, degrading, acknowledging/thanking, requesting reader input, criticizing/defending journalism,
updating/correcting the story). Finally, the influence of the comment is coded (e.g. receiving replies, changing the tone of debate). Based on our observa‑
tions, we discuss the findings in light of ongoing debates around journalistic knowledge production and quality journalism, seeking answers to questions
such as: do comments reflect on journalistic practices, provide additional viewpoints or suggestions for further research, relate to other comments, or look
for new information?What happens when a journalist participates in the discussion: how do they relate to their audience, do they receive replies, and does
their contribution impact the debate?
PP 017
Sourcing and Engaging the Crowd: Audience Interaction and Participation in Slow Journalism
R. Siebe
1
, L. Knaudt
1
, F. Harbers
1
, T. Graham
1
1
University of Groningen, Media Studies and Journalism, Groningen, Netherlands
Legacy news media have been struggling with the rise of a network society in which the distinction between journalist, source and audience has blurred.
Although traditional media acknowledge the need to adopt new, participatory forms of online journalism, they remain reluctant to leave their top-down
practice behind out of fear of jeopardizing their authority as source of trustworthy information about society. Against this background, new‘slow journalism’
startups like De Correspondent and Krautreporter in respectively the Netherlands and Germany explicitly embrace audience involvement and emphasize
its value as an additional way of gathering in-depth information from different perspectives. Characterized by in-depth research, transparency about its
methods and procedures, and a more personal form of coverage, the discourse and practice of slow journalism draws on a more bottom-up participatory
culture of reporting on and engaging with the news. This article examines how slow journalism redefines journalistic quality in terms of transparency, par‑
ticipation, and collaboration and how this affects the journalistic practice and forms, focusing in particular on the interaction between the journalists and
their audience. By analyzing the comment sections of De Correspondent and Krautreporter, we search answers to three central
questions:Whatis the nature
of the debate and deliberation amongst the users?To what extent and how do journalistic professionals engage with the audience in comment section? And
how do journalists and the audience together negotiate journalism’s quality standards in their interaction? The paper ultimately aims to explore the way
these outlets interact with their audience and what this tells us about the way quality journalism is being redefined in the 21
st
century. Our research will
be based on a quantitative content analysis in combination with a textual analysis of the comment sections of De Correspondent and Krautreporter. Our
corpus consists of all the comments on the articles published in the contributions from April 2016. The sample will consist of 100 to 150 journalistic articles
containing 1000 to 2000 comments per platform. As a measure of the nature of debate and journalists-audience interaction, each comment will firstly be
coded for the type of interaction (with the content, journalist, and/or fellow participant). Secondly, it identifies the function of the comments (e.g. argu‑
ing, providing/requesting information/sources, degrading, acknowledging/thanking, requesting reader input, criticizing/defending journalism, updating/
correcting the story). The function of the comment can be specific for the roles of the user or the journalist but they may also overlap. Finally, its influence
is coded (e.g. receiving replies, changing the tone of debate). So far, most research on audience participation on journalistic platforms has concentrated
on journalists’ experiences and perceptions. Very few empirical studies have analyzed the actual behavior of audiences/journalists in comment sections
and then mostly focusing on civility/incivility. Moreover, the focus is mostly on traditional journalistic organizations. This paper begins to fill these gaps by
examining the role of the audience on new slow journalism startups, which seeks to move beyond traditional professional standards and redefine quality
journalism as a more collaborative practice of gathering, verifying and interpreting information.