Media Participation at IAMCR2010

July 19th, 2010 | by aobaoill |

Sitting in on my first IAMCR session – past of the Participatory Communication theme. Interesting to see some of the techniques used to facilitate participation in news programming, in particular. Currently watching a presentation about PeoPo in Taiwan. Nice schematic by the presenter, explicating the different ways in which users can participate:

  1. Citizen Production – report on events
  2. Citizen Dialogue – engage in discussion on forums
  3. Citizen Action – move to action, arranging events, etc.

The website is wholly in Mandarin, so the labelled guide provided (in one of the slides) was useful! Some stories from the site are picked up and given wider coverage on Taiwan TV – which users (in the study) valued for the validation it gave, in terms of attention to an issue that might not have got previous coverage, and validation of their own concern.
As I write this Pradip Thomas has started his response (as discussant). His claims:

  1. Citizens’ Journalism is here to stay
  2. Mainstreams are integrating elements of it, in order to retain audiences
  3. Arguments based on Habermas’ rational public sphere are ‘overblown’ because decisions in the real world aren’t based only on rationality. (One speaker had done a content analysis that noted prevalence of incivility, etc.)
  4. There are individual participants in Taiwan, but many are linked with NGOs, etc.
  5. Crisis: How can the media be involved in finding a dignified closure to crises. (This in response to a Finnish speaker who critiqued the coverage of crisis situations by Finnish media.)
  6. We need better theorizing of ht nature of interactivity, including “Why?” – who gets what out of it? What do audiences/the corporate sector get out of it?

  1. One Response to “Media Participation at IAMCR2010”

  2. By Andrew Ó Baoill on Jul 19, 2010 | Reply

    The post-panel discussion is focusing on error levels in user-generated and mainstream media. All mainstream outlets have “is their credibility” so they need to be careful about using such content. Newspaper editor responding, explaining the importance of the fact-checking process, and pointing to the need for content to be more substantive: “what I want is a government official who is willing to tell about fellow government officials, to say ‘I’m getting money at 5pm tomorrow, come organize a sting.’ Citizens’ Journalism must reach the next level.” Points to WikiLeaks as a good example.

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