Journalists may increase participation

A common complaint that I hear from journalists and academics is that the public simply does not care about important issues facing the nation and the world. To respond to this issue, news professionals should critically analyze how they can alter content to potentially encourage civic participation.

This post derives from the arguments of several researchers, whom are cited below. The authors argue that journalists cannot realistically expect citizens to be politically active by simply disseminating information from the mouths of sources. Instead, journalists should provide details that inform citizens of participation opportunities such as how they can get involved, where they can go to voice their concern, or whom they can contact. These researchers found that journalists rarely explain issues or provide information on how citizens can get involved with issues of direct concern to them. In the past, research has shown that journalists did not include this information because they viewed these details as a violation of the objectivity standard and there was simply not enough room to include them on-air or in print.

However, space is not as much of an issue online. Mobilizing or enabling information could be added in an information box adjacent to almost any type of story. Here is an example of how one news organization provided information to the public on how to participate. Look at the end of the story.

Gans, H.J. (1998). What can journalists actually do for American democracy? Press/Politics, 3(4), 6-12.

Lemert, J. B., Mitzman, B. N., Seither, M. A., Cook, R. H., & O’Neil, R. M. (1977). Journalists and mobilizing information. Journalism Quarterly, 54(4), 721-726.

Keefer, J. D. (1993). News media’s failure to facilitate citizen participation in the congressional policymaking process. Journalism Quarterly, 70(2), 412-424.

Hoffman, L. H. (2006). Is internet content different after all? A content analysis of mobilizing information in online and print newspapers. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 83(1), 58-76.

To what extent should we embrace multimedia?

More news organizations are buying digital video cameras for their reporters asking them to gather video for their stories. I am supportive of this practice, however it is important to understand how people process visual information.

Research conducted by Mendelson and Thorson featured in the Journal of Communication argues that there are two types of learners: visualizers and verbalizers. Visualizers process information more quickly by viewing images, while verbalizers prefer to learn by reading text. In the experiment, participants read two stories: one with a photo and the same story without a photo. Their results showed that the presence of a photo hindered high verbalizer’s recall of the story, while moderate to low verbalizers were aided by the presence of the photo.

This study is interesting because newspapers are a predominantly textual medium, and thus a potentially significant portion of newspaper readers may be high verbalizers. Could newspapers be losing their loyal readers if they provide a photo or video adjacent to every text story? It would be interesting to find out whether the “typical” newspaper reader is a vebalizer and if the move online may affect the liklihood that they continue reading the publication online. Or could online news organizations package information differently, meeting the needs of both verbalizers and visualizers? Perhaps, a site could provide two separate links to a story presented in two different ways: one textual and one visual.

Using digital photos for self-presentation

There is an interesting research article in the Visual Communication journal addressing how digital photos are now used more often for capturing moments, rather than capturing memories. In the past, the camera belonged to the family, however today it is used more by individuals, especially young people. The digital photograph is now more about visually communicating experiences with friends and family. The process of sharing photos is about confirming a bond or friendship, according to the article, “Digital photography: communication, identity, memory.” For example, on Facebook, users post a collection of photos showcasing their time at a football game or dinner with friends.

I began thinking about how news organizations can use this information to reach younger people:

1. News organizations could encourage the submission of a photo album, rather one photo. One photo does not always sum up one’s experience.
2. Information outlets could send breaking news photos to mobile phones.
3. A blogger could shoot a photo of themselves at an event and tell readers of his/her plan to share his/her perspective.
4. News organizations could ask for photos from users who experienced a tragedy or newsworthy event. This could be a sidebar to many different types of stories.
5. Ask for photo submissions about what it means to be (fill in the blank). Examples include Democrat, Republican, a resident, or a member of a group.
6. One of my students suggested allowing news users to comment on photos, not just text stories.

Encouraging access to research

My goal as a researcher is to share and decipher research found in academic journals on the topic of newer media. However, readers hoping to read an article in its entirety may not be able to do so because its takes some libraries, if they carry it, more than a year to provide access to it online. I have been in contact with professional organizations to see if access to journal articles is possible.

I will summarize and share with you the journal research articles that I have read, however I encourage you to talk to the authors of the research to find out more regarding what they have learned. And perhaps, conversations will lead to the sharing of ideas, and ultimately lead to increased accuracy of research conducted by those in academia.

Online journalism jobs

My expertise is in content analysis, and as a researcher, I love to address assumptions and tackle questions plaguing the field. One current controversy is related to what skills we should be teaching our students. There is controversy related to whether we should teach them software such as Dreamweaver or Flash. To address such controversy, I collected six months (January-June) of data from JournalismJobs.com Online Media job postings. I plan to analyze the data this fall.

Based on my observations, a significant portion of the job postings were not from news organizations, but rather from other organizations such as About.com, Grandparents.com, and AARP. If you teach online media, I would encourage your students to peruse these job listings to inform themselves that the other opportunities out there besides working for a traditional news organization because it is not always news organizations that producing great journalism.

Ryan Thornburg, a blogger and academic, has conducted survey research on skills desired by North Carolina newspapers. He found that working under pressure and news judgment were considered the most important skills of young journalists.

My first post

I have struggled during the past few years as to whether I should create my own blog. I have seen how it has consumed my colleague’s lives. They obsess for hours trying to write the perfect post. On the other hand, I have also witnessed how bloggers have helped so many people who are struggling with the transition online. Many academics and online information providers do not have many places to turn when trying to understand online journalism.

The goal of my site is to share teaching materials and ideas with other educators and information providers. I have witnessed the frustration academics encounter when trying to learn and understand how the presence of information online is affecting students, citizens, news organizations and academia. Not only will I share my teaching ideas and materials, as some great (e.g., Mindy McAdams) people have, I will also decipher research in journals related to online journalism. One common criticism I hear from some academics and professionals is that research published in journals is not written for the average reader. Just as history does, research can help explain, and even predict, how journalism will evolve.

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