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Palgrave Macmillan

Discussing the News

The Uneasy Alliance of Participatory Journalists and the Critical Public

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Simon Smith

    1. Institute of Sociological Studies, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

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  • Provides a significant contribution to the literature on digital/participatory journalism and knowledge creation
  • Presents an ethnographic account of knowledge-related newsroom routines and journalist/user competences
  • Addresses challenges confronting participatory models of journalism amid doubts about the ‘added value’ of online discussion for both journalism and democracy
  • Suggests a novel way of theorising online discussion moderation as front-line professional knowledge work

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Science, Knowledge and Policy (SKP)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Introduction

    • Simon Smith
    Pages 1-7

  3. Participatory Journalism as a Way of Knowing

    • Simon Smith
    Pages 9-25

  4. Contextualising the Research Setting

    • Simon Smith
    Pages 27-43

  5. Judging the Quality of Online Discussion: The Invisible Work of ‘Admins’

    • Simon Smith
    Pages 45-76

  6. The Conversations Between Participatory Journalists and Critical Publics

    • Simon Smith
    Pages 77-104

  7. Defending the Authenticity of Online Public Spheres

    • Simon Smith
    Pages 105-128

  8. Conclusion

    • Simon Smith
    Pages 129-142

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 143-151
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Keywords

About this book

This book examines two new roles that journalists assume in a participatory media environment – the administration (moderation) of online discussion and the monitoring of and engagement in comments below their articles. The author argues that it is precisely because both roles are treated as peripheral and undignified in newsrooms that they are so revealing, following the maxim: to make sense of what professions are and where they are heading, look at their boundaries and their dirty work. Based on a three-year ethnographic study, it offers key insights about the role of the media as democratic intermediaries in political participation, the creative possibilities for ‘amateurs’ as co-producers of digital news, the changing character of the knowledge professions and the dynamics of organisational innovation. The book argues that as media organisations face a crisis in their ability to represent the public, the challenge is to orchestrate participatory journalism as a collective accomplishment in which everyone is not a journalist but everyone can be a contributor. Bridging the divides between communication studies, linguistics, STS, organisational and occupational sociology it will interest social scientists and media studies experts.









Authors and Affiliations

  • Institute of Sociological Studies, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    Simon Smith

About the author

Simon Smith is a Researcher at the Institute of Sociological Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.



Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Discussing the News

  • Book Subtitle: The Uneasy Alliance of Participatory Journalists and the Critical Public

  • Authors: Simon Smith

  • Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Science, Knowledge and Policy

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52965-3

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-52964-6Published: 10 April 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-85025-2Published: 21 July 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-52965-3Published: 30 March 2017

  • Series ISSN: 2947-5805

  • Series E-ISSN: 2947-5813

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 151

  • Number of Illustrations: 14 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Media Sociology, Journalism, Media Research, Social Media, Media and Communication, Ethnography

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