Abstract:Alternative forms of journalism are said to challenge the passive role of audience members as receivers (Atton and Hamilton, 2008) and to foster active citizenship among alternative journalists and audiences (Harcup, 2013). Yet the scholarly literature on alternative journalism contains more assertions about than evidence from the audience. Downing (2003) has described the audience for alternative media as "the virtually unknown", prompting him to urge journalism scholars to undertake more audience research to… Show more
“…This is relevant in light of recent research on ‘dark participation’ and online harassment of journalists showing that engagement can also entail negative consequences (Lewis et al, 2020). In this regard, research on audience engagement could benefit considerably from perspectives developed in studies on alternative, local or peace journalism that have specifically explored how journalism might potentially encourage, reinforce and reflect the active democratic engagement of readers as citizens (Harcup, 2016). Figure 4.Dynamic model of audience engagement.…”
Scholars repeatedly argue that ‘audience engagement’ as a concept and, consequently as a practice, remain inconsistent and ambiguous. Such conceptual inconsistency is in tension with the relevance that the phenomenon of audience engagement has gained in contemporary discussions about journalism. In this article, we tackle the conceptual inconsistency of audience engagement by conducting a qualitative examination of all academic peer-reviewed publications (217) that dealt with ‘audience engagement’ and interrelated terms such as ‘user engagement’, ‘news engagement’ and ‘engaged journalism’, published between 2007 and 2018. Grounded in this empirical examination, we found that, first, definitions and operationalisations of audience engagement emphasised the production context of journalism over that of reception, yielding relatively unbalanced insights into the phenomenon. Second, we offer a Dynamic Model of Audience Engagement composed of four dimensions: normative, habitual, spatio-temporal and embodied. By grasping the complexity and multidimensionality of audience engagement and by aligning audience engagement with the notion with journalism’s democratic goal of informing the citizenry and more concretely its audience, our Dynamic Model of Audience Engagement facilitates future academic discussions in and around the topic of audience engagement.
“…This is relevant in light of recent research on ‘dark participation’ and online harassment of journalists showing that engagement can also entail negative consequences (Lewis et al, 2020). In this regard, research on audience engagement could benefit considerably from perspectives developed in studies on alternative, local or peace journalism that have specifically explored how journalism might potentially encourage, reinforce and reflect the active democratic engagement of readers as citizens (Harcup, 2016). Figure 4.Dynamic model of audience engagement.…”
Scholars repeatedly argue that ‘audience engagement’ as a concept and, consequently as a practice, remain inconsistent and ambiguous. Such conceptual inconsistency is in tension with the relevance that the phenomenon of audience engagement has gained in contemporary discussions about journalism. In this article, we tackle the conceptual inconsistency of audience engagement by conducting a qualitative examination of all academic peer-reviewed publications (217) that dealt with ‘audience engagement’ and interrelated terms such as ‘user engagement’, ‘news engagement’ and ‘engaged journalism’, published between 2007 and 2018. Grounded in this empirical examination, we found that, first, definitions and operationalisations of audience engagement emphasised the production context of journalism over that of reception, yielding relatively unbalanced insights into the phenomenon. Second, we offer a Dynamic Model of Audience Engagement composed of four dimensions: normative, habitual, spatio-temporal and embodied. By grasping the complexity and multidimensionality of audience engagement and by aligning audience engagement with the notion with journalism’s democratic goal of informing the citizenry and more concretely its audience, our Dynamic Model of Audience Engagement facilitates future academic discussions in and around the topic of audience engagement.
“…Finally, the news ecology approach attempts to move our understanding of local news closer to the experiences of the audience who remain neglected by much journalism Total news producers = 9 Total council communicators = 5 research (Harcup 2015). Considering the value of local news from the audience's perspective requires recognition that audiences draw local news from multiple outlets and platforms.…”
“…Dabei nehmen sie per Selbstverständnis eine Stimme oder den Blickwinkel von ignorierten oder unterrepräsentierten Bürger_innen ein (Atton, 2007). Das Publikum alternativer Medien setzt sich folglich gleichbedeutend aus Personen zusammen, die mit der herrschenden Öffentlichkeit, dem Mainstream, unzufrieden sind (Harcup, 2016). Weiter kann die Produktion und Konsumtion von alternativen Nachrichtenmedien ausserdem mit Bürger_innen-Aktivismus in Verbindung stehen (Figenschou & Ihlebaek, 2018;Haller & Holt, 2018;Rauch, 2007).…”
Section: Iii41 Alternativmedien Im Digitalen Zeitalterunclassified
Die digitale Transformation der Öffentlichkeit führte zu einem Aufschwung von alternativen Nachrichtenmedien im Netz, die den professionellen Informationsjournalismus konkurrieren. Als Gegenöffentlichkeiten stehen sie in Opposition zur hegemonialen Öffentlichkeit aus Politik und Medien. Lisa Schwaiger nimmt eine Bestandsaufnahme alternativer Nachrichtenmedien im deutschsprachigen Raum vor und ordnet diese typologisch ein. Mit einem netzwerkanalytischen Ansatz untersucht sie die Relationen zwischen Alternativ- und Mainstreammedien in der Twitter-Sphäre und liefert neue Erkenntnisse zu einem gesellschaftlich hochrelevanten Thema.
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