Journalism as Social Networking: The Australian youdecide project and the 2007 Federal election

Flew, Terry and Wilson, Jason A. (2008) Journalism as Social Networking: The Australian youdecide project and the 2007 Federal election. Submitted to Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism. (Unpublished)

Full text available as:

PDF - UNSPECIFIED
159Kb

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of new media technologies and the rise of citizen journalism has coincided with a crisis in industrial journalism –as the figure of the "journalist as hero" is fading, new media forms have facilitated the production of news content "from below" by citizens and "pro-am" journalists. Participation in an action-research project run during the 2007 Australian Federal Election, youdecide 2007, allowed the authors to gain first-hand insights into the progress of citizen-led news media in Australia, but also allowed us to develop an account of what the work of facilitating citizen journalism involves. These insights are important to understanding the future of professional journalism and journalism education, as more mainstream media organizations move to accommodate and harness user-created content. The paper considers the relevance of citizen journalism projects as forms of R&D for understanding news production and distribution in participatory media cultures, and the importance of grounded case studies for moving beyond normative debates about new media and the future of journalism.

ID Code:	14217
Item Type:	Journal Article
Additional URLs :	http://jou.sagepub.com/
Keywords :	Journalism, citizen journalism, Australian politics, elections, action research, new media, Internet, online journalism
ISSN:	1741-3001
Subjects:	Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > STUDIES IN CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING (190000) > JOURNALISM AND PROFESSIONAL WRITING (190300)
Divisions:	QUT Faculties and Divisions > Faculty of Creative Industries
Copyright Owner :	Copyright 2008 (The authors)
Copyright Statement :	Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.
Deposited On:	30 Jul 2008
Last Modified:	23 Jan 2009 02:18

Export: EndNote | Dublin Core

Staff only: HERDC collection form

Repository Staff Only: item control page