The audiences in the digital realm are no longer “passive information receivers” (De Keyser & Raeymaeckers, 2012). With the abilities to capture news as it happens on smartphones and share news on social media, the former audiences have become citizen journalists. “This transformation includes the dissolution of the strict separation of producer and recipient roles that has existed for a long time” (Wilhelm et al., 2021).
Traditional journalists have had to adapt just to be heard and trusted. This trust is being built through engagement and interactivity. This evolving relationship between journalists and audiences has been heavily influenced by advancements in media technology.
Interesting factors of this relationship include:
- Integrating the audience in news related processes.
- More opportunities for direct, interpersonal interactions between journalists and their audience.
- Some more science. “With regard to the relationship between journalists and their audience, in an online context, visibility and interaction (or interactivity) are not only closely linked, but they also affect both sides’ expectations and are at the same time affected by them” (Scholl et al., 2014).
Audiences acting as journalists comes with a major drawback. Are we free to share whatever we want? Next time, we’ll explore freedom of speech and cancel culture.
References
De Keyser, J., & Raeymaeckers, K. (2012). The printed rise of the common man: How web 2.0 has
changed the representation of ordinary people in newspapers. Journalism Studies 13(5–6):
825–835.
Scholl, A., Malik, M., & Gehrau, V. (2014). Journalistisches Publikumsbild und Publikumserwartungen. Eine Analyse des Zusammenhangs von journalistischen Vorstellungen über das Publikum und Erwartungen des Publikums an den Journalismus [Journalists’ image of the audience and audience’s expectations: an analysis of the connection between journalists’ ideas about the audience and audience’s expectations of journalism]. In: Loosen W and Dohle M (eds)
Journalismus und (sein) Publikum [Journalism and (Its) Audience]. Wiesbaden: Springer
Fachmedien, pp. 17–33.
Wilhelm, C., Stehle, H., & Detel, H. (2021). Digital visibility and the role of mutual interaction expectations: Reframing the journalist–audience relationship through the lens of interpersonal communication. New Media & Society, 23(5), 1004–1021. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1177/1461444820907023
