Analyzing the active audience: Reluctant, reactive, fearful, or lazy? Forms and motives of participation in mainstream journalism
Journal
Journalism
Date Issued
2019
Author(s)
DOI
10.1177/1464884918784733
Abstract
Participation has become a key issue in contemporary journalism studies, yet research
on how the participatory space is being appropriated by users is rather limited. This
article attempts a methodological contribution by offering a way to analyze participatory
journalism in reference to variant participatory affordances enabling different levels
of creative effort, control, and editorial permeability. To do so, it understands
participation as the active involvement of users, and makes an analytical connection
among technological affordances, motivations, and contextual factors. The article offers
empirical evidence challenging both cyber-optimist and cyber-pessimist assumptions
about participation. Drawing on insights from a web-based survey, it is argued that the
‘reluctant audience’ paradigm may be interpreted in terms of the ‘lazy audience’ and the
‘fearful audience’, which seem to coexist along with the ‘reactive audience’.
on how the participatory space is being appropriated by users is rather limited. This
article attempts a methodological contribution by offering a way to analyze participatory
journalism in reference to variant participatory affordances enabling different levels
of creative effort, control, and editorial permeability. To do so, it understands
participation as the active involvement of users, and makes an analytical connection
among technological affordances, motivations, and contextual factors. The article offers
empirical evidence challenging both cyber-optimist and cyber-pessimist assumptions
about participation. Drawing on insights from a web-based survey, it is argued that the
‘reluctant audience’ paradigm may be interpreted in terms of the ‘lazy audience’ and the
‘fearful audience’, which seem to coexist along with the ‘reactive audience’.