Interactivity and user-generated content represent two concepts that have long been part of community, yet there remains question about how those concepts are being exercised in digital media. Therefore, research in this area grows in importance as community publications, like all media companies, follow their audience online (Abernathy, 2014). The public traditionally has a stronger role and voice in the production of content within community journalism. The publication of user-generated content is one of those areas that differentiate community media. Community media has been demarcated differently in various studies, but for purposes of this dissertation community media is defined as publications with circulations of less than 50,000 (Lauterer,
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Community newspapers often allow the audience to write a considerable portion of published news. The submitted material could be wedding announcements, club news, sports scores, photographs, or nearly any type of material, and represents user-generated content. Smaller publications have used UGC as a form of audience interaction (Rennie, 2007; Reader, 2012). This relationship is why this dissertation examines UGC and interactivity as connected ideas in the context of community journalism. User-generated content simply represents materials contributed by the audience that is published (Thurman, 2008; Meyer & Daniels, 2011). UGC as a form of interactivity is being considered as part of what leads to the strong community ties that tie readers to community publications (Tichenor, Donohue, & Olien, 1980; Lauterer, …show more content…
One is that the increasing power of the consumer as a producer challenges the traditional gate-keeping role of journalists (Hermida & Thurman, 2008). In community journalism, this challenge to the gate-keeping role may not be a concern. This is because journalists at these smaller publications have often allowed the public to have influence (Meyer & Daniels, 2011). Yet, there are community media editors who do have reservations about allowing UGC, as a form of influence (Lewis, Kaufhold, & Lasorsa, 2010). This leaves questions regarding the gate-keeping decisions that will be made on community media websites. Since UGC is classified as a form of interactivity, this study also examines interactivity as a concept. Both through publication of UGC as a story on the website, and through the use of interactivity based on commenting within stories on community news
Community newspapers often allow the audience to write a considerable portion of published news. The submitted material could be wedding announcements, club news, sports scores, photographs, or nearly any type of material, and represents user-generated content. Smaller publications have used UGC as a form of audience interaction (Rennie, 2007; Reader, 2012). This relationship is why this dissertation examines UGC and interactivity as connected ideas in the context of community journalism. User-generated content simply represents materials contributed by the audience that is published (Thurman, 2008; Meyer & Daniels, 2011). UGC as a form of interactivity is being considered as part of what leads to the strong community ties that tie readers to community publications (Tichenor, Donohue, & Olien, 1980; Lauterer, …show more content…
One is that the increasing power of the consumer as a producer challenges the traditional gate-keeping role of journalists (Hermida & Thurman, 2008). In community journalism, this challenge to the gate-keeping role may not be a concern. This is because journalists at these smaller publications have often allowed the public to have influence (Meyer & Daniels, 2011). Yet, there are community media editors who do have reservations about allowing UGC, as a form of influence (Lewis, Kaufhold, & Lasorsa, 2010). This leaves questions regarding the gate-keeping decisions that will be made on community media websites. Since UGC is classified as a form of interactivity, this study also examines interactivity as a concept. Both through publication of UGC as a story on the website, and through the use of interactivity based on commenting within stories on community news