Participatory news–

by Dr. Janet Johnson on March 3, 2010

The new Pew Internet and American Life Project shows how news is changing. We can carry the news around 24/7. It’s the ritual of communication that entices people to participate. People want to be a part of the “drama” of news–emerging media allows us to participate more readily. News is now becoming dialogically interactive–we now have multi-voiced reports that can give us a more vivid view of the world. As Walter Lippman said, “All the reporters in the world working all the hours of the day could not witness all the happenings in the world” (Public Opinion 338). With new emerging media–we just might witness all the happenings in the world.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project findings

The internet and mobile technologies are at the center of the story of how people’s relationship to news is changing. In today’s new multi-platform media environment, news is becoming portable, personalized, and participatory:

  • Portable: 33% of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones.
  • Personalized: 28% of internet users have customized their home page to include news from sources and on topics that particularly interest them.
  • Participatory: 37% of internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
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{ 2 comments }

Theresajtap04 March 4, 2010 at 4 : 31 pm

Is it healthy to access the news that much? Lately I have been feeling that, as a nation, there is too much reporting on certain things and that is greatly affecting our national outlook.

Janet Johnson March 4, 2010 at 7 : 55 pm

I’m not sure if it is healthy. I think we have to learn to filter our own information with the emerging media that is coming out. Personal media is only going to get bigger.

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