Research Proposal

Title:
Paying the price for information: a study of participatory journalism affecting the cost of content

Question:
How is the value of information impacted when journalistic authorities allow participatory journalism from ordinary community members with no journalistic certifications?  How does this citizen-produced content affect the argument of cost of content?

(Authority vs participatory journalism vs cost of content)

Purpose:
As a method of increasing interactivity between news agencies and their audiences, participatory journalism has emerged as a technique allowing ordinary citizens to play the part of journalist.  However, questions have been raised concerning the value of this amateur content since it does not come from a trusted commentator.  While this brings the audience into a two-way discussion with certified journalists and other interested citizens, it also places strain on the proposed idea of paying for online content.  Online media is the only medium that is currently free of charge to the world at large.  Newspapers, magazines, television and satellite radio all arrive to their audience at a fiscal price.  News agencies across all sectors have grappled with the idea of bringing more interactivity to their online content and determine a solution for profit gain from the information they bring to society.

Understanding the value of content will affect the profitability of media outlets.  Are interactivity and engaging with an audience to gain readership for your medium more important than the financial benefits of a media agency?   Separate arguments and studies have been made regarding participatory journalism and cost of content.  The next step needs to determine how these two factors play off each other and what is best for society.

Social Theory Engagement:
Users and Gratification Theory
Through online media, users are able to take an active role in choosing and using content.  Society has abandoned the days of passive knowledge intake due to the interactive nature of the Internet.  Blumler and Katz’s Users and Gratification Theory suggests that the media users take an active part in the communication process and are goal-oriented in their media use.  They seek out a media source that best fulfills their needs.  Uses and gratifications assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their need.  Adding in the factor of payment to gain access to information will alter a users motivation toward their choices.  Also, the user’s opinion of amateur content plays a part in their media decision.

Political Economy and Propaganda Theory
The media holds control over the information about which society learns.  They decide what news should and should not be published based upon their opinion of its newsworthiness.  Advanced by Herman and Chomsky, the political economy and propaganda theory proposes how propaganda and elite favoritism function in mass media.  This model seeks to explain how audiences are propagandized and how consent for various economic, social and political policies are “manufactured” in the public mind. Participatory journalism is an avenue of news generation all its own that strips news agencies of this control.

Methods:
For this research, I will draw information from a variety of disciplines such as economic and social science journals, consumer behavior studies, and possibly media agency experiences or reader opinions.  I will focus more on the academic research that has already been investigated.  However, I find it important to add examples of first hand experiences since this is an issue currently being wrestled with in regards to both audience and media outlets.

Novelty and outcomes:
Arguments have been made about the topics of participatory journalism and the idea of paying for content as separate issues.  I would like to see if there is a correlation between the two debates.  I believe the value placed on amateur content affects the potential of paid online content.  If a citizen views participatory journalism as an inaccurate information generator that can’t be trusted, in a sense this citizen will not pay to engage with this form of content.  However, who is to say that online content merits any type of monetary price regardless of authority.   I would like to bridge the gap between authority and cost.

Tags: authority, cost, participatory, research proposal, value