 - Chapter 6 -
FROM USER-GENERATED CONTENT TO PARTICIPATORY JOURNALISMINTRODUCTION In past years, the attitude of newspapers worldwide towards user-generated content has generally taken a U-turn. Editors who saw user-generated content as a potential competitor or threat now invite reader submissions onto their sites and in their pages, and journalists who used to be hostile to reader comments now regularly intervene in the online conversation. But while the majority of traditional media brands have begun hosting user-generated content, mostly in the form of online comments or through hyperlocal community sites, many of them have lacked the initiative – and the will – to transform this pool of raw contributions into ‘newsworthy’ content.
Managing offensive journalists is easy; if the journalist pushes the envelope too far, terminate his or her employment. But since papers can't fire readers- nor would they want to - newspapers must learn how to manage the questionable user-generated content that inevitably comes with increased interactivity. In May 2008, Guardian.co.uk's Sean Dodson examined the example of The Daily Telegraph's MyTelegraph service, which gives readers the opportunity to publish their own stories under the paper's masthead. Although the service had won The Telegraph accolades, it also put the paper in the middle of the debate over how to best manage and develop user-generated content on websites. HOW-TO: MANAGING THE ONLINE DISCUSSION Over the past years, many bloggers and journalists have voiced their opinions to offer solutions for the management of online comments. Since these remain the most widespread form of online interaction between newspapers and their readers, fostering a productive conversation through online comments is the first step towards harnessing the news potential of user-generated content. Fortunately, newspaper sites have had time to perfect their commenting policies, and although these still vary on a case by case basis, there’s a consensus over some of the main points. CONCLUSION Verdens Gang’s rainbow of UGC tools Verdens Gang (VG), Norway’s largest daily newspaper with over 1.4 million daily print and online readers, is a prime example of a publication adapting to survive in the digital world. Despite a decline in readership over the past few years, VG has succeeded in increasing its profits thanks to its innovative use of new technologies and its forward-thinking attitude. Though readership declined by 20% between 2002 and 2008, profits increased by €10 million, due to “continuous product diversification and improving production efficiency”. Among the most successful features of its diversification strategy, its website VG Nett has soared in traffic, thanks partly to Lesernes VG (the Readers VG), an online area that invites readers into the production of news.  |
