Discussing the News: The Uneasy Alliance of Participatory Journalists and the Critical Public

159 Pages·2017·3.81 MB·English

by  Simon Smith (auth.)

Palgrave Studies in Science,
Knowledge and Policy
Series Editors
Katherine Smith
School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
UK
Richard Freeman
School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
UK
Many of the questions which concern us in our social, political and
economic lives are questions of knowledge, whether they concern the
extent and consequences of climate change, the efficacy of new drugs,
the scope of surveillance technologies or the accreditation and perfor-
mance of individuals and organizations. This is because what we know -
howweacquireandapplyknowledgeofvariouskinds-shapesthewaysin
whichproblemsareidentifiedandunderstood;howlaws,rulesandnorms
are constructed and maintained, and which goods and services offered to
whom. ‘Who gets what, when, how’, in Lasswell’s phrase, depends very
muchon whoknowswhat, when, how.
In our personal, professional and public lives, knowledge is a key
resource. It matters in policy not only as a guide to decision making but
because, in many circumstances, to be knowledgeable is to be powerful.
Some kinds of knowledge are created and held by small numbers of
specialists, while others are widely distributed and quickly shared. The
credibility and authority of different kinds of knowledge varies over time
andourmeansofdevelopingandsharingknowledgearecurrentlyunder-
goingrapidchangesasnewdigitaltechnologiesandsocialmediaplatforms
emerge.
Thisbookseriesisaninterdisciplinaryforumtoexploretheseissuesand
more. In short, we are interested in the politics of knowledge. The series
encompassesdiversetopics,methodsanddisciplinesandwewelcomepro-
posalsforsolo-authored,co-authoredandeditedbooks.Pleasecontactthe
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SimonSmith
Discussing the News
The Uneasy Alliance of Participatory Journalists
and the Critical Public
SimonSmith
InstituteofSociologicalStudies
CharlesUniversity
Prague,CzechRepublic
PalgraveStudiesinScience,KnowledgeandPolicy
ISBN978-3-319-52964-6 ISBN978-3-319-52965-3(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-52965-3
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017934435
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CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research for this book was supported by the European Commission
through a Marie-Curie Intra-European Fellowship based at the Institute
forSociology,SlovakAcademyofSciences(grantno.GA-2011-301060).
Iwouldalsoliketotakethisopportunitytothankallmyrespondentsatthe
newspapersSMEandDenníkNfortheirtime,patienceandenthusiasm.
Figures 4.3 and4.4are reproducedwithpermission fromSME.
v
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
Notes 6
References 6
2 ParticipatoryJournalism asaWay of Knowing 9
A PragmaticApproach to theStudyof ParticipatoryJournalism 9
Routinesand Artefacts 14
Argumentation 16
Competences 19
Notes 22
References 23
3 Contextualisingthe Research Setting 27
The Profession ofJournalism inSlovakia 32
Participation and CommentingatCase Study1–SME 33
Participation and CommentingatCase Study2–Denník N 36
A Journalism ofOpinionorCommunication? 39
Notes 41
References 43
4 Judgingthe Quality ofOnline Discussion:The Invisible
Work of‘Admins’ 45
The Constrainingand Enabling Effects ofRoutines 46
Who Doesthe Job?Definingthe RightBundle ofTasks 47
vii
viii CONTENTS
ThePioneers 49
TheBlogger Admins 50
TheWeb-editor Admins 51
What Tools areUsed? Designingthe RightInterface 53
TheSystem ofAlerts 55
ReputationControl 56
PartialAutomationof theAdmin Routine 57
What Rolesare Performed? Admins’JustificatoryVocabulary 59
Six Registersof Justification 62
Classification (andthe Productionof Decisions) 62
ClassificatoryContextualisation(and the Production
ofRules) 63
Qualification (andthe Productionof Evidence) 64
Metaclassification (and theProduction ofOrder) 65
Organisational Representation(and theReproduction
ofValues) 65
InferentialContextualisation(and the Production
ofRoom forManoeuvre) 66
Coping with ProfessionalStatus Strain onthe Front-Line 69
Notes 72
References 74
5 TheConversations BetweenParticipatoryJournalists
andCriticalPublics 77
The RoutinesforOrganising and Engagingin Discussion 79
The DiscursiveIdentity of theJournalist asDiscussant 84
Examples ofCommonAccusation-ResponseSequences 90
Setting Off Metajournalistic Tongues 100
Notes 101
References 104
6 Defendingthe Authenticityof OnlinePublic Spheres 105
Naming andAccusing FalseDiscussants 106
UserIntuition as aReputationManagement Routine 113
Adminingas aQualityControl Routine 114
Verification as aCredential-Checking Routine 117
CONTENTS ix
A NewCalculation Space 120
Protecting OnlinePublicSpheres:Zonal Monitoring
and Mobile Vigilance 122
Notes 126
References 126
7 Conclusion 129
The Essential‘Liveness’ ofRoutines 130
Venue-Sensitive Argumentative Registers 132
An OrchestratedDistribution ofCompetences 134
Notes 141
References 141
Index 143
L F
IST OF IGURES
Fig.3.1 Accessingnewsonlinevianewswebsites 29
Fig.3.2 Participatinginnews.SourcesasforFig.3.1 29
Fig.3.3 CommentingonnewsSourcesasforFig.3.1 30
Fig.4.1 Compositionoftheadminworkforce 48
Fig.4.2 Timelineofpersonnel,organisationalandinterfacedesign
changes 54
Fig.4.3 Adminnoticelist,2009–2015.Reproducedwithpermission
fromSME 54
Fig.4.4 Adminnoticelist,2015–2016.Reproducedwithpermission
fromSME 55
Fig.4.5 Justificationregistersusedbyadminsin2013–2014and2016 62
Fig.5.1 Commentorientationinthreadswherejournalistsparticipated
inabsolutenumbers 85
Fig.5.2 Commentorientationinthreadswherejournalistsparticipated
inpercentages 86
Fig.5.3 Commentorientationshowingcommentstowhichjournalists
replied 86
Fig.5.4 Howdojournalistsrespondtometajournalisticaccusations? 87
Fig.5.5 Journalistresponsestometajournalisticaccusationsbyrubric 88
Fig.6.1 Occurrenceofthephrase‘brigádnikzoSúmračnej’on
www.sme.skbyquarter 109
Fig.6.2 Timelineofaccusatoryregisters 110
Fig.6.3 Timelineofalertsusingthetermbrigádnik 115
xi