Presentation at the Future of Journalism 2013 Conference, Cardiff, UK, September 13th 2013

1. Both sides of the story:
Assessing audience participation in journalism through the concepts of
inclusion level and inclusion distance
Wiebke Loosen & Jan-Hinrik Schmidt
@jpub20team
Future of Journalism Conference | Cardiff| September 13th, 2013

2. Source: Loosen & Schmidt 2012: 874
Audience participation in journalism
Audience
Inclusion performance
Inclusion expectations
Inclusion performance
Features f. audience participation
Work process/routines
Journalistic output/products
Inclusion expectations
Journalistic role conception
Images of the audience
Strategic rationales
Journalists
Participatory practices
Degree of community
orientation
Motivations for participation
Expectations concerning
impact/influence of audience
participation on journalism
Inclusion distance
Inclusion level
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3. Study design: four case studies
• Focus here: Comparison between 1st and 2nd case study: Tagesschau (newscast) and political talk
show based on the survey data
TV Print
Information oriented daily newscast daily newspaper
Debate oriented weekly political talk show weekly newspaper
• Multi method design: in-depth interviews (newsroom staff, audience members), surveys
(newsroom staff, users of the website), content analysis of user-generated content/comments
Case Study Respondents Sample size Field time survey
Daily TV
Newscast
Editorial department members 63 (of 130) 06/07 2012
Online users 4.686 08/09 2012
Weekly TV Talk
Show
Editorial department members 10 (of 20) 07/08 2012
Online users 354 11 2012 - 01 2013
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4. Operationalization of inclusion expectations (surveys)
Audience
Inclusion performanceInclusion performance
(Expected) inclusion expectations
Journalists
Inclusion level
Inclusion distance
Inclusion level
(Expected) inclusion expectations
Assumed importance of
participatory functions
Importance of participatory
functions
Self image of journalistic role External image of journalistic role
Assumed motivations Motivations for participation
General assessment of part.:
• Strategic rationales
• Impact on journalism
General assessment of part.:
• Strategic rationales
• Impact on journalism
Source: Loosen & Schmidt 2012: 874
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5. Comparative logic in the research project
Case study 1: newscast
Casestudy2:talkshow
Audience
expectations
Inclusion distance
Journalists
expectations
Audience
expectations
Inclusion distance
Journalists
expectations
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6. Example
Journalistic role conception: self-image and external image (Newscast)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Audience(n=4.570-4.636)
Journalists (n= 60-63)
1. show new trends and highlight new ideas
2. inform objectively and precisely as possible
3. provide entertainment and relaxation
4. give the audience topics to talk about
5. explain and convey complex issues *
6. provide audience with opportunity to maintain
ties among themselves *
7. point to interesting topics and further
information **
8. provide useful information for the audience and
act as advisor / guidance
9. encourage/moderate discussion among
audience *
10. build/maintain relationship to audience *
11. share positive ideals *
12. control politics, business and society *
13. criticize problems and grievances ***
14. inform the audience as fast as possible ***
15. give audience opportunity to express opinion
on topics of public interest **
16. concentrate on news that is interesting to an
audience as wide as possible ***
17. provide people with opportunity to publish their
own content ***
18. get into conversation about current events ***
19. present my/their own opinion(s) to the
audience/to the public ***
Means based on a 5-point-Likert-scale with 1=”disagree completely” to 5=”agree completely”; 6=”don’t
know/can’t say” (excluded for calculation of mean) // *** p < .001 ** p < .01 * p < .05 (T-Tests; Levene-
Test for homogeneity of variance).
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7. Comparative logic in the research project
Case study 1: newscast
Casestudy2:talkshow
Audience
expectations
Inclusion distance Journalists
expectations
Audience
expectations
Comparing
Audiences
Inclusion distance
Journalists
expectations
Comparing
Journalists
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8. Example
Motivation for participation via mail to the editors (Newscast & talk show)
Means based on a 5-point-Likert-scale with 1=”disagree completely” to 5=”agree completely”; 6=”don’t
know/can’t say” (excluded for calculation of mean) // *** p < .001 ** p < .01 * p < .05 (T-Tests; Levene-
Test for homogeneity of variance).
1. To expand my own knowledge by
interacting with journalists and other
viewers/users
2. To feel included in a community
3. Out of boredom
4. To propose a topic that is important
to me
5. To share my knowledge and
experiences
6. To support and advocate a certain
concern, event or group
7. To find help with a problem
8. To leave the passive viewer’s role
9. For self-expression and self-display
10. To fulfill my civic obligations
11. To build a relationship with the
editors *
12. To assist the journalists in their work
13. To vent anger and frustration
14. To state my opinion publicly *
15. To point out errors in news stories **
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
TalkshowUser(n=68-73)
Newscast User (n= 35-38)
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9. Comparative logic in the research project
Case study 1: newscast
Casestudy2:talkshow
Audience
expectations
Inclusion distance Journalists
expectations
Audience
expectations
Inclusion distance Differences in
Inclusion Distance
Journalists
expectations
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10. Example
Differences in inclusion distance regarding self-image and external image
12
3
4
56 7
8
9
10
1112
1314
1516
17
18
19
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Distancetalkshow
Distance newscast
1. inform as objectively and precisely as
possible
2. show new trends and highlight new ideas
3. encourage/moderate discussion among
audience
4. build/maintain relationship to audience
5. get into conversation about current events
6. provide people with opportunity to publish
their own content
7. convey positive ideals
8. give audience opportunity to express
opinion on topics of public interest
9. criticize problems and grievances
10. present my/their own opinion(s) to the
audience/to the public
11. provide useful information for the audience
and act as advisor / guidance
12. point to interesting topics and further
information
13. explain and convey complex issues
14. give the audience topics to talk about
15. concentrate on news that is interesting to
an audience as wide as possible
16. provide entertainment and relaxation
17. provide audience with opportunity to
maintain ties among themselves
18. inform the audience as fast as possible
19. control politics, business and society
Difference in distance = difference between mean differences of the two case studies
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Journalists find it
less important in
both case studies
Users find it less
important in both
case studies

11. Summary, challenges, and further steps
• Example “inclusion distance within case study”: Small inclusion distance = high congruency
between journalists and audience members regarding journalistic role conceptions at the
newscast
• Example “comparing case studies”: Motivations to send mails to the editors are very
congruent between the audiences groups of the newscast and the talk show
• Example “comparing inclusion distances”: True for both case studies: journalists tend to
regard many items as being less part of their journalistic profession than audience
members consider them as part of journalism; a lot of these items refer to more
participation oriented tasks beyond classical journalistic goals
• Challenges of comparing:
groups of different homogeneity and size (editorial staff vs. disperse audience)
online- and TV-journalists and online-only audience
individual self-assessment with assessment of groups of others
• More case studies needed to compare inclusion distances at different journalistic media
• Aggregated/representative data needed to compare inclusion distance between journalism
and audiences in different countries/media systems
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12. (Re-)discovering the audience.
Journalism under social media conditions.
Project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)
Team: Nele Heise, Wiebke Loosen, Julius Reimer, Jan-Hinrik Schmidt
Blog: http://jpub20.hans-bredow-institut.de/
Twitter: @jpub20team