Democracy, Participation and Convergent Media: Case Studies in Contemporary News Journalism in AustraliaPresentation to Journalism in the 21st Century: Between Globalisation and National Identity, ICA Regional Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 16-17 July, 2009Professor Terry FlewMedia and CommunicationCreative Industries Faculty and ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and InnovationQueensland University of Technology, Brisbane Australia

The 21st century zeitgeist“a period of unparalleled social creativity when we sought to devise new ways of working together to be more democratic, creative and innovative … creating a collective intelligence on a scale never before possible” Charles Leadbeater, We-Think: Mass innovation, not mass production, 2008, pp. 3,5. 2

Not the Internet, but social productionNeed to periodise Internet history – participatory claims of Web 2.0Associated factors in rise of social production (YochaiBenkler)Rise of knowledge-intensive service industriesCo-ordinate effects of individual activities in networked information environmentsRise of peer production and sharing of information, knowledge and culture3

From mass communications media to convergent media/Web 2.0 4

Perspectives on media democratisation: beyond the “Cyberbole”Hype generates its own counter-hype e.g. Clay Shirky versus Andrew KeenDemocratising potential of new media practices for news and journalism (e.g. McNair, Hartley, Bruns, Jenkins)‘In the era of cultural chaos, people have access to more information than ever before. If information is the pre-requisite of knowledge, and if knowledge is power, other things remaining equal, this trend corresponds to a power-shift from the traditionally information-rich elite to the no longer so information-poor mass” (Brian McNair, Cultural Chaos, 2006, p. 199)5

Maximalism and optimism: Brian McNair, Cultural ChaosNew developments in media have strengthened national public spheres and developing a globalised public sphere. Criteria:Opportunities to produce and distribute media are much more widely availableOpportunities for ‘diversity of bias and balance of critical opinion’ have increasedMedia competition and 24hr. news cycles stimulate critical scrutiny of political elites6

Democratisation and media citizenshipDemocratisation is a difficult process to define – is the right to vote sufficient? If not, what else needs to be there?Citizenship as a way forward, but ‘potentially limitless’ in its scope of applicationTwo traditions of citizenship and democracy (Held)Developmental republicanism: focus on participation and substantive equality of citizensProtective republicanism: focus on freedom from coercion and pluralistic division of powers7

Digital scepticism: JurgenHabermas‘lack of face-to-face interaction … in a shared practice of collective decision-making’‘lack of reciprocity between roles of speakers and addressees in an egalitarian exchange of claims and opinions’‘power of the media to select, and shape the presentation of, messages’‘strategic use of political and social power to influence agendas’ ‘fragmentation of … mass audiences into a huge number of isolated issue publics’8

Concept of “voice”Albert Hirschman, Exit, Voice and Loyalty (1970)Voice as a politicised counter-point to exit (consumer behaviour in markets)Participation as linked to voice esp. in digital media environmentsHow to avoid ‘revolution of rising expectations’ in political communicationDemocratisation may not appear a priority in liberal-democratic societies, but other goals (e.g. media diversity) mightNeed to give citizenship some tangibility, rather than simply being a “good other” to “bad neo-liberalism” 9

Is the challenge to established media loss of audiences or disaggregation of media content?Australian evidence on established media outlets does not show as much decline as the U.S. or BritainMajor online sites are based around established media (ninemsn, ABC, SMH, The Age and News in Alexa top 25 for Australia)‘It is the loss of control over the format and timing of the distribution of information that presents the true challenge to the traditional media … the value created by traditional media models is based on scarcity, but the Internet supports an environment of information abundance.’ (Miel and Faris, 2008, p. 5)10

11Brisbane Times

12Fairfax print media titles have been successful online

13Online-only Fairfax Media titlesThe Vine (young people 18-29 y.o.)Brisbane Times (Brisbane/S-E Queensland)WAToday (Perth/Western Australia)Online classifieds:Domain (houses)My Career (jobs)Drive (cars)RSVP (personals/dating)

14Brisbane Times impact in SE Qld. marketVery successful when launchedEmploys fraction of journalists of incumbent (Courier-Mail)Growth has slowed over 2008-09Minimal opening up for user-created contentDilemma is whether to invest in “hyperlocal” content generation or to be an inferior version of established media