Citizen participation in contemporary journalism: Conceptual discussion

Abstract

This paper questions the pluralism of terms used for considering citizen participation in the production of news. Based on a literature review, the concepts of participatory, civic and networked journalism are discussed - their meaning and use in academic literature. Besides examining the existing way of differentiation between citizen and participatory journalism, the concepts of participatory, civic and networked journalism are systematized using the basic model of the communication process. On the grounds of the theoretical discussions and introduced systematization, participatory journalism is offered as a unifying concept with potential to encompass current transformation of journalism as a system.

Rad problematizuje mnoštvo termina kojima se u akademskoj literaturi imenuje učešće građana u procesima proizvodnje vesti. Na osnovu pregleda literature, razmatraju se termini participativnog, građanskog i umreženog novinarstva - njihov nastanak, značenje, načini definisanja i upotrebe. Osim diskusije o postojećem kriterijumu za razdvajanje koncepata građanskog i participativnog novinarstva, vrši se sistematizacija pojmova participativnog, građanskog i umreženog novinarstva primenom bazičnog modela komunikacionog procesa. Na osnovu teorijske rasprave i ponuđene sistematizacije, participativno novinarstvo se nudi kao ujedinjujući pojam kojim se najbolje može obuhvatiti savremena transformacija novinarstva kao sistema.