Live co-produced news: emerging forms of news production and presentation on the web

Abstract

New technologies offer new interactional possibilities for news journalism, but they also pose a challenge to broadcasters who are accustomed to the practices of ‘old’ television news. The web is one such arena where broadcasters are in the process of mastering a sense of sociability and ‘communicative ease’ in relation to audiences. They struggle to find ways to engage audiences in the roles of both viewers and users in line with the technological affordances of the web. Rather little attention has yet been paid to how the general sociability of broadcasting is influenced by the development of digital media. This article presents a case showing how broadcasters orient to their audience(s) in a so-called live news co-production on the web. The main point is to highlight both possibilities and dilemmas in the management of audience-oriented activities on a new technological platform with its different conditions for production and reception. We argue that broadcasters interested in producing web news both need to adhere to the professional principles and standards of ordinary broadcasting, and at the same time show that they are competent enough to also produce unpolished, layman-like material normally associated with unprofessionality.