"Objective: User Generated Content – photos and videos submitted to newsrooms by the public – has become a prominent source of information for news organisations. Journalists working with uncensored material can frequently witness disturbing images for prolonged periods. How this might affect th
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eir psychological health is not known and it is the focus of this study.
Design: Descriptive, exploratory. Setting: The newsrooms of three international news organisations. Participants: One hundred and sixteen journalists working with User Generated Content material. Main outcome measures: Psychometric data included the re-experiencing, avoidance and autonomic arousal indices of posttraumatic stress disorder (Impact of Event Scale-revised), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II; BDI-II), a measure of psychological distress (GHQ-28), the latter comprising four subscales measuring somatisation, anxiety, social dysfunction and depression, and mean weekly alcohol consumption divided according to gender.
Results: Regression analyses revealed that frequent (i.e. daily) exposure to violent images independently predicted higher scores on all indices of the Impact of Event Scale-revised, the BDI-II and the somatic and anxiety subscales of the GHQ-28. Exposure per shift only predicted scores on the intrusion subscale of the Impact of Event Scale-revised.
Conclusions: The present study, the first of its kind, suggests that frequency rather than duration of exposure to images of graphic violence is more emotionally distressing to journalists working with User Generated Content material. Given that good journalism depends on healthy journalists, news organisations will need to look anew at what can be done to offset the risks inherent in viewing User Generated Content material. Our findings, in need of replication, suggest that reducing the frequency of exposure may be one way to go." (Abstract)
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"The news organisations that we spoke to could be broadly divided into two camps with regards to their attitudes to online comments: there are those who embrace comments from users, often as part of a wider strategy of involving their readers in their publication, and there are those who see them as
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essentially, a necessary evil. Very few organisations (seven) didn‘t allow comments at all, but in times of financial difficulties, a costly initiative such as comment moderation, without any immediate and obvious financial benefit, is not always a priority. However, there are many organisations which see them as an essential element in fostering a real community around their publication or a niche topic. Comments are believed to increase reader engagement, both in terms of time spent on site, and in terms of loyalty." (Page 6)
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"This edited collection provides a much-needed interdisciplinary contextualisation of amateur media before and after Web 2.0. Surveying the institutional, economic and legal construction of the amateur media producer via a series of case studies, it features contributions from experts in the fields
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of law, economics and media studies. Each section of the book contains a detailed case study on a selected topic, followed by two further pieces providing additional analysis and commentary. Using an extraordinary array of case studies and examples, from YouTube to online games, from subtitling communities to reality TV, the book is neither a celebration of amateur production nor a denunciation of the demise of professional media industries. Rather, this book presents a critical dialogue across law and the humanities, exploring the dynamic tensions and interdependencies between amateur and professional creative production." (Publisher description)
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"The objective of this study is to look at how two prominent Arab-language news organisations, BBC Arabic and Al Jazeera Arabic (AJA), have used social media and user-generated content — photos, videos and comments — to provide coverage of the uprising in Syria. Due to the unique pressures in co
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vering Syria, especially in the early months of the uprising, how did these news organizations manage the heavy use of UGC and social media while being true to their editorial guidelines? How have the news organizations in this study verified this material? With activists playing a role in producing and distributing this material, how have the news organizations informed their audiences of the provenance of this material? In terms of UGC management both BBC Arabic and Al Jazeera Arabic publish information about their corporate-wide editorial guidelines that set out guidance for dealing with sources and assuring transparency for their audiences. In the case of the BBC generally, there is very detailed guidance about user-generated content for news. An investigation into the verification practices at BBC Arabic and Al Jazeera Arabic indicates that detailed guidance is in place." (Executive summary, page 3)
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"This book is based on a collaborative research project by a team of journalism scholars from Europe, North America and Israel. It provides insights into how journalists at websites affiliated with leading national newspapers in ten Western democracies are thinking about, and dealing with, the inclu
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sion of content produced and published by the people once viewed simply as 'the audience.' The journalist's control over media space, which was based to a large extent on their access to the means of disseminating information, has evaporated, and the space is now open to everyone. Participatory Journalism goes right to the heart of what journalists do, what journalism is, and what the role of news is in contemporary democratic society that has gone digital." (Publisher description)
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"In 2008, the CBA and UNESCO published the results of a survey of 72 Commonwealth broadcasters which looked at the nature of user-generated content (UGC). It considered what use they make of UGC and their involvement in promoting media and information literacy (MIL). The survey identified a lack of
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initiatives by broadcasters to encourage UGC and promote MIL. But it also revealed that broadcasters noted an almost universal desire for assistance in these areas. The aim of these guidelines is to provide such assistance by outlining ways in which broadcasters can promote MIL to their audiences and at the same time encourage the production of relevant UGC for broadcast. The promotion of UGC and MIL and the use of UGC are vital for helping the media to fulfil its democratic functions in society. By providing not only a space for the public to express themselves but also the skills and capacity to take part in public debate, broadcasters can ensure that citizens’ right to freedom of expression is realised." (Introduction, page 6)
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"Chapter 1 sets the scene for this book, looking in a broad-brush way at how the Internet and related technologies have changed journalism and media. It notes how audiences are fragmenting in an environment of excess information, and considers the boom in online advertising relative to mainstream me
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dia revenues. It also discusses the way that the Internet threatens traditional commercial media business models. All of the chapters that follow are more hands-on and specific. Chapter 2 shows how to use various parts of the Internet such as the UseNet and listservs to generate story ideas that are beyond the often PR-generated news agenda, and how to find experts to interview for those stories. Chapter 3 does the same with blogs and related new media such as moblogs and podcasts. Chapter 4 considers the issue of citizen or participatory journalism and discusses how this phenomenon, often called audience-generated content, relates to newsgathering and the future of journalism. Chapter 5 looks beyond the usual suspects such as Google and offers ways to use the Internet technologies to find background information for stories. Chapter 6 works from the premise that the multimedia reporter will need to adopt different information-gathering processes compared with the mono-media reporter, and shows how to do that. Chapter 7 looks at how to assess the quality and veracity of information we find on the Internet. Technologies give us access to a vast amount of data, but how reliable and accurate are those data? Chapter 8 shows how to develop a beat using the Internet. It offers strategies for developing an area of expertise. Chapter 9 reflects the generosity of journalists on the Internet. It introduces the vast array of resources that reporters have made available for their colleagues around the world. Chapter 10 considers the legal implications of gathering information online and reporting news on the web. Chapter 11 shows how to do deeper forms of journalism using the Excel spread sheet and drawing on the wide range of statistics available on the Internet." (Pages xi-xii)
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"Drawing on an expanding array of intelligent web services and applications, a growing number of people are creating, distributing and exploiting user-created content (UCC) and being part of the wider participative web. This study describes the rapid growth of UCC and its increasing role in worldwid
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e communication, and draws out implications for policy. Questions addressed include: What is user-created content? What are its key drivers, its scope and different forms? What are the new value chains and business models? What are the extent and form of social, cultural and economic opportunities and impacts? What are the associated challenges? Is there a government role, and what form could it take?" (Back cover)
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