We Media – Audiences as partners in the news

For the past few months, I’ve been working with new media writers/consultants Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis to produce a comprehensive report for New Directions for News on the subject of participatory journalism.

It’s called “We Media: How audiences are shaping the future of news and information.”

San Jose Mercury News business columnist and blogger Dan Gillmor writes in the foreword:

I’ve been lucky enough to be an early participant in participatory journalism, having been
urged almost four years ago by one of the weblog software pioneers to start my own blog. Writing about technology in Silicon Valley, I used the blog to generate even more feedback from my audience.

That audience, never shy to let me know when I get something wrong, made me realize something: My readers know more than I do. This has become almost a mantra in my work. It is by definition the reality for every journalist, no matter what his or her beat. And it ?s a great opportunity, not a threat, because when we ask our readers for their help and knowledge, they are willing to share it — and we can all benefit. If modern American journalism has been a lecture, it ?s evolving into something that incorporates a conversation and seminar.

I believe it’s an important report, one that captures many of the exciting developments occurring in the field of new media today. Weblogs, of course, play a prominent role.

Later: The full report is now available here (on the API Media Center site) or here (the HyperMedia blog).

JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.