Audience Participation in PSM from a Media-centric to a Society-centric Approach

Abstract

Audience participation in production of public service media programs appears to achieve objectives that are more often media-centric than society-centric. The Monitor, a journalism program of Dutch public broadcaster NPO chooses not to focus on participation in production but on participation in the information-gathering phase. We investigate whether and how participation in this stage involves society-centric participation. We carry out expert interviews with the journalists, questioning their intentions and how they evaluate audience input in terms of societal objectives. In the conclusion, we discuss how participation in pre-production can help journalists to step out of their bubble.