Abstract
Although the challenge posed by social media and the participatory turn concerns culture and values at the very heart of journalism, journalists have been reluctant to adopt participatory values and practices. To encourage audience participation and to offer journalism that is both trustworthy and engaging, journalists of the future may embrace a hybrid practice of journalistic objectivity and audience-centred dialogue. As innovative and experimental actors, entrepreneurial journalism outlets can perform as forerunners of such a culture. By analysing discourses in the “About Us” pages of 41 entrepreneurial journalism outlets, the article examines the emerging journalistic ethos of entrepreneurial journalism and its participatory tendencies. The results show a conception of journalism that is a hybrid of the journalistic ideals of dialogue and objectivity. This kind of hybrid journalism and adjacent “hybrid engagement” can offer an answer to the dual challenge of how to make journalism more participation-friendly while at the same time hold on to the defining values and criteria of journalism. Drawing from futures research, the article concludes by sketching four scenarios of how entrepreneurial journalism and participatory hybrid engagement may develop in the future.
Highlights
From the beginning of the millennium media and journalism have increasingly been characterised by a participatory turn
In the networked era of social platforms, “intimate” mobile technology and increasingly affective and participatory forms of communication, journalism faces a dual challenge: how to increase audience engagement―broadly defined as a personal connection the audiences have with the news—and participation, while preserving the core criteria and values that define journalism (Beckett & Deuze, 2016)
Large, established digital media outlets such as Buzzfeed or Vox are not strictly entrepreneurial as they are no more extensions of their founders or owned solely by them, their business is based on one defining idea—focusing exclusively on explanatory journalism in the case of Vox, or trying to make news viral in the case of Buzzfeed
Summary
From the beginning of the millennium media and journalism have increasingly been characterised by a participatory turn. Hybrid journalism offers one solution to the potentially contradicting ideals of engagement and objectivity It arguably suits social media platforms with their conversational and affective registers better than the traditional, detached type of journalism, and potentially makes journalism more attractive for audience participation. Content produced by new media players are often affective and seek to engage the user on a personal level (Papacharissi, 2015), which questions traditional normative claims of what journalism should be like and how it should address and appeal to its audiences. The main research question in the article concentrates on examining how the ethos of entrepreneurial journalism reflects hybrid journalism, hybrid engagement, and a more participation-oriented journalistic culture. The section addresses and elaborates on the trend towards hybridity in journalism, analyses some future-shaping trends related to audience engagement, and presents entrepreneurial journalists as pioneers of hybrid journalism.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
