Abstract

By engaging with journalists in the networked media environment, audiences can play a role in shaping the epistemologies of journalism: how journalists know what they know, and communicate knowledge claims. While audiences have been offered opportunities to engage in news-production processes, ongoing reciprocal relationships between journalists and audiences online are rare. This study shows how sustained reciprocity takes place in a large-scale WhatsApp group opened by an Israeli journalist/blogger for her audience. Based on an analysis of group conversations, blog posts, and interviews, we demonstrate how a continuous conversation between the journalist and her loyal audience members allows the co-construction of journalistic knowledge across the news-production process. The online space that affords ongoing reciprocal exchanges is termed here a meso news-space, occurring between the private and public realms. This study contributes to understanding how sustained reciprocity can be accomplished and how it can promote shared benefits for journalists and community members.

Full Text
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