Billiomedia: Journalism Ethics and Ideology in the Age of Open Participation

Throughout the world, news is becoming a more open, collaborative project. In “We The Media” (2004), David Gillmor re-imagined journalism's  role in society as a joint conversational process achieved by citizens and professionals. Later, the term “Participatory Journalism” was conceptualized by journalism scholars in order to transcend the citizen vs. professional journalism dichotomy.          

 "Participatory journalism" has been discussed in recent years in various contexts. First, there's the cultural  change  defined as "convergence culture":  the gathering, filtering and editing of news produced by professionals transformed into a participatory culture of news in which the audience became "users" or "produsers" ,and arguably achieved more control over news content, production and distribution . Second, is the social erosion of journalism as a profession: its boundaries, its gatekeeping function or the ideology and ethics which accounted for journalists authority, legitimacy and autonomy. And lastly is the marxist view of the ramifications of these developments: digital serfdom or exploitation (manifested in user generated content), precarious labor patterns (freelance contributors and news aggregation sites) and cultural work.

Despite overwhelming print circulation numbers, subscription base and advertisement revenues, Japanese newspapers experience a steady decline in profits. Recently, major newspapers begun developing participatory platforms such as Asahi Shimbun’s "Billiomedia". Newspaper reporters from the Asahi were also encouraged to open official Twitter accounts, converse with the audience and debate with their peers and competitors on-line.

Albeit limited, these actions are transforming the culture of news production, gathering and gatekeeping functions. Based on Japanese reporters interviews, my research focuses on these newly emerging participatory practices and the challenge they present to professional ethics and ideology. Employing concepts as user generated content, social curation or big data manipulation, Japanese reporters attempt to redefine journalism in order to reclaim their credability and jurisdiction at a time of crisis and uncertinty.