The co-creational model

The news media play a vital role in society. They can help sift truth from falsehood and offer channels for the public to participate in important debates. However, not all news media play these roles in the same way.

The co-creational model offers an alternative to the three main existing models for the news media (Heawood & Peter 2024).

• Professional model: some outlets take serious responsibility for the accuracy or truthfulness of what they publish and broadcast, but their journalism is primarily produced by elite journalists. Organisations like the BBC and the New York Times currently operate primarily on this model.
• Social model: some platforms enable mass public participation, but they do not take responsibility for the accuracy or truthfulness of what they host. Many social media platforms operate on this model.
• Libertarian model: some outlets and platforms neither place great value on the accuracy or truthfulness of what they publish, broadcast or host, nor on enabling public participation. Breitbart and Fox News are examples of organisations that appear to operate on this model.

The co-creational model of news media is different from these other models. In the co-creational model, news media outlets and platforms take responsibility for the accuracy and truthfulness of their content and enable meaningful public participation in their work.

By combining a commitment to both truth-seeking and public participation, the co-creational model offers an important and timely tool to contain the pernicious political effects of lies and misinformation and enhance public trust in the news media.

The co-creational model was developed by a group of researchers and practitioners. Our toolkit for co-creational news media pulls together what we have learned and showcases the work of successful co-creational news media organisations. We hope it will provide ideas for news media organisations interested in becoming more co-creational.

The challenge

The rise of social media has severely disrupted the news media industry. Traditional news media were once the gate-keeper of political debate. Social media now offers exciting new opportunities for public participation in political debate, and it has the potential to support a much more socially inclusive public sphere.

This upheaval within the news industry poses a challenge for democracy, however. How do we safeguard the future of high-quality, impactful news in an increasingly digital world? The answer is critical, for the health of our democracy depends on a bedrock of informed political discourse.

We propose a co-creational model for the news media as a response to this challenge.

This model identifies ways in which increased public participation in the production and dissemination of news can enhance its truthfulness, relevance, and lasting impact. As such, it has the potential to strengthen the positive democratic role of the news media.

Journalists and media academics have been grappling with the question of whether and how to involve the public in journalism. This debate has sometimes led to questions about journalism’s commitments to objectivity and impartiality. Some argue that objectivity and impartiality remain essential for good journalistic practice. Others reject objectivity and embrace partisanship, where the role of journalist blurs into that of activist.

Our research has led us to reject the binary nature of the existing debate. We believe that news organisations can reconcile a commitment to truth-seeking with a commitment to public participation.

Toolkit modules

We took a modular approach to developing the co-creational model and the toolkit. Three modules map the news media life cycle: governance, content creation, fact checking and impact.

Our modular approach acknowledges that news organisations might take different paths to co-creation. Some organisations have adopted participatory governance structures, for example by operating as cooperatives. Others involve members of the public directly in content-creation or fact-checking. And because many co-creational news organisations strive to make news more relevant and impactful, they also prioritise public participation in the dissemination of news and working towards social change.

The toolkit is the first of its kind to gather co-creational know-how across all four modules. While it is not intended to work as a checklist or standards code for co-creational news organisations, we hope that it provides inspiration for how to make the production and dissemination of news more co-creational, enhancing truthfulness as well as the relevance and lasting impact of news.

Toolkit principles

Our best practices toolkit for co-creational news media rests on four guiding principles: participation, truth-seeking, accountability, and care.

Participation means including members of the public in the production and dissemination of news. Opening up opportunities for participation might not be enough, however. Genuine participation often requires relationship-building and trust as well as investing in skills development for both journalists and members of the public.

Truth-seeking highlights the importance of accurate, informative news. But truth-seeking need not be in tension with participation. Co-creational news organisations recognise that taking into account the diversity of experiences and expertise in the production and dissemination of news can enable learning and lead to greater accuracy.

Accountability extends the important political role of the news media, which is in part to hold power to account, to the production and dissemination of news itself. A crucial stage is the news agenda-setting process, which may benefit from co-creation. Co-created news media takes responsibility for transparency in relation to the division of labour among co-creators, including for clear ownership rules. In the post-publication phase, accountability requires monitoring the impact of news.

Care is necessary for safeguarding news co-creators, protecting them from exploitation or undue risks, and for appropriate context-sensitivity in the production and dissemination of news. As co-creational news media can be labour-intensive, it is also important to consider the ladder of participation, enabling different degrees of public involvement depending on capacities.

Scope

Co-creational news media are committed to all four principles. However, they will realise them in various different ways.

The toolkit is not intended as a checklist or standards code for co-creational news media. Every co-creational news media organisation is different, and no single organisation is likely to include all of these elements. The toolkit should be read as a menu of options from which co-creators can choose the ones that fit their vision and mission.

We hope that the toolkit - with its blend of ideas, tips and practical examples - will inspire new practices, and encourage more people to adopt elements of co-creational news media in their work.

Please note that the examples are not intended as definitive or prescriptive; they are merely illustrations of how the elements of the co-creational model might play out in practice. We would be happy to change or add to these examples in response to feedback.