Instead of passively consuming content created by professional journalists, members of the public are actively involved in co-creational newsgathering, sharing their own stories or working with journalists to tell stories that might otherwise go untold.
Traditional forms of news media sometimes involve the public through techniques such as ‘vox pops’, where members of the public are interviewed by broadcasters, letters to the editor in a printed newspaper or comments on an online news story. However, these approaches do not give the public any control over how their content is used, whereas in co-creational news media, participants have a role in shaping their content for broadcast or publication.
Tips
- Build relations of trust between journalists and other content creators. Everyone has a part to play in co-creational news media. Have you made sure that everyone understands and appreciates each other’s role?
- Give participants the skills, tools and confidence to be involved at a level that suits them. What do people need in order to create content that matters?
- Co-creational news media practitioners sometimes take on the role of facilitators, which requires a different set of skills from traditional journalism. How can you support journalists to develop these skills?
Example
- Through the Documenters programme, members of the public in 28 US cities and regions are directly involved in reporting on their local authorities.
