Journalism Without Journalists

Abstract

In 2006, Jay Rosen penned an astute observation about changing power relationships in the media industries in general and more specifically the world of journalism regarding the impact of internet. His analysis, titled The People Formerly Known as the Audience (TPFKATA)1, pointed towards a shift in access to reporting tools (news gathering, editing, and publishing) to what used to be imagined by news workers as the audience. Rosen and many other industry observers noted how it is not just the tools of reporting now being available to TPFKATA (such as blogging, podcasting, vodcasting, and other forms of social or We media2), but also how emerging forms of legal protection (Creative Commons licensing3), and increasing uses of users by professional media organizations continue to give the former audience a semi-official status as competitor -colleagues. TPFKATA have become special competitors, in the sense that their role is not to do a better and cheaper journalism but to do something different and for free. In other words: they contribute to design another system that, as Shirky argues4, has made the traditional system of information obsolete. Thus, TPFKATA become competitors despite their lack of willing to do so, since they do not have any interest to destroy the traditional newspapers or their websites. It is the publishers that have made them competitor-colleagues, by constructing them as playing this role.