With the upcome of social media, the citizens suddenly obtained access to alternative flows and sources of news and information – and in addition, the possibility of becoming not only receivers, but also contributors to the flow of news and information. Furthermore, the nature of social media platforms provides the possibility of direct dialogue with sources and news providers. As professional providers of news and information and storytelling based hereon, the media and journalists have the possibility and challenge to contribute to raising the quality of the news, information and stories on social media. Dialogue is a key concept both in traditional journalism and in the process of identifying and concluding on options of solutions. Constructive Journalism (CoJo) is an emerging and growing trend in journalism – based on traditional critical and investigative journalism - engaging citizens in finding solutions to problems in society.To unfold these potentials, it must engage on social media as journalism in general. Dialogue as a key modality of social media thus calls for developing Dialogue Based Journalism (DBJ) both as a tool to enhance the connection between journalism and citizens in general and to enhance the solution oriented components in CoJo. The objectives of the project are: A. To use relevant theory to develop tools for Audience Development in social media communication and communities. B.To provide future journalism graduates with knowledge and skills enabling them to engage in and provide quality journalism to the communication flow and communities on social media. C.To develop knowledge and skills to working journalists and media practitioners enabling them to engage in and provide quality journalism to the communication flow and communities on social media. The project activities will directly involve 8-9 teachers and 75 students from the partner organisations. The key project activities are workshops where teachers and students directly involved in the courses on Audience Development, CoJo and DBJ work together to develop, test and document new curriculum components and didactic concepts. The methodology is joint development of new curriculum components and didactic concepts, followed by testing these in the regular courses at the three partner organisations, collecting of teachers' and students' experiences, adjustment and fine-tuning, resulting in the new curriculum components becoming part of the regular curricula of the partner organisations. The results will be new curricula components and didactic concepts in Audience Development, CoJo and DBJ in the BA and mid-career training programmes of the partner organisations. Teachers, students as well as working journalists achieving upgraded skills and competences. These results will be synthetised in three Intellectual Outputs (Reports/publications). The main impact will be the innovations becoming permanent curricula and competencies at the partner organisations as well as the upgraded skills and competencies of the students graduating and working journalists. A broader impact on society would be enhanced quality of the news and communication flow on social media.
The objectives of the project: A To use relevant theory to develop tools for Audience Development in social media communication and communities. B: To provide future journalism graduates with knowledge and skills enabling them to engage in and provide quality journalism to the communication flow and communities on social media. C: To develop knowledge and skills to working journalists and media practitioners enabling them to engage in and provide quality journalism to the communication flow and communities on social media The main impact will be the innovations becoming permanent curricula and competencies at the partner organisations as well as the upgraded skills and competencies of the students graduating and for working journalists. A broader impact on society would be enhanced quality of the news and communication flow on social media.
The three universities have come together for this project because we share an understanding of the current difficult state of journalism and ideas on how to improve the situation. We feel that the age of mass communication is dwindling. The media have lost the power to define what’s news – they are not gatekeepers anymore. Their skeptical and informed audience has questions and demands answers. Furthermore journalism has come under pressure because several competing publishers spread misinformation or polarize society. It is our contention that journalistic services are needed for a working democracy – albeit in a somewhat different way than before. We believe that journalists should focus more on communities and facilitate a solutions-oriented dialogue there. Journalism should empower the audience, not make citizens feel hopeless as they often do today. The three universities teach different and overlaping concepts of constructive and dialogue-based journalism, audience development and engagement, that represent the core of our project: We treat dialogue as one of the central tenets of constructive journalism and also as an important way of engaging the audience. In the project we have adressed the needs listed below: 1: The editorial rooms need new tools to analyse the communication and communities unfolding on social media in order to identify potential areas of engaging professional journalism skills in the flows of information, emerging dialogues and communication communities. 2: Editors and journalists need new knowledge and understanding of the functioning modalities of the communication communities on social media (Audience Development) 3: Journalists need new knowledge and skills in order to be able to provide quality journalism in the communication flows and communities on social media: Audience Development (AD) Dialogue Based Journalism (DBJ) Constructive Journalism(CoJo). This calls for new curricula and didactic methods on the HEIs in journalism and communication as well as in professional training for working journalists.