Defining Participatory Journalism

Dictionary.com defines participatory as:

Marked by, requiring, or involving participation, especially affording the opportunity for individual participation: a participatory democracy.

And journalism ( ) as:
1. The collecting, writing, editing, and presenting of news or news articles in newspapers and magazines and in radio and television broadcasts.
2. Material written for publication in a newspaper or magazine or for broadcast.
3. The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation.
4. Newspapers and magazines.
5. An academic course training students in journalism.
6. Written material of current interest or wide popular appeal.

So together, participatory journalism means: collecting, writing, editing and presenting news or news articles through the participation of individuals.

Blogging has become the ultimate form of participatory journalism. Why are so many people interested in blogging? Well as Time magazine wrote in their article Meet Joe Blog "Because they're fast, funny and totally biased."

As PR professionals we have two choices when it comes to blogging, either we can ignore it and hope our company never ends up in a blog or we can monitor blogs related to our business or our clients.

So what roles are PR agencies playing in the "blogosphere"? Check out my web site www.mnpr.blogspot.com for a few view points from Minnesota PR professionals.

Author: Ryan May | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 4 comments
Category: @ Ryan May | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

Comments

I'd say we have a third choice. We should participate in the blogosphere itself (along with our clients). Don't just monitor from afar. Jump in with both feet.

PR people have been trained to be invisible in the old "control the message" world. In this new world, they need to celebrate their identity. Don't hide behind the client, but participate in public conversations with the client. Be open about what you are trying to persuade people to do and give them darn good reasons to take the action you want them too.

As the old adage says, talk TO people, not AT them.

Posted by: Elizabeth Albrycht at July 12, 2004 12:11 PM

I agree, that participation in the blogosphere would be ideal, but I don't think participation always works. As an example when Dr. Pepper tried to enter the blogosphere with their new product Raging Cow and it back fired.

Before PR pros enter the world of blogging it is important to do some research to make sure blogging is the appropriate method to reach their target audience.

Posted by: Ryan May at July 12, 2004 04:06 PM

Of course, Ryan. With blogging or any other communications tool, one must evaluate its use against the organization's goals. But blogging is so new, in terms of its use in formal communications programs, that PR and marketing people are struggling with the fact that there is little data on blogging's effectiveness as a tool. There have been and will continue to be mistakes made. Unfortunately, it is usually the mistakes that get the attention, not the successes, and pundits once again point to the obtuseness of the PR community. Sigh. All we can do is keep trying to educate and inform.

That being said, I hope that this week's information sharing by early PR adopters of blogging will help to educate the broader community on its effective uses.

Posted by: Elizabeth Albrycht at July 13, 2004 03:43 AM

Agreed.

Posted by: Ryan May at July 13, 2004 07:56 AM

About: The Global PR Blog Week 1.0 is an online event that will engage PR, marketing and business bloggers from around the globe in a discussion about blogging and communications. The event is scheduled for July 12 - 16, 2004.

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