Internet Journalism

Model 1: Online Journalism

The content-connectivity domain intersects with (vertical axis) the participatory communication domain, where the news site indeed consists of a range of options for users and producers to interact, discuss, up- or download, to communicate in a participatory way (see the discussion on various forms of interactivity below). A brief note has to made regarding the notion of 'content', as - in Web designer terms - everything is content online, including banner ads, chat rooms, research papers and what not. Editorial content is defined here as texts (including written and spoken word, moving and still images), produced and/or edited by journalists. Public connectivity can be seen as what Odlyzko (2001: p. 6) calls 'standard point-to-point' communication, to which one might add the notion of 'public' communication without a formal barrier of entry (such as an editing or moderation process). The vertical axis represents the level of participatory communication offered through a news site: a site can be considered to be 'open' when it allows users to share comments, posts, files (i.e. content) without moderating or filtering intervention. On the other end, 'closed' participatory communication can be defined as a site where users may participate but their communicative acts are subject to strict editorial control. Online journalism in its different types can predominantly be located within these two domains.