Folklor/Edebiyat (Aug 2015)
New Media and User Generated Content: An enthnographic analysis of citizen journalism taking Dokuz8haber news site as an example / Yeni Medya ve Kullanıcı Türevli İçerik: Dokuz8haber Sitesi Örneğinde Yurttaş Gazeteciliği Üzerine Etnografik Bir İnceleme
Abstract
This paper offers an analysis of a case study of digital platforms which involve user generated content in Turkey. A digital news agency, Dokuz8haber, which was formed by coming together of various citizen journalism initiatives via the use of new media. This study focuses on the organisational structure of the new agency, and the motivations of those who join the initiative though data collected through a questionnaire, participant observation and interviews. One of the main findings of the study is that citizen journalism platforms find it easier to appropriate new technologies as part of their news production process, however, there is no agreement in terms of the methods that needs to be employed for content creation and production in citizen journalism. The case study also reveals that news gathering, video and photography production is considered to be an active act of citizenship and the relationship between mainstream media and citizen journalism does not necessarly exclude each other’s practices.
