Résultat de la recherche
European French-Speaking Local Media’s Relationship with Audiences. A Strategic Challenge between Diluted and Integrated Organizational Modalities
This article studies local news media’s relationship with audiences from an organizational perspective. It is based on 45 semi-structured interviews conducted in eleven local news organizations in European French-speaking countries (France, Switzerland and Belgium), that explored the implementation of actions aiming at revitalizing the link with audiences, the role of the hierarchy and the allocation of human and material resources to this end. Findings reveal two organizational modalities that characterize how the issue of audiences is taken into account in local news media. A proactive and integrated modality describes news media that tend to include the issue of audiences in the internal organization in a tangible, visible and structured way. A reactive and diluted modality describes news media that tend to favor a more variable and opportunistic approach to audience relations. This typology, built empirically from our data, does not claim to situate a news outlet in a definitive manner, but rather suggests a reading grid for questioning the degree of formalization of the issue of audiences within the organizational process of local news media.
La proximité aux publics des médias d’information locaux européens : stratégies, actions et discours des acteurs dans leur contexte de déploiement
La thèse porte sur la proximité aux publics des médias locaux. Ces médias cherchent à renforcer leurs liens aux publics pour répondre aux défis que représentent leur transition numérique, la désaffection des publics et la crise économique du secteur. Ancrée en sciences de l’information et de la communication, et plus précisément en journalism studies, la thèse s’inscrit principalement dans le champ des recherches sur la participation et l’engagement en regard des pratiques journalistiques et des publics. La proximité aux publics des médias locaux est analysée à la croisée de plusieurs perspectives. Une approche transnationale à l’échelle des médias locaux d’Europe francophone est associée au cas spécifique du quotidien italien L’Eco di Bergamo ; et pour ce dernier, l’observation de la situation contemporaine est mariée à une perspective historique.
La recherche se base principalement sur deux types de données. Elle s’appuie sur le recensement et l’analyse des actions (dites « initiatives ») lancées par les médias visant à redynamiser leur relation avec les publics. Elle repose en outre sur l’étude de matériaux discursifs recueillis via des entretiens qualitatifs dans et en dehors des rédactions des médias locaux considérés comme activement impliqués dans une quête de proximité aux publics.
La thèse conceptualise la (construction de) proximité aux publics comme étant dynamique et située. Elle se façonne dans des tensions entre trois dimensions : gatekeeping, sociale et commerciale. Cette conceptualisation considère les publics comme une figure à la fois centrale et plurielle, définie selon les diverses stratégies des médias dont elle est la cible, et incarnée dans les discours et les actions des acteurs, dans un contexte donné.
Les principaux résultats empiriques mettent en lumière et caractérisent une reconfiguration de la proximité aux publics « en train de se faire ». Dans les médias francophones considérés par l’étude, elle se dessine plutôt dans des rapports dialogiques et horizontaux avec les publics. À L’Eco di Bergamo elle est davantage teintée de la pensée marketing. Simultanément, l’ensemble des médias de notre recherche continuent à construire une proximité aux publics sur la base de pratiques et d’actions qui sont l’héritage du passé.
Abstract :
This dissertation focuses on local news media’s proximity to audiences. Local news organizations seek to strengthen their links to audiences in order to face the challenges that include their digital transformation, audiences’ disaffection and the economic crisis of the sector. Falling within information and communication sciences, and more precisely journalism studies, the dissertation draws mainly on research on participation and engagement related to journalistic practices and audiences. Local media’s proximity to audiences is analyzed at the intersection of several perspectives. A transnational approach studying local media in French-speaking Europe integrates a case study of the Italian daily L’Eco di Bergamo; for which, the observation of the contemporary situation is combined with a historical perspective.
The research relies mainly on two types of data. It is based on the identification and analysis of actions (i.e. “initiatives”) undertaken by local media to revitalize their relationship with audiences. It is also based on the study of discursive material collected through qualitative interviews inside and outside the newsroom of local media considered to be actively involved in a quest for proximity to audiences.
The dissertation conceptualizes (the construction of) proximity to audiences as dynamic and situated. It is shaped by the tensions between three dimensions: gatekeeping, social and commercial. This conceptualization sees audiences as a figure that is both central and plural, defined according to the various news media’s strategies that target it, and embodied in the discourses and actions of actors in a given context.
The main empirical results highlight and characterize a reconfiguration of proximity to audiences “in the making”. In the French-speaking media considered by the study, this reconfiguration takes shape rather in dialogical and horizontal ties with audiences. At L’Eco di Bergamo, it is rather colored by marketing thinking. At the same time, all news organizations of our research continue to build a proximity to audiences on the basis of practices and actions that are the legacy of the past.
Offensive speech against journalists on French social media
The internet can constitute a common space for bonding and creating cohesiveness based on users interests and interactions ; hence, contributing to develop a sense of community, understood as networks of interpersonal ties that provide sociability, support, information, a sense of belonging, and social identity. These communities can be built "through opposition to other groups, and through angry, persistent messages of hate that discourage dissenting points of view’ (Bostdorff, 2004: 340). Immediacy, anonymity, "expansion" of content (Siapera & alii, 2018) afforded by social media, favor emotional speech and an understanding of the world through the prism of emotion. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, can turn into a wild web (Mercier, 2018), that is spaces suitable to the expression of messages that go beyond the democratic criticism of how news media work to simply convey hatred. “The Internet has become the latest technology to be exploited by extremists and hatemongers” (Levin, 2002). Cyberhate speech is broadly defined as offensive language targeting a person or a group. It aims to dehumanize, degrade, harass and to foment violence against them (Cohen-Almagor, 2011: 1-2). For instance, on Twitter, the harshest French critics of journalists built up an ad hoc vocabulary that takes the form of an insult, mixing news media, the press and journalists with scatological, sexual and disparaging references (Mercier & Amigo, 2021). In order to study hate speech targeting the news sector, we automatically collected 13’582 tweets containing at least one of the most frequently used terms (“merdias", "pressetitué", "journalopes”) of this made-up vocabulary posted between June and September 2017. On Facebook, we gathered violent messages against the media from the four most popular groups of the French “Gilets jaunes” movement during the winter of 2018-2019. Based on these two corpuses we aim to identify the figures of detestation and rejection of journalistic work, and we sought to determine to which extent these online messages contribute to the conformation of a virtual community based on "journalist phobia". Finally, we shed light on explanatory factors of these virulent messages, in the current context of citizens' mistrust of the journalistic field, that has grown to the point of becoming a "great misunderstanding" (Charon, 2007) and a “crisis of faith in journalism” (Zuckerman, 2017).
Tweets injurieux et haineux contre les journalistes et les "merdias"
Ce travail analyse les discours de haine à l’égard des journalistes et médias d’information à partir d’un corpus de tweets comportant trois injures emblématiques qui se présentent sous forme de mots-valises (« merdia », « journalope » et « presstituée ») et qui ont été collectés dans la foulée de l’élection présidentielle française de 2017. L’analyse statistique et qualitative permet de cerner les figures de détestation et de rejet ainsi que les niveaux d’intensité de ces messages haineux. L’étude montre que les contenus des tweets dépassent l’habituelle critique du travail journalistique, car ici la critique repose largement sur un positionnement politique radical, le plus souvent associé à l’extrême droite, ce qui inscrit ce discours de haine anti-journalistique dans un contexte plus large de profonde défiance vis-à-vis des élites et du personnel politique.
(Re)connecting with audiences. An overview of audience-inclusion initiatives in European French-speaking local news media
This paper explores how local news organizations seek to strengthen their bond with audiences in French-speaking Europe (Belgium, France, and Switzerland). It does so by suggesting a new methodological approach focusing on the different ways in which this bond can be observed, i.e., the “initiatives” implemented by the news organizations. The study identifies 20 types of initiatives undertaken to (re)connect with audiences and presents a model of audience inclusion in news media in line with the literature on modalities of audience participation in news media. The discussion identifies changes in the positioning of local news organizations and journalists towards audiences regarding existing literature on participatory journalism but also on new practices more rooted in engagement, dialogue, and transparency towards audiences.
Transformation of local journalism : Media landscapes and proximity to the public in Spain, France and Portugal
(R)engaging with audiences: local news media's initiatives in French-speaking Europe
In response to the current context of citizens' “crisis of faith in journalism” (Zuckerman, 2017) and of disruption of news media economic models, news organizations are exploring innovative ways to reconnect with audiences (Jenkins & Nielsen, 2018). They seek to adapt to their expectations of horizontal information and of a dialogue-based relationship, rather than a one-way lecture format (Deuze, 2007); a momentum amplified by the web participatory culture (Jenkins, 2006). For local news media, proximity to the audience is an essential feature, since they position themselves as key players in the weaving of social ties in a given geographical space (Hess & Waller, 2017). However, little attention has been paid to study how these expectations and changes in the news ecosystem are affecting local news media -in comparison to national outlets- (Nielsen, 2015). This paper discusses the results of an international research project investigating how local news organizations in French-speaking Europe (Belgium, France and Switzerland) try to rebuild a trusted relationship with their audiences. The first phase of the project consisted in the elaboration of a database of initiatives launched by radio, television, press or digital-only media concerned by the perimeter of our study and aiming to reinforce the links with their audiences. The research team carried out an inventory of initiatives no matter what their nature was (economic, editorial, communicational, etc.). This work was completed by a participatory form in order to gather as many initiatives as possible. From February 2019 to December 2020, we listed 550 media's initiatives. The analysis consisted of manually coding each initiative based on a double inductive categorization referring to two research questions. What are the recurring formats of the media's initiatives towards audiences? We classified them in 26 formats according to their main characteristics (editorial conference, subscribers' club, crowdfunding campaign, etc.). What role is assigned to the audience and what is the extent of its involvement, particularly in the editorial process? We identified 5 different levels of audience involvement (observation, dialogue, contribution, consultation and co-creation). Our work builds up on previous research on participatory journalism, defined as the overall process of audience engagement with journalists in the construction of news (Paulussen et al., 2007; Thurman & Hermida, 2010; Singer et al., 2011). It aims to offer a complementary view to the studies on the resistance of journalists to release control over the editorial process (Hermida, 2011) as well as on organisational difficulties against this approach. Thanks to its longitudinal perspective, our research highlights the rise (before the Covid-19 pandemic) of initiatives that not only allow participation but also dialogue and transparency in the news building process. It also shows that initiatives launched during the pandemic foster solidarity between people and development of social links within the local community. More broadly, the results shed light on the rise, in French-speaking Europe, of engaged journalism, defined as practices integrating a regular and more horizontal link with audiences, even taking into account their expectations and needs, as well as committing in a reciprocal relationship with them.
Métavers et web3. Quelles perspectives pour les médias ? Etude exploratoire pour l’Initiative pour l’innovation dans les médias
Reinventing the wheel? How local newsrooms try (or not) to rethink their relationships with their audiences
This communication discusses the results of an international research project investigating how local media outlets develop initiatives to empower their relationships with their audiences. Conducted in the European French-speaking landscape (France, French-speaking Switzerland and Belgium), this research is part of a twofold questioning at the heart of Journalism Studies, that is 1) to what extent new technologies are able to modify these relationships (Barnes 2016) and 2) how journalists can address the problem of news avoidance and the decline of trust in news (Reuters Institute 2019). We focus on local news media, particularly concerned by issues of proximity and links to the audience, since they position themselves as key players in the weaving of social ties in a given geographical space (Hess & Waller 2017; Jenkins & Nielsen 2020). A crowdsourcing campaign with local media outlets from France, Belgium and Switzerland allowed us to identify around 550 initiatives over the last 2.5 years. The full list can be consulted online at: https://www.unine.ch/ajm/recensement-linc. On this basis, we inductively created a typology of 26 types of initiatives according to their purpose (editorial/commercial) and their format (reader café, editorial conference, crowdfunding campaign, etc.). We then categorized the editorial initiatives in order to highlight the degree of audience integration in the editorial process, ranging from the most “passive” to the most engaging kinds of relationship (observation – dialogue – consultation – contribution- co-creation). Among the 550 initiatives, 110 of them specifically focus on actions undertaken by local news outlets during the Covid-19 pandemic. This very particular context allowed us to highlight specific modalities of engagement with audiences, in particular initiatives that foster solidarity and mutual support between people and those that develop social links within the local community (e.g. during lockdowns). This shows local media capacity to play new or less prominent roles in recent years, that have been revived during this exceptional situation. We then conducted 45 in-depth interviews (Kaufmann 1996; Demazière and Dubar 1997) with staff members in charge of these initiatives in 10 media outlets from the three markets studied. This allowed us to study how these attempts to reach out to audiences are integrated into pre-existing processes. We sought to determine if they correspond to temporary fashions or deeper organizational transformations. Our results show that these initiatives are implemented according to strategies and means that vary greatly depending on the type of media. Journalists justify their deployment for equally varied reasons: commercial purposes (strengthen audience loyalty, attract new subscribers) rub shoulders with editorial concerns (to better understand audiences, evolving with the public’s uses). At their most advanced stage, reflections gathered during the interviews echo the moving epistemologies of journalism, especially in times of crisis (Ward 2018). Journalists discuss the very purpose of local journalism through the complex and shifting power relations between the newsrooms and what they try to define as their “audience(s)”: At the heart of this issue, we find the tensions between the willingness to support/represent/act for local communities and the more normative roles of journalism (Hanitzsch & Vos 2018; Standaert et al. 2019), as well as the (in)dependence of the journalists on their audiences.