The journalist, the community reporter and the public: a model for collaboration in local UK newspapers Lily Canter, PhD student, The University of Sheffield

“There is a role for professional journalism and a role for citizen journalism. The future belongs to both. It is not an either/or.” Keith Perch, Editor Leicester Mercury, May 2011

Leicester MercuryCitizens’ Eye Established as a newspaper 1874Established 2008 as a website Flagship Northcliffe Media newspaper and website (DMGT Group) Community news: Reporting by the people (independent) Newspaper readership: 54,000 Website monthly unique users: 388,000 (ABC figures, March 2011) Website views: 20,000 a month Local news in Leicester + surrounding areaIssue related news in Leicestershire 60 editorial staff450 volunteers

Theoretical framework To what extent is a new form of collaborative journalism emerging in local British newspapers under Web 2.0? How is Web 2.0 impacting on the role of journalists as traditional gatekeepers? Retaining gatekeeping via moderation (Hermida and Thurman, 2008; Ornebring, 2008; Deuze, 2006;) Redefining gatekeepers as sense-makers (Singer, 2010; Newman, 2009) Sharing the gates (Paulussen, 2007; Gillmor, 2006)

Pilot collaboration model WAVE supplement Branded weekly page Branded newspaper content Website content Text Video Audio Photos Citizens’ Eye feeding Leicester Mercury brands

Rules of engagement Leicester MercuryCitizens’ Eye Journalist moderationSetting own news agenda Accuracy upheldResponsible for checks Branded as citizen journalismFlexibility over style No automatic right to publicationCover unreported news Hard news covered by journalistsMay complement hard news coverage High level reportingLow level reporting Court casesCharity/community events City council meetingsWard meetings Investigative journalismSelf-interest news Major events and breaking news*Vox pops High profile interviewsOpinions * These can be complemented by citizen journalists providing additional material such as eyewitness accounts, video, audio and photography

Sub editor writes headlines Branded as citizen journalism Photos by Citizens’ Eye Self interest news Low level reporting Hard news followed up by journalists News desk dictate page no. Flexibility in style News agenda set by Citizens’ Eye

“As long as we are printing what hopefully is the best, most competent, most experienced, most colourful, most compelling version of events then we should be alright. That’s the trick isn’t it?” Leicester Mercury reporter, October 2010

References Castells, M. (2001) The Internet Galaxy. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Deuze, M. (2006) Participation, remediation, bricolage: Considering principal components of a digital culture. The Information Society, 22(2), Gillmor, D. (2006) We the Media: Grassroots journalism by the people for the people. Farnham, O’Reilly. Hermida, A. and N. Thurman (2008) A clash of cultures: An integration of user-generated content within professional journalistic frameworks at British newspaper websites. Journalism Practice, 2(3), Jarvis, J. (2008) Supermedia. BuzzMachine [online]. Available from: [Accessed 10 th June 2010]. Jenkins, H. (2008) Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York, New York University Press. Newman, N. (2009) The rise of social media and its impact on mainstream journalism. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism [online]. Available from: [Accessed 21st June 2010]. O’Reilly, T. and J. Batetelle (2009) Web Squared: Web 2.0 five years on. Web 2.0 Summit [online]. Available from: [Accessed 10th March 2010]. Ornebring, H. (2008) The consumer as producer- of what? Journalism Studies, (9)5, Paulussen, S. et al. (2007) Doing it together: Citizen participation in the professional news making process. Observatorio, 1(3), Singer, J. B. (2009) Quality control. Journalism Practice, 4(2),