Prosumer Concept and New Media: Effects on the Journalist
Nnennaya Grace Nwaubeta, Chieme Azubuike
Abstract
The media world today is currently witnessing a paradigm shift, a shift ushered by technological change and radical innovation eliminating the power of monopoly from traditional media outlets. The emergence of the new media has created a change the roles of the media and their stakeholders, to such an extent that the professional journalist no longer possess the sole right of gathering and disseminating information to their audience but the audience now have the ability to do same, with the power the new media have thrown at them. This development has brought the concept of the prosumer to the media industry, a situation where media audience are no longer just receivers but are creators and distributors of media contents. Hence, this study’s focus is on the implication and the effect the activities of the prosumer has on the journalist and the journalism profession. The study was hinged on the Uses and Gratification, Democratic Participant and Libertarian theories. The study concludes that, the advancement in technology and the emergence of digital platforms is reshaping the media industry and the public sphere. The implication and effects of this development are both positive and negative in nature and more are still emerging. However, the opportunity and the potential exists to channel these impacts for the better.
Keywords
New Media
Technology
Prosumer
Journalist
Gatekeeping
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readings in media and communication studies (p. 68). Lagos: St Benedette Publishers Ltd.
in Nigeria. In D. Wilson’s(Ed.),Communication and the New Media in Nigeria:
SocialEngagements, Political Development and Public Discourse. APublication of the
African Council for Communication Education(ACCE). Nigeria. Pp 216-229.
Anaeto, G., Onabanjo, O.S. &. Osifeso, G. B. (1988). Models and theories of Communication.
Maryland: African Renaissance Books incorporated.
Archer, C. &Harngan, p. (2016). Prosumers with passion: Learning what motivates bloggers as
digital
influencer
stakeholders.
Prism
13
(1):
http://www.prismjournal.org/
homepage.html
Bardoel, J. (1996). Beyond journalism: A profession between information society and civil society.
European Journal of Communication 11(3): pp. 283-302
Blake, H. R. and Haroldsen, O. E. (1975). A taxonomy of concepts in communication. New York:
Hasting House Publishers.
Brown, F. (2005). Citizen journalism is not professional journalism. Quill 93(1), p.42
Bruns, A. (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second life and beyond: From production to Produsage. New
York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Carey, J.W. (1987). The press and public discourse. The Center Magazine, 20, pp. 6-15.
Comor, E. (2011). Contextualizing and critiquing the fantastic prosumer: Power, alienation and
hegemony. Critical Sociology, 37(3), pp. 309-327
Du, Y.R. (2007). The internet and the rise of “do-it-yourself” journalism: From September 11 and
the Iraq war to hurricane Katrina. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the international
communication association, TBA, San Francisco, CA Online. Retrieved on September 25,
2019 from http://www.trendwatching.com/meta/p172623_index.html
Giles, D. (2003). Media psychology. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Folarin, B. (2005). Theoriesof mass communication. Ibadan: Stirling- Horden Publications
Kline, D.,& Burstein, D. (2005). Blog: How the newest media revolution is changing politics,
business and culture. The University of Michigan: CDS Books
Kotler, P. (1986). Principles of Marketing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
Lasica, J. (2003). What is participatory journalism: Online Journalism Review. URL (Consulted
November, 2017):http//www.orj-org-workplace/ 10602 17106.php.
Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics. Human Relations, 1(2), p. 145
Livingstone, S., & Bennett, W.L. (2003). Gatekeeping, indexing, and live-event news: Is
technology altering the construction of news? Journal of Political Communication, 20(4),
pp.363-380
Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S. & Taylor, F. (2008). New media:Acritical introduction. London:
SagePublication Limited
Manovich, L. (2003). New media from borges to html. In N. Wardrip-Fuin&N. Montfort (Eds.).
The new media reader(pp. 13-25). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
McLuhan, M.(1964). Understanding media: Extensions of Man, p.100
McQuail, D. (2005). Mass communication theory. London: Sage Publication Limited.
Nayyar, D. (2007). Modern mass communication: Concept and Processes. Jaipur: Oxford Book
Company.
Nguyen, A. (2006). The complementary relationship between the internet and traditional mass
media: The case of online news and information. Information Research: An International
Electronic Journal, 11(3), pp.n3
O’Donnell, P. (2009). Journalism, change, and listening practices. Continuum Journal of Media &
Cultural Studies, 23(4). pp. 503-517
Okoro, N. and Nwafor, K. A. (2013). Social media and political participation in Nigeria during the
2011 general elections: The lapses and the lessons. In global journal of arts humanities
and social sciences. UK: European Centre for Research Training and Development. Vol.
1, No. 3, pp. 29-46.
Papacharissi, Z. & Ruben, A. (2000). Predictors of internet use. Journal of Broadcasting and
Electronic Media. Vol.44(2),pp.175-196.
Radschi, C. (2011). Forthcoming. The revolution will be blogged:Cyber activism in Egypt. A PhD
Dissertation, American University.
Sambrook, R. (2005). Citizen journalism and the BBC. Nieman Reports: Nieman foundation for
journalism at Havard, 59(4), pp. 1-5
Singer, J.B. (1998). Online journalists: Foundations for research into their changing roles. Journal
of Computer-Mediated Communication 4(1)
Singer, J.B. (2001). The metro wide web: Changes in newspapers’ gatekeeping role online.
Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 1, pp. 65-80
Singer, J.B. (2004). More than ink-stained wretches: The resocialization of print journalist in
converged newsrooms. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 81(4), pp. 838-57
Singer, J.B. (2006). The socially responsible existentialist; A normative emphasis for journalists
in a new media environment. Journalism Studies, 7 (1), pp. 2-18
Storm, E. (2007). The endurance of gatekeeping in an evolving newsroom; Amultimethod study
of web-generated user content. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the international
communication association, TBA, San Francisco, CA Online. Retrieved on August 7, 2019
from http://www.trendwatching.com/meta/p172623_index.html
Tabea, B., Christian, E., Sabine, H. & Frank, K. (2013). Prosumption of social context in Web 2.0
in
customers
at
work.
pp.
223-252.
Availableonline
at:
http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/doifinder/l0.1057/9 781137293251.0019. Accessed
3rd November, 2017.
Wilding, D., Fray, P., Molitorisz, S. &McKewon, E.(2018). The impact of digital platforms on
news and journalistic content. University of Technology Sydney: NSW
Wogu, J. O. (2013). Elements of communication theories. In N. Okoro (Ed.) Contemporary
readings in media and communication studies (p. 68). Lagos: St Benedette Publishers Ltd.
