Dark Participation
Citizen participation in the news-making process has been a hopeful promise since the 1990s. Observers hoped for a rejuvenation of journalism and democracy alike. However, many of the enthusiastic theoretical concepts on user engagement did not endure close empirical examination. Some of the major f...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cogitatio
2018-11-01
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| Series: | Media and Communication |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/1519 |
| _version_ | 1818000448919961600 |
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| author | Thorsten Quandt |
| author_facet | Thorsten Quandt |
| author_sort | Thorsten Quandt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Citizen participation in the news-making process has been a hopeful promise since the 1990s. Observers hoped for a rejuvenation of journalism and democracy alike. However, many of the enthusiastic theoretical concepts on user engagement did not endure close empirical examination. Some of the major fallacies of these early works (to whom the author contributed himself) will be outlined in this article. As a bleak flip side to these utopian ideas, the concept of “dark participation” is introduced here. As research has revealed, this type of user engagement seems to be growing parallel to the recent wave of populism in Western democracies. In a systematization, some essential aspects of dark participation will be differentiated. Finally, the benefits of (also) looking at the wicked side of things will be discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T03:21:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-675277db69a848dbaae5d61fa71cea4f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2183-2439 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T03:21:51Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Media and Communication |
| spelling | doaj.art-675277db69a848dbaae5d61fa71cea4f2022-12-22T02:15:17ZengCogitatioMedia and Communication2183-24392018-11-0164364810.17645/mac.v6i4.1519846Dark ParticipationThorsten Quandt0Department of Communication, University of Muenster, GermanyCitizen participation in the news-making process has been a hopeful promise since the 1990s. Observers hoped for a rejuvenation of journalism and democracy alike. However, many of the enthusiastic theoretical concepts on user engagement did not endure close empirical examination. Some of the major fallacies of these early works (to whom the author contributed himself) will be outlined in this article. As a bleak flip side to these utopian ideas, the concept of “dark participation” is introduced here. As research has revealed, this type of user engagement seems to be growing parallel to the recent wave of populism in Western democracies. In a systematization, some essential aspects of dark participation will be differentiated. Finally, the benefits of (also) looking at the wicked side of things will be discussed.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/1519citizen engagementdark participationfake newsnews-making processparticipatory journalismpopulismpropagandauser-generated content |
| spellingShingle | Thorsten Quandt Dark Participation Media and Communication citizen engagement dark participation fake news news-making process participatory journalism populism propaganda user-generated content |
| title | Dark Participation |
| title_full | Dark Participation |
| title_fullStr | Dark Participation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dark Participation |
| title_short | Dark Participation |
| title_sort | dark participation |
| topic | citizen engagement dark participation fake news news-making process participatory journalism populism propaganda user-generated content |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/1519 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT thorstenquandt darkparticipation |