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Abstract
The paper provides a review of research on user generated content in the Israeli online journalism landscape. Findings reveal that scholarly attention has been focused primarily on user comments, with initial insight on the role of blogs and citizen journalism in the Israeli journalism landscape. Methodologically, research is derived primarily from interviews with newsroom staff and case study content analyses. The review suggests that future research should complement current data with user based inquiry about orientations and use of UGC, and examine the role of Israeli culture in the practice of UGC.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Yaron Ariel for his help with coding the Israeli online newspaper sample and his insightful comments on an earlier version of the paper. Thanks also go to Inbar Tubi for her diligent assistance in gathering material for the review.
Notes
1. Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis, “We Media: How Audiences Are Shaping the Future of News and Information,” The Media Center at the American Press Institute, http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/download/we_media.pdf (accessed February 6, 2011); Mark Deuze, Axel Bruns, and Christoph Neuberger, “Preparing for an Age of Participatory News,” Journalism Practice 1, no. 3 (2007): 322–37; Dan Gillmor, We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People (Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, 2004).
2. Howard Tumber, “Democracy in the Information Age: The Role of the Fourth Estate in Cyberspace,” Information, Communication and Society 4, no. 1 (2001): 95–112; Gillmor, We the Media.
3. Louis Leung, “User-Generated Content on the Internet: An Examination of Gratifications, Civic Engagement and Psychological Empowerment,” New Media and Society 11, no. 8 (2009): 1327–47.
4. Alfred Hermida and Neil Thurman, “A Clash of Cultures: The Integration of User-Generated Content within Professional Journalistic Frameworks at British Newspaper Websites,” Journalism Practice 2, no. 3 (2008): 343–56.
5. Neil Thurman, “Forums for Citizen Journalists? Adoption of User Generated Content Initiatives by Online News Media,” New Media and Society 10, no. 1 (2008): 139–57; Deborah Soun Chung, “Profits and Perils: Online News Producers' Perceptions of Interactivity and Uses of Interactive Features,” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 13 no. 1 (2007): 43–61; Hermida and Thurman, “Clash of Cultures”; Henrik Ornebring, “The Consumer as Producer – of What? User-Generated Tabloid Content in The Sun (UK) and Aftonbladet (Sweden),” Journalism Studies 9, no. 5 (2008): 771–85; Steve Paulussen and Pieter Ugille, “User Generated Content in the Newsroom: Professional and Organizational Constraints on Participatory Journalism,” Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture 5, no. 2 (2008): 24–41; David Domingo, “Interactivity in the Daily Routines of Online Newsrooms: Dealing with an Uncomfortable Myth,” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13 (2008): 680–704; David Domingo et al., “Participatory Journalism Practices in the Media and Beyond: An International Comparative Study of Initiatives in Online Newspapers,” Journalism Practice 2, no. 3 (2008): 326–42; Zvi Reich, “How Citizens Create News Stories: The ‘News Access’ Problem Reversed,” Journalism Studies 9, no. 5 (2008): 739–58; Marina Vujnovic et al., “Exploring the Political-Economic Factors of Participatory Journalism: Views of Online Journalists in 10 Countries,” Journalism Practice 4, no. 3 (2010): 285–96.
6. Dan Caspi, “Online Journalism in Israel: A Preliminary Typology,” in Online Journalism in Israel, ed. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler (Jerusalem: Israel Democracy Institute and Burda Center for Innovative Communication, 2007), 31–49 [in Hebrew].
7. Internet World Stats, “Internet Usage in the Middle East,” http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats5.htm (accessed August 5, 2010).
8. Ophir Bar-Zohar, “July Tim Survey,” The Marker, August 9, 2010, http://www.themarker.com/tmc/article.jhtml?ElementId = obz20100809_01 (accessed January 31, 2011).
9. For example, Ayelet Cohen and Motti Neiger, “To Talk and to Talk Back: Rhetoric Analysis of the Response Rhetoric in Online Journalism,” in Online Journalism in Israel, ed. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler (Jerusalem: Israel Democracy Institute and Burda Center for Innovative Communication, 2007), 321–50 [in Hebrew].
10. Leung, “User Generated Content.”
11. For example, Ornebring, “Consumer as Producer”; Paulussen and Ugille, “User Generated Content”; Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors”; Zvi Reich, “User Comments and the Transformation of the Public Sphere,” in Participatory Journalism in Online Newspapers: Guarding the Internet's Open Gates, ed. Jane Singer et al. (Wiley Blackwell, 2011), 96–117.
12. Bowman and Willis, “We the Media”; Domingo et al., “Participatory Journalism”; Paulussen and Ugille, “User Generated Content”; Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors.”
13. Ornebring, “Consumer as Producer.”
14. Hermida and Thurman, “Clash of Cultures.”
15. Elvira Garcia de Torres et al., “UGC Status and Levels of Control in Argentina, Colombian, Mexican, Peruvian, Portuguese, Spanish, US and Venezuelan Online Newspapers” (paper presented at the 10th International Symposium on Online Journalism, University of Texas, Austin Texas, April 17–18, 2009).
16. Hermida and Thurman, “Clash of Cultures,” 344.
17. For example, Domingo et al., “Participatory Journalism”; Ornebring, “Consumer as Producer”; Hermida and Thurman, “Clash of Cultures”; Garcia de-Torres et al., “UGC Status”; Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors.” Note that much research has also been accumulated about the exploitation of UGC in Latin America, Portugal, and Spain, but this research is published mostly in Spanish publications, and due to language constraints was not included here. See Garcia de-Torres et al., “UGC Status,” for a review of this work.
18. For example, Hermida and Thurman, “Clash of Cultures.”
19. Thurman, “Forums for Citizens”; Paulussen and Ugille, “User Generated Content”; Hermida and Thurman, “Clash of Cultures”; Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors”; Na'ama Nagar, “The Loud Public: Users' Comments and the Online News Media” (paper presented at the10th International Symposium on Online Journalism, University of Texas, Austin Texas, April 17–18, 2009).
20. Hermida and Thurman, “Clash of Cultures”; Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors”; Reich, “User Comments.”
21. Rachel Kadres, email message to author, March 3, 2010.
22. Nagar, “Loud Public.”
23. Notably, the Academy of Hebrew Language has determined the word ‘tguvit’ for the concept of user comments, a term drawn from the root of the verb ‘to respond’. Yet in popular discourse the term ‘talkback’ dominates.
24. Nagar, “Loud Public.”
25. Nelly Elias and Marina Zeltser Shorer, “To Surf without Borders: Online Journalism of the Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel,” in Online Journalism in Israel, ed. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler (Jerusalem: Israel Democracy Institute and Burda Center for Innovative Communication, 2007), 321–50 [in Hebrew].
26. Yaakov Hecht, “The Struggle for Hegemony in Digital Content: The Case of the Talk Back,” Israel Internet Association Magazine, November 2003, http://www.isoc.org.il/magazine/magazine4_3.html (accessed January 31, 2011).
27. Niva Alkin-Koren, “The New Mediators in the Virtual ‘Market Square’,” Mimshal Umishpat 6, no. 2 (2002): 325–404 [in Hebrew]; Ido Keinan, “Response to Response,” The Seventh Eye, February 9, 2010, http://www.the7eye.org.il/articles/Pages/090210_NRG_editor_talkback.aspx (accessed January 31, 2011) [in Hebrew].
28. Israel Hason, “Bill Proposal for the Legal Responsibility of Website Managers on the Content of Users Comments on Their Sites 2007,” The Knesset, http://www.knesset.gov.il/privatelaw/plaw_display.asp (accessed February 7, 2011) [in Hebrew]; Zvi Zarchia, “The ‘Talkback Bill’ Got Primary Approval,” Haaretz, January 16, 2008, http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/945368.html (accessed January 31, 2011) [in Hebrew].
29. Shachar Ginosar, “The Talkbackers of The Electric Company,” Ynet, May 21, 2009, http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3719523,00.html (accessed January 31, 2011) [in Hebrew].
30. The Marker, “Exacerbation in the War Between ‘Israel Today’ and ‘Ma'ariv’: Hundreds of Talkbacks Criticizing Ma'ariv Deleted,” The Marker, December 26, 2009, http://www.themarker.com/tmc/article.jhtml?ElementId = gg20091225_012589 (accessed January 31, 2011) [in Hebrew].
31. Edith Manosevitch, “Participatory Journalism in Israeli Daily Newspapers,” in Cartografia del Periodismo Participativo, ed. Elvira Garcia de Torres (Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch, forthcoming).
32. Reich, “User Comments”; Hermida and Thurman, “Clash of Cultures.”
33. For example, Ornebring, “Consumer as Producer”; Paulussen and Ugille, “User Generated Content”; Thurman, “Forums for Citizen Journalists”; Thurman and Hermida, “Clash of Cultures”; Garcia de-Torres et al., “UGC Status”; Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors.”
34. Mostafa Kabha, “Network without Boundaries: The Use of the Internet and Online Journalism Among the Arab Population in Israel,” in Online Journalism in Israel, ed. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler (Jerusalem: Israel Democracy Institute and Burda Center for Innovative Communication, 2007), 177–96 [in Hebrew].
35. Elias and Shorer, “To Surf Without Borders.”
36. Elias and Shorer, “To Surf Without Borders.”
37. Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors”; Reich, “User Comments”; Nagar, “Loud Public.”
38. Nagar, “Loud Public.”
39. Cohen and Neiger, “To Talk and to Talk Back.”
40. Fabienne Sikron, Orna Baron-Epel, and Shai Linn, “The Voice of Lay Experts: Content Analysis of Traffic Accident Talk-Backs,” Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior 11, no. 1 (2007): 24–36; Yair Galily, “The ReShaping of the Israeli Sport Media: The Case of Talk-Back,” International Journal of Sport Communication 1 (2008): 273–85; Gabriel Cavaglion, “The Societal Construction of a Criminal as Cultural Hero: The Case of ‘The Brinks Truck Theft’,” Folklore 118 (December, 2007): 245–60.
41. Na'ama Nagar, “The Quality of Opinion Expression: The Case of Users' Comments in the Online News Media” (paper presented in the 68th Midwest Political Science Association Annual National Conference, April 2010).
42. Nagar, “Loud Public”; Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors.”
43. Nagar, “Loud Public”; Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors”; Reich, “User Comments.”
44. Nagar, “Loud Public”; Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors.”
45. Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors.”
46. Israeli editor-in-chief, as cited in Nagar, “Loud Public.”
47. Nagar, “Loud Public.”
48. Nagar, “Loud Public.”
49. Nagar, “Loud Public.”
50. Nagar, “Quality of Opinion.”
51. Cohen and Neiger, “To Talk and to Talk Back.”
52. Cavaglion, “Construction of Hero.”
53. Sikron et al., “Voice of Lay Experts.”
54. Galily, “ReShaping of the Israeli Sport Media.”
55. Sikron et al., “Voice of Lay Experts.”
56. Galily, “ReShaping of the Israeli Sport Media.”
57. Cavaglion, “Societal Construction.”
58. Cavaglion, “Societal Construction.”
59. For example, Sikron et al., “Voice of Lay Experts.”
60. Nagar, “Loud Public”; Reich, “User Comments”; Manosevitch, “Participatory Journalism in Israel.”
61. Nagar, “Loud Public”; Reich, “User Comments”; Manosevitch, “Participatory Journalism in Israel.”
62. Manosevitch, “Participatory Journalism in Israel”; Reich, “User Comments”; Nagar, “Loud Public.”
63. Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors”; Nagar, “Loud Public.”
64. Cohen and Neiger, “To Talk and to Talk Back”; Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors.”
65. Nagar, “Loud Public”; Reich, “How Citizens Create Stories.”
66. Shuki Tausig, “Journalism 2010: The Survey,” The Seventh Eye, December 24, 2009, http://www.the7eye.org.il/articles/Pages/241209_Journalism_2010_Israeli_Media_Consumption_Poll.aspx? (accessed January 31, 2011) [in Hebrew].
67. For example, Hecht, “Struggle for Hegemony.”
68. See Carmel Vaisman, “Public Media Meets the Online Workers’ Union: The Roles and Influence of Political Blogs in Israel,” Megamot 46, no. 1 (2009): 222–53 [in Hebrew]; An exception is Jpost which holds a guest blog specifically for users.
69. Inna Blau, Nili Mor, and Tami Neutal, “Interpersonal and Group Interactions Using Educational Blogs,” in Proceedings of the Chais Conference on Instructional Technologies Research: Learning in the Technological Era, ed. Yoram Eshet-Alkalai et al. (Ra'anana, IS: The Open University of Israel, 2009).
70. Yael Enoch and Ronit Grossman, “Blogs of Israeli and Danish Backpackers to India,” Annals of Tourism Research 37, no. 2 (2010): 520–36.
71. Atara Frenkel-Faran, “Journalism in the Age of the Blog: Blogs as the Avant-Garde of the Alternative Communication Revolution,” in Online Journalism in Israel, ed. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler (Jerusalem: Israel Democracy Institute and Burda Center for Innovative Communication, 2007), 243–89 [in Hebrew]; Vaisman, “Public Media.”
72. Wilson Lowrey, “Mapping the Journalism–Blogging Relationship,” Journalism 7 no. 4, (2006): 477–500.
73. Frenkel-Faran, “Journalism in the Age of the Blog”; Vaisman, “Public Media.”
74. Frenkel-Faran, “Journalism in the Age of the Blog.”
75. Vaisman, “Public Media.”
76. Vaisman, “Public Media.”, 249.
77. Vaisman, “Public Media.”
78. Manosevitch, “Participatory Journalism in Israel.”
79. Reich, “How Citizens Create Stories.”
80. Karen Sereno, “The Role of Independent News Websites in Organizing Collective Action of Radical Protest Movements: Lessons form the Israeli Experience” (paper presented at the 5th ECPR General Conference, Potsdam University, Germany, September 10–12, 2009).
81. Azi Lev-On, “Between Public and Private: Internet Uses by Israeli Political Entrepreneurs,” in Connected: Technology, Society and Politics in Israel, ed. Erez Cohen and Azi Lev-On (forthcoming) [in Hebrew].
82. Azi Lev-On, “Between Public and Private: Internet Uses by Israeli Political Entrepreneurs,” in Connected: Technology, Society and Politics in Israel, ed. Erez Cohen and Azi Lev-On (forthcoming) [in Hebrew]
83. Reich, “How Citizens Create Stories.”
84. Reich, “How Citizens Create Stories.”
85. For a full report of the study see Manosevitch, “Participatory Journalism in Israel.”
86. The popularity of Yediot Acharonot recently decreased due to the rise of the freebee Israel Hayom.
87. Garcia de Torres et al., “UGC Status.”
88. Coding involved identifying items in the text, rather than interpretation. Therefore coders were able to reach full agreement.
89. Recently, Ynet added an additional feature that invites users to submit news items within the news section – a statement, written in red, now appears between the article and the comments, worded ‘Caught in an interesting news event? Send us the information via SMS’ [in Hebrew].
90. Keinan, “Response to Response.”
91. Vujnovic et al., “Exploring Political Economic Factors,” 294.
92. Caspi, “Online Journalism in Israel.”
93. Zohar, “Survey.”
94. Kabha, “Network without Boundaries”; Elias and Zeltzer-Shorer, “Surf Without Borders.”
95. Lev-On, “Between Public and Private.”
96. For example, Cohen and Neiger, “To Talk and to Talk Back.”
97. Scott Wright and John Street, “Democracy, Deliberation and Design: The Case of Online Discussion Forums,” New Media and Society 9, no. 5 (2007): 849–69.
98. Keinan, “Response to Response.”
99. Edith Manosevitch, “The Reflective Cue: Prompting Citizens for Greater Consideration of Reasons,” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 21 (2009): 187–203.
100. Edith Manosevitch and Dana Walker, “Reader Comments to Online Editorials as a Space for Public Deliberation” (paper presented at the 10th Annual International Symposium on Online Journalism, Austin TX, April 17–18, 2009).
101. Russel Neuman, Marion Just, and Anne Crigler, Common Knowledge: News and the Construction of Political Meaning (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992); Dhavan Shah, David Domke, and Daniel Wackman, “To Thine Own Self Be True: Values, Framing, and Voter Decision-Making Strategies,” Communication Research 23 (1996): 509–61.
102. Vaisman, “Public Media.”