Participatory journalism : guarding open gates at online newspapers /

There is no shortage of books about traditional media adapting in the age of the Internet--e.g., Mark Briggs's JournalismNext (2010) examines the changes in news as audiences started contributing to the process online. This volume differs from others because the authors conducted interviews with 67 news professionals at 24 publications in 10 countries in order to examine the interaction of audiences with journalists in the creation of news product (defined here as "participatory journalism"). To the credit of the eight authors (who represent seven countries), the chapters are topical rather than nation oriented, so each offers a cross-national examination of its subject (workflow, legal issues, and economic realities, to name just three). Though the research is extensive, it is also limited in that conclusions about online newspaper activity in most nations (including the US and UK) are drawn from two publications. Intended primarily as a textbook--each chapter concludes with discussion questions--the volume provides an excellent starting point for examining the implications of new ways of collecting and disseminating what we call news. Summing Up: Recommended. With reservations. Lower-division undergraduates, faculty, professionals, general readers. D. Caristi Ball State University