University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development Community & Leadership Development 2014 CONCEPTUALIZING CITIZEN JOURNALISM: DEFINITIONS AND ROLES Kelli A. Long University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Long, Kelli A., "CONCEPTUALIZING CITIZEN JOURNALISM: DEFINITIONS AND ROLES" (2014). Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development. 13. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cld_etds/13 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Community & Leadership Development at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Kelli A. Long, Student Dr. Seungahn Nah, Major Professor Dr. Rosalind Harris, Director of Graduate Studies CONCEPTUALIZING CITIZEN JOURNALISM: DEFINITIONS AND ROLES THESIS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Kentucky By Kelli A. Long Tompkinsville, Kentucky Director: Dr. Seungahn Nah, Professor of Community Communication Lexington, Kentucky 2014 Copyright © Kelli A. Long 2014 ABSTRACT OF THESIS CONCEPTUALIZING CITIZEN JOURNALISM: DEFINITIONS AND ROLES Through in-depth interviews with 12 regular contributors to the Lexington-Herald Leader’s website, www.Kentucky.com, this study attempts to examine how online citizen journalists view the definitions of citizen and professional journalism, as compared to Singer’s three dimensions of professionalism (i.e., cognitive, normative, and evaluative dimensions) as well as their perceived role conceptions of professional and citizen journalists, using Weaver and Wilhoit’s four roles of journalists. Analyses reveal that the main difference in the definitions of the two types of journalists revolved around the cognitive dimension, specifically the education and training that professionals receive. The role conceptions of professional and citizen journalists were similar, with the both groups being described as serving the interpretive/investigative and disseminator roles. The roles of citizen journalists also included the adversarial and populist mobilizer roles. KEYWORDS: Citizen Journalism, Professional Journalism, Role Conceptions, Professional Journalist Definition, Citizen Journalist Definition Kelli A. Long December 4, 2014 CONCEPTUALIZING CITIZEN JOURNALISM: DEFINITIONS AND ROLES By Kelli A. Long Dr. Seungahn Nah Director of Thesis Dr. Rosalind Harris Director of Graduate Studies December 4, 2014 Dedicated to all those who never lost faith in me. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The following thesis would not have been possible if not for a multitude of people who continually supported, guided, and assisted me in my pursuit of my graduate degree. This thesis has been a long-time coming, but the experience and help that so many provided me on the way was important and necessary in getting me to where I am today. I am so appreciative of you all. To Dr. Seungahn Nah, my thesis director: I’ve questioned so many times how you kept such unwavering faith in me as I drug my feet and took the long way around in completing this project. Your excitement, kindness, patience and intelligence have been helpful beyond words. It means so much to know that someone has such faith in me and my capabilities. You have made such an impact on my life and education, and I am so thankful. To Dr. Randy Weckman, Dr. Gary Hansen and Dr. Deborah Chung for serving on my committee: As professors and mentors, you all have contributed so much wisdom and encouragement, and I am thankful for your time and efforts to help me with this project. Dr. Weckman and Dr. Hansen, you two specifically played an enormous part in my completion of this project, and I can’t thank you enough for going above and beyond to ensure that I didn’t give up. Thank you so very, very much. You are examples of just how much of a difference caring professors can make on the lives of students. To Jason Headrick, Lisa Cox, Dr. Larry Grabau and Dr. Larry Jones for awarding me the assistantship that allowed me to complete this degree: If not for the financial assistance, I am unsure that I could have pursued the educational endeavor. More importantly, your faith, encouragement, and open ears, hearts, and offices enabled me to persist through difficult times. I’ll be forever grateful for the skills and knowledge I gained through my work with you all, but I am most grateful for you love, guidance, and friendship. To my parents, for their persistent urging and what I’m sure was wavering faith: Thank you for the opportunities that you have given me and for the habits you helped to instill in me throughout my life. I thank you most for always encouraging me and my educational pursuits. You never questioned if I would go to college and if I would go to graduate school, but instead where and when and how we could make it happen. I love you and I am forever grateful. And finally, to Tyler: I am so thankful that God blessed me with you. Your love, your encouragement, and your never-ending faith in me gave me the push that I needed to complete this project, and I can’t thank you enough for that. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements...…………………………………………………………………...…… iii List of Tables………………………………………………………………………………… vi List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………... vii Chapter I- Introduction Background and Setting ....................................................................................................... 1 The Lexington Herald-Leader………………………………………………. 2 Statement of the Problem……………………………………………………………. 4 Purpose of the Study………………………………………………………………… 4 Definition of Terms………………………………………………………………….. 6 Organization of Thesis……………………………………………………………….. 6 Chapter II- Review of the Literature Previous Literature…………………………………………………………………... 8 Conceptual Definitions: Citizen Journalism……………………………...…. 8 Conceptual Definitions: Professional Journalism……………………............ 10 Perceived Role Conceptions of Professional and Citizen Journalists………. 10 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………...…......... 11 Singer’s Three Dimensions of Professionalism……………………………... 11 Objectives……………………………………………………………………………. 14 Research Questions…………………………………………………………. 14 Chapter III- Methodology Research Design........................................................................................................... 15 Population and Sample................................................................................................. 15 Data Collection............................................................................................................. 17 Data Analysis................................................................................................................ 17 Chapter IV- Results Demographics………………………………………………………………………... 19 Research Questions/Answers…………………………………………………........... 20 RQ 1…………………………………………………………………………. 20 Citizen Journalism…………………………………………….......... 20 Professional Journalism……………………………………….......... 23 Summary of Definitions……………………………………………. 25 RQ 2…………………………………………………………………………. 26 Roles of Citizen Journalists……………………………………........ 27 Roles of Professional Journalists………………………………........ 29 Summary of Roles…………………………………………….……. 31 iv RQ 3…………………………………………………………………………. 31 Age and Sex………………………………………………………… 32 Education………………………………………………………........ 32 Civic and Political Engagement……………………….……...……. 33 Chapter V- Summary Summary…………………………………………………………………….. 34 Implications/Recommendations for Future Research……………………….. 36 Limitations of the Study…………………………………………………….. 37 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………. 38 Appendices Appendix A: Consent to Participate in a Research Study…………………………… 40 Appendix B: Interview Protocol……………………………………………………... 43