Civic engagement through mainstream online newspapers: Possibilities and shortcomings

<p>Based on a pilot study of online news making and commenting in Denmark, the article discusses the relationship between online political news making and democracy. Empirical insights on the dynamics of user engagement and debates on mainstream Danish online news platforms are used to delinea...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cecilie Givskov, Hans-Jörg Trenz
Format: Article
Language:Danish
Published: Sammenslutningen af Medieforskere i Danmark (SMID) 2014-04-01
Series:MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ojs.statsbiblioteket.dk/index.php/mediekultur/article/view/16969
Description
Summary:<p>Based on a pilot study of online news making and commenting in Denmark, the article discusses the relationship between online political news making and democracy. Empirical insights on the dynamics of user engagement and debates on mainstream Danish online news platforms are used to delineate the contours of the online public sphere. It is argued that the new digital media should be discussed not only as a new forum for political participation but also in relation to traditional forms of representative democracy. The analysis comprises the technical features and apps that are designed by online news providers in Denmark to facilitate the constitution of new “voice publics”. How these voice publics are designed as an element of news making and news distribution and, as such, linked to the old “representative” and “attentive publics” of news consumption is investigated.<strong></strong></p>
ISSN:0900-9671
1901-9726