MediaAcT

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Index | Editorial | Birds-eye view | Opening the toolbox toolbox|
Zoom-in on the newsroom | Media landscapes
OFFine
Example 10: Responsiveness IV
A good way to include the audience in the reflection and
production processes are readers’ advisory boards. Amongst
others, they are practiced by the German boulevard
newspaper BILD (http://bit.ly/MMsYPn), the Austrian local
newspaper Vorarlberger Nachrichten (http://bit.ly/OZ3dwT),
the Swiss boulevard newspaper Sonntagsblick (http://bit.
ly/Oo9MHG) and the Catalan newspaper El Punt (http://
bit.ly/QwmOVg). The advisory councils are composed of
readers representing the diversity of the audience. They
are elected once a year. Their “task” is to attend panels
in the newspaper’s headquarters and discuss their ideas,
share their opinions and give feedback. Such tools ensure
transparency, foster media literacy and have a high impact
on the loyalty of the users.
Online
Example 11: External Tools
Next to these company internal innovations one
can find new tools that empower the audience
in the process of media regulation and selfregulation.
Since the advent of the Internet,
it has been possible for the audience to get its
voice heard easily, inexpensively and with the
possibility of reaching a lot of other interested
people. Users can participate in the process of
media accountability, for example, by writing
their own media watch blogs. Examples can
be found in many countries: MediaBugs, USA
(http://mediabugs.org/), BildBLOG, Germany
(http://www.bildblog.de/), Merkintöjä mediasta,
Finland (http://outi.posterous.com/) or kobuk,
Austria (http://www.kobuk.at/).
Best practice examples online:
Online
Example 8: Responsiveness II
The open newsroom policy of The Guardian
is a remarkable concept. Next to many
other tools, they offer their newslist to all
users. On this website users are able to see
which stories are discussed or produced by
the newspaper’s staff or what the editors
think about their coverage. The readers get
a good idea of how the news is produced.
Furthermore, they can post what they think
of the stories or suggest ideas – all userfriendly
via Twitter or Email. The newslist
is a format which is easy and inexpensive
to establish as it can be an embedded
Google document (http://www.guardian.
co.uk/help/insideguardian/2011/oct/10/
guardian-newslist).
OFFline
Example 14:
Production Transparency IV
An internal offline practice is the
“early paper critique” as is done by
the Swiss Bieler Zeitung (http://www.
quajou.ch/downloads/medienaward/Dokumentation_Medien-
Award_2005.pdf). All articles
produced before 6pm (before
the newspaper goes into print)
are collectively analysed by the
editors involved. The articles are
always presented by the head of
the news division. At least one of
the chief editors, as well as the art
director, have to be present. This
instrument fosters a lively internal
debate on quality, accuracy and
decision-making.