The rise of membership-based news media : an exploration into the nuances of citizenship through the digital news media Zetland
(2021) MKVM13 20211Media and Communication Studies
Department of Communication and Media
- Abstract
- It is no secret how news media struggle these days and have been struggling for quite some time due to distrust, news fatigue and even disengagement among audiences. And so, it has even been discussed whether news can still be regarded as central within democracies and function as a citizenship medium.
Right now, news media all over the world e.g., the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Rumania, Switzerland, the US, and Denmark are experimenting with reinventing the role of journalism to regain the trust and loyalty of citizens and to reclaim journalism’s democratic role. They are turning subscribers into members and newspapers into communities to strengthen, perhaps even rebuild, a democratic infrastructure based on a new kind of news... (More) - It is no secret how news media struggle these days and have been struggling for quite some time due to distrust, news fatigue and even disengagement among audiences. And so, it has even been discussed whether news can still be regarded as central within democracies and function as a citizenship medium.
Right now, news media all over the world e.g., the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Rumania, Switzerland, the US, and Denmark are experimenting with reinventing the role of journalism to regain the trust and loyalty of citizens and to reclaim journalism’s democratic role. They are turning subscribers into members and newspapers into communities to strengthen, perhaps even rebuild, a democratic infrastructure based on a new kind of news media: Membership-based news media.
Through a case study of the Danish membership-based news media Zetland, the ambition of this thesis is 1) to illuminate what kinds of citizenship this new type of news media enhances and 2) to explore whether the membership media’s rhetoric and narratives of democracy really proves to be true.
The thesis takes on a qualitative approach to audience studies when investigating what makes Zetland valuable and meaningful to their audiences in their everyday lives, allowing for them to elaborate on their subjective and multifaceted experiences and ways of engaging with Zetland.
Based on interviews with 14 of Zetland’s members this thesis finds that the different kinds of citizenship enhanced by Zetland are civic, cultural, and social. Though they are overlapping and intertwined, letting members move constantly and effortlessly in and out between them. This suggests that citizenships are relational – complementing and enhancing each other, though at times also blocking the way of each other. However, the question of whether news media is a citizenship medium or not is not a binary question. It is a question of nuances and the ability to grasp those nuances when studying citizenship. Because the way one is a citizen changes and develops in the same pace as media technologies and journalism, and hence, so does the notion of citizenship. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9044314
- author
- Bunde-Pedersen, Nina Dahl LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MKVM13 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- News audiences, engagement, citizenship, cultural citizenship, membership media, community, journalism, news, democracy, Zetland.
- language
- English
- id
- 9044314
- date added to LUP
- 2021-07-19 08:32:12
- date last changed
- 2021-07-19 08:32:12
@misc{9044314,
abstract = {{It is no secret how news media struggle these days and have been struggling for quite some time due to distrust, news fatigue and even disengagement among audiences. And so, it has even been discussed whether news can still be regarded as central within democracies and function as a citizenship medium.
Right now, news media all over the world e.g., the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Rumania, Switzerland, the US, and Denmark are experimenting with reinventing the role of journalism to regain the trust and loyalty of citizens and to reclaim journalism’s democratic role. They are turning subscribers into members and newspapers into communities to strengthen, perhaps even rebuild, a democratic infrastructure based on a new kind of news media: Membership-based news media.
Through a case study of the Danish membership-based news media Zetland, the ambition of this thesis is 1) to illuminate what kinds of citizenship this new type of news media enhances and 2) to explore whether the membership media’s rhetoric and narratives of democracy really proves to be true.
The thesis takes on a qualitative approach to audience studies when investigating what makes Zetland valuable and meaningful to their audiences in their everyday lives, allowing for them to elaborate on their subjective and multifaceted experiences and ways of engaging with Zetland.
Based on interviews with 14 of Zetland’s members this thesis finds that the different kinds of citizenship enhanced by Zetland are civic, cultural, and social. Though they are overlapping and intertwined, letting members move constantly and effortlessly in and out between them. This suggests that citizenships are relational – complementing and enhancing each other, though at times also blocking the way of each other. However, the question of whether news media is a citizenship medium or not is not a binary question. It is a question of nuances and the ability to grasp those nuances when studying citizenship. Because the way one is a citizen changes and develops in the same pace as media technologies and journalism, and hence, so does the notion of citizenship.}},
author = {{Bunde-Pedersen, Nina Dahl}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The rise of membership-based news media : an exploration into the nuances of citizenship through the digital news media Zetland}},
year = {{2021}},
}