by Amani Channel

I haven’t discussed my graduate research very much because it’s still a work in progress, but I believe that it is significant for scholars and individuals who are interested in the participatory news movement.

My research specifically is focusing on CNN’s iReport platform and how content is shared, vetted, selected, and then distributed. Several scholars have taken steps to examine this subject with mixed results. The research generally shows a lack of consistency across news organizations regarding participatory practices. In other words, some outlets allow the public to participate, others haven’t gotten on board.

CNN is a major exception. Since 2006, the network has allowed the greater public to engage in news conversations through its iReport brand. It’s a user-generated content platform that allows any one to post anything they think may be newsworthy. My research specifically is examining how iReport may or may not be following traditional gatekeeping norms. I’m not trying to get too technical with scholarly theory, but gatekeeping is a long standing theory that describes how news is selected by ‘gatekeepers’ who traditionally are editors, reporters, and managers.

The Internet is challenging this theory because in some ways it is opening the ‘gates’ to everyone. As a journalist, I believe there still needs to be a mechanism for filtering out the fact from the fiction. My study documents how CNN is using technology to identify newsworthy user-generated content and the process that insures that vetted stories are accurate and true.

Today CNN took anther step in the participatory news movement by integrating iReport with its main website CNN.com.

from CNN news release:

The CNN iReport section of the new CNN.com will share the site’s breakthrough design, folding the social media features of iReport.com into CNN to create a seamless user experience across CNN’s online news and user-generated platforms. CNN iReport will feature a curated section front, programmed by CNN producers to ensure that the best, most interesting iReport content is easy to find and share.

Additionally the CNN iReport section front features direct quotes from iReporters who are in the middle of unfolding stories across the world.

iReport submissions will be clearly labeled when vetted and cleared for reporting on CNN. Vetted iReports now feature comments from CNN producers, who add CNN context to the iReporter’s first-person view. Unverified submissions will be designated as such to provide the most complete context for users.

Although my research won’t focus on the recent changes that have occurred with iReport, it provides interesting information related to mainstream adoption of participatory media, the gatekeeping process, and presents possible areas of future study.

I look forward to sharing my findings.