By Mark Deuze
In 2006, NYU professor Jay Rosen penned an astute observation about the changing power relationships in the media industries – and more specifically, the world of journalism – regarding the impact of internet. His analysis had the catchy title “The People Formerly Known as the Audience”, and pointed towards a shift in access to reporting tools (news gathering, editing, and publishing) to what used to be imagined by newsworkers as the audience. Importantly, it is not just the tools of reporting now being available to “We the Media” (such as blogging, podcasting, vodcasting, and other forms of social or “our” media, but also emerging forms of legal protection (Creative Commons licensing) and increasing uses of users by professional media organizations, thereby giving the former audience the semi-official status as competitor-colleagues.
