A CLASH OF CULTURESThe integration of user-generated contentwithin professional journalistic frameworks atBritish newspaper websitesAlfred Hermida and Neil ThurmanThis study examines how national UK newspaper websites are integrating user-generated content(UGC). A survey quantifying the adoption of UGC by mainstream news organisations showed adramatic increase in the opportunities for contributions from readers. In-depth interviews withsenior news executives revealed this expansion is taking place despite residual doubts about theeditorial and commercial value of material from the public. The study identified a shift towardsthe use of moderation due to editors’ persistent concerns about reputation, trust, and legalliabilities, indicating that UK newspaper websites are adopting a traditional gate-keeping roletowards UGC. The findings suggest a gate-keeping approach may offer a model for theintegration of UGC, with professional news organisations providing editorial structures to bringdifferent voices into their news reporting, filtering and aggregating UGC in ways they believe to beuseful and valuable to their audience. While this research looked at UGC initiatives in the contextof the UK newspaper industry, it has broad relevance as professional journalists tend to share asimilar set of norms. The British experience offers valuable lessons for news executives makingtheir first forays into this area and for academics studying the field of participatory journalism.KEYWORDS blogs; British newspaper websites; citizen journalism; online journalism;participatory journalism; user-generated contentIntroductionThe Internet is increasingly being defined by new digital technologies that empowerusers to develop, create, rate, and distribute Internet content and applications (O’Reilly,2005). Websites such as YouTube, MySpace, and Wikipedia provide platforms for so-calleduser-generated content (UGC), where citizens can publish their own comments, photos,videos, and more online. According to Paul Saffo (quoted in the Economist, 2006), in thisnew media culture the public is no longer a passive consumer of media, but an activeparticipant in the creation of the media landscape.2006 saw the purchase of MySpace by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation forUS$580 million and Google’s acquisition of YouTube for US$1.65 billion, leading somecommentators to state that UGC was the ‘‘paramount cultural buzz phrase of 2006’’(Pareles, 2006). Indeed, such quantitative evidence as exists does seem to show thatwebsites based on user participation generate significantly more usage than sites notbased on this concept.1The response of the British public to the 7 July 2005 underground and busbombings in London showed how visitors to online news sites were ready and willing toJournalism Practice, Vol. 2, No 3, 2008ISSN 1751-2786 print/1751-2794 online/08/030343-14–2008 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/17512780802054538contribute content. The BBC received 22,000 e-mails and text messages, 300 photos, andseveral video sequences on the day of the attacks.2The dramatic stills and video led BBCTV newscasts*the first time, according to Torin Douglas (2006), that such material hadbeen considered more newsworthy than professional content.The emergence of online tools that allow for broad participation in the creation anddissemination of content has repercussions for the role of journalists as conveyors of newsand information. Gillmor (quoted by Lasica, 2003) argues that ‘‘people at the edges of thenetwork have the ability to create their own news entries’’. UGC may be instigating afundamental shift in established modes of journalism, undermining the ‘‘we write, youread’’ dogma of modern journalism (Deuze, 2003).This study seeks to understand how established news organisations in the UnitedKingdom are responding to the emergence of UGC. We examine UGC as a processwhereby ordinary people have an opportunity to participate with or contribute toprofessionally edited publications. It builds on research by Neil Thurman (2008) in 20045that quantified and analysed the distribution of user-generated content initiatives (UGCIs)at 10 leading UK news websites and examined editors’ attitudes to citizen journalism andparticipatory journalism.In the first section of this study we examine the range of formats used to solicitmaterial from readers, and the progressive adoption of UGC by UK newspaper websites.The second section explores senior news executives’ attitudes towards UGC withinprofessional news organisations. We analyse: (1) the reasons behind the adoption of UGCinitiatives; (2) its editorial and financial value; and (3) editors’ concerns about brandidentity and reputation. More widely, our study examines the relationship betweenprofessional journalism and amateur content, and how UGC challenges the traditionalgate-keeping role of journalists. The study comes as news organisations across the worldare experimenting with ways of integrating UGC into professional journalistic models.3MethodologyA combination of an online survey and in-depth interviews were used to examinethe adoption of UGC by UK news organisations and to investigate the internal debatestaking place in newsrooms over the publication of user media. The study focuses on theonline experiences of the leading national newspapers in the United Kingdom, and,therefore, does not include the BBC, which is a publicly funded national broadcaster.A survey was undertaken in November 2006 to measure the adoption of UGCIs by 12UK newspaper websites. The websites were studied over a period of 48 hours and visited anumber of times at random during the day. For the assessment of the UGC functionality ofeach site, the unit of analysis was a web page. All sections of the websites studied wereexamined to see if they contained any UGCIs.The interviews were semi-structured and did not set out to test any specificpropositions. Instead the authors set out to investigate attitudes to user media, with use ofprompts and follow-up questions (McCracken, 1988). The following news executives wereinterviewed in August 2006:. Richard Avery*Internet Development Controller, Northern and Shell.. Peter Bale*Editorial Director, Times Online.. Alistair Brown*General Manager, Scotsman.com.. Richard Burton*Editor, Telegraph.co.uk.344 ALFRED HERMIDA AND NEIL THURMAN. James Montgomery*Editor, FT.com.. Pete Picton*Editor, TheSun.co.uk.. Steve Purcell*Editor, Mirror.co.uk..