Stepping Back from the Gate: Online Newspaper Editors and the Co-Production of Content in Campaign 2004

Abstract

In their coverage of the 2004 political campaign, editors of Web sites affiliated with major U.S. newspapers continued to emphasize their role as providers of credible information. But they moved toward seeing that information less as an end product than as a basis for user engagement, participation, and personalization. This study, which builds on a similar study conducted after the 2000 election, suggests journalists may be taking steps toward reshaping their gatekeeping role to accommodate the interactive nature of the Internet.