The report, entitled "Striking a Balance Between Community Journalism and Citizen Participation: A Research Study About User-Generated Content on Newspaper Websites" was funded by the Suburban Newspapers of America Foundation.
Conducted by American Opinion Research, the report shows users want to contribute to a newspaper’s website.
Newspaper website users say they are more likely to visit and enjoy sites that allow them to share opinions and content.
Users also make some fairly clear distinctions about what they want to post on a newspaper website.
Perhaps given the broad use of social networking sites, far fewer would post personal information (including photos and videos) than want to comment on stories or give their opinions about issues in the news.
However, users do not want newspaper websites to become a “free for all;” most favor some specific requirements or restrictions on postings.
Simply put, users want to post content to newspaper websites; it will increase their use and appreciation of these vehicles. But, they want the newspaper to create a framework for this sharing of information with some mechanism to ensure crude or inappropriate content do not appear.
Finally, most users reject the argument that allowing user-generated content diminishes a newspaper’s credibility or journalistic integrity.
The full report can be found here
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