Institutionalization and Legitimation of Informatics based Community Journalism: A Case Study from India

Institutionalization & Legitimation of Informatics based Community
Journalism: A Case Study from India
Abstract
With the credibility of mainstream journalism decreasing with each passing day, Community
Journalism stands out as a workable and interesting alternative. The onset of Information
Technology with Web 2.0 features is enabling its reach to local communities as well as global population, while starting a whole new stream of research named Community Informatics (CI).
This paper analyzes institutional work which enables the creation of this institution of Community
Journalism (CJ) and the process of legitimation which organizations in this field go through by responding to various pressures from the environment. The study is performed by analyzing one of the well-recognized CJ projects in India using the institutional theory lens. The analysis brings across various pressures faced by this new institution and how the policies drafted by the government can ease or harden this path depending upon the effect this institution is having on the society and nation.

Introduction
Journalism has traditionally been producing news by journalists, who are dedicated paid labors of the industry and are usually termed “gatekeepers” for the media. Up to a certain limit, they hold the authority of which news, in what shape and in how much quantity should be presented to the reader (Domingo, Duandt, Heinonen, Paulussen, Singer & Vujnovic, 2008). Altschull
(1996) and various other contemporary critics (Massey & Haas, 2002 as cited in Domingo et al.,
2008) question the press’ arrogance and its faith in objectivity, and hence propose alternative models of journalism known as Participatory/Citizen/Alternative/Community Journalism. These models ask for a more reciprocal relationship between reporters and their audience, suggesting that news should be more of a conversation than a lecture (Gillmor, 2004 as cited in Domingo et al., 2008).
The specific practice

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