Conversational Journalism in Practice

This case study builds on recent experimental research that sought to measure journalism-as-a-conversation, or co-created news between citizens and journalists, by overlaying it on The Seattle Times’ 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the slayings of four sheriff’s deputies. Pulitzer jurors singled out that coverage for its smart use of Web tools to enhance audience engagement and the paper’s overall online presence without sacrificing accuracy. Findings suggest the growing power of such tools in breaking news and beyond, but also the need for less common but perhaps more humanizing efforts, including short, personalized videos of journalists stepping from behind the veil of objectivity to discuss how they do what they do.