‘Blogs give regular people the chance to talk back’: Rethinking ‘professional’ media hierarchies in new media

Abstract

New media technologies have reshaped practices of production, distribution and consumption of media, in part, by blurring the lines of distinction between the role of producer and consumer of media. This shift has enabled the rise of a new class of ‘audience/producer’ that exists outside the traditional professional media producer class yet is increasingly threatening the professional’s commercial position and ability to control the creation of content and the cultural production of meaning. This article examines the rise of the celebrity gossip blogger as an example of this sort of audience/producer intervention into an established media industry.