‘The city is ours,so let’s talk about it’: Constructing a citizen media initiative in Brussels

Abstract

This article investigates the relationships between citizen media and constructive journalism. It focuses on ‘Dewey’, a nonprofit organization producing citizen content on four hyperlocal online platforms. With an action research approach, the activities, interactions among members, and productions are critically assessed with participants. To do so, semi-directive interviews were conducted among 12 contributors to the platforms. Active participation of 2 years to the Dewey project as well as news pieces produced enriched the analysis. Results indicate that participants’ specific writing practices produce constructive news against stereotypes or against a lack of coverage of certain issues. Furthermore, Dewey’s open (and non-institutional) structure allows individuals to develop their own identities as participants, resulting in different writing styles and approaches to news production. However, this openness created an uneven repartition of responsibilities and a high dependence toward a small number of individuals making the process fragile and slow.