Mobile Messaging and the Crisis in Participation Television

This chapter looks at how text messaging has been used to bridge existting mass media such as television and new mobile media. New programme TV formats and genres have been developed to take advantage of the new commercial opportunities of convergence, including 'participation TV' which is considered in detail here. The chapter also provides an account of a 2006-2007 UK crisis of public confidence in participation. This reflected a failue of regulation. More profoundly, it reflected a missed opportunity on the part of industry to include ethical decision-making in the wider processes of market-based innovation