Letting people talk in media? Portrait and problems of citizens’ participation in audience discussion programmes

Apresentado no Congresso MILID WEEK 2012 sobre "Media literacy and intercultural dialogue"Today’s media landscape resembles much of León’s (2010) interpretation of «a new informational ecosystem». However changes are not exclusively in terms of the content, as «drama, comic and spectacular» (Meyer, 2003) emerge as frequent news value in current media productions. Journalism, in particular, seems to demonstrate a special interest in what kind of contributions people are able to offer to their work. In some formats, such as the audience discussion programmes, it is likely to observe eager citizens who are interested in talking and taking part in those spaces. Thus, it is probably helpful to analyse how media institutions are working towards letting people talk in these specific spaces. Positioning this topic under the concept of the ‘citizens’ engagement’ in media, our observation will focus on two emblematic formats of public opinion on Portuguese radio and television. Hence, a comparison will be drawn according to several criteria: portrait of the participants (listeners and viewers) that take part in these formats; topics discussed, alongside a description of the commentators or guests invited by media productions (gender, provenience, invitation (actor/observer), job, programme and subject relationship. This paper also grants a particular focus to the role of digital media, whether these platforms constitute real opportunities for public intervention or simply express a recent tendency in media and society. This study has also been represented in the research project «TV journalism and citizenship: the struggle for a new digital public sphere», held in the Communication & Society Research Centre, in the University of Minho, (Braga – Portugal), which has worked as a permanent observatory of Portuguese television journalism.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT