Unruly publics and the fourth estate on YouTube

Abstract

It is now commonly claimed that new online platforms have made news more participatory, more of a ‘conversation’ than a ‘lecture’. Mainstream news outlets, though in principle keen to capitalise on new opportunities for engagement with audiences, are often tentative in the steps they take in this direction. Various commercial risks, as well as opportunities, are associated with linking branded content to the frequently rancorous and hostile arenas of online conversation. This paper looks at the example of YouTube, a notoriously unruly and uncivil conversational domain, and explores some of the textures and facets of conversational participation by audiences now being staged within the official branded channels of established mainstream news outlets. Combining analysis of comment threads with theoretical reflections on the nature and function of online conversation spaces such as that provided by YouTube, this paper considers the value of such spaces for the outlet, for audiences and for the public sphere at large.