The review by Jeremy Harris Lipschultz of the University of Nebraska Omaha commends the book’s blend of theory and best practices.

It highlights the growing role of online community managers in newsrooms, pointing out how this has become a career path for younger recent college graduates.

Lipschultz argues that the book’s “attempts to visualize ‘communication in complex societies’ and ‘hyper-complex societies’ …would be stronger with grounding in social network theory and best practices.”

The review ends by emphasising how the “fluid spaces” and “fluid journalism” discussed in Participatory Journalism means that “journalists, journalism educators, and students must continue to adapt to the changing nature of media storytelling.”

Jeremy Harris Lipschultz - Book Review: News on the Internet: Information and Citizenship in the 21st Century and Participatory Journalism: Guarding Open Gates at Online Newspapers, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, March 2013, 68: 73-76. doi:10.1177/1077695812473261 (subscription required).

The book is reviewed in the October 2012 issue of the journal by by Pradip Ninan Thomas, co-director of the Centre for Communication and Social Change at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Professor Thomas writes that the book “is a very useful contribution to the study of participatory journalism”.

He highlights chapter two on the tools and techniques broadly used by newspapers, saying it “offers a very useful overview of participation”.

Professor Thomas concludes by describing the book as ”a tight well-structured, accessible text on the relationship between online newspapers and participatory journalism.”

In her review (PDF), Lily Canter of the University of Sheffield writes that “the breadth and scope of the collaborative project is an extremely valuable one which unpicks the threads that lie at the heart of journalism and examines how those core threads are being rewoven in a digital age, where anyone with Internet access can be a publisher.”

The review praises the book for its consistent tone, noting that “the authors have obviously gone to great lengths to ensure that the book stands together as a whole, rather than appearing as a disparate selection of papers around a common theme.”

While noting that the book prefers to rely on “applied knowledge rather than a theoretical”, it says this is an “admirable and appropriate approach to take” for a text trying to reach a wider audience.

Canter writes: “On the one hand, it serves as a robust piece of empirical research and, on the other, it is an excellent textbook for journalism students. This is evidently a deliberate device by the authors who wish to make a contribution to knowledge without alienating potential readers.

She continues: “The book is written in clear, familiar English resembling more of a journalistic style than an academic one, and each chapter ends with questions inviting the reader (or lecturer) to discuss and probe issues.”

The review is published in Journalism Studies, iFirst, February 24 2012.

In her review, Carrie Brown of the University of Memphis writes that the book “provides a comprehensive, detailed guide” to the nature of participatory journalism.

She writes: “The authors do an excellent job situating their study and the concept of participation within the broader body of research and theory on journalism, but also offer useful insights into the practical realities of how journalists are addressing an increasingly active audience in the newsroom today.”

Brown notes that “the book has a global perspective often lacking in newsroom research, although the similarities in attitudes and approaches to participation among journalists from diverse nations were more striking than the differences.”

The review says the book offers good advice on best practices for enhancing the quality of participation. But Brown also points out that more research is needed in the perceived difficulty of getting the audience to actively contribute to the news.

The review is published in Journalism 13(3) 388–394, April 2012.