8. Alternative Forms of Participation in Media Organizations

In this chapter, the book will redirect its focus on the participation and co-creation that has been enabled through new media practices and social media platforms. However, participation exists and has done so in organizations in many forms historically. From early forms of talkback radio and letters to the editor, scholars have explored the passive and active role of media and audiences as they participate in the production of content in various forms through hands-on participation and towards more soft forms of enacting media content through the lived-in experience. Regardless of the format of participation, audiences have been engaged in vernacular creativity for some time as a form of cultural intermediation. This final case study draws on empirical data from the ABC’s Double J, a recently launched digital radio service that is targeted at 25–45 year olds, and has been launched as an alternative to the very successful Triple J radio network that is aimed at 16–24-year-old listeners. During 2015, Double J, as part of its J Files programme that showcases artists, undertook a participatory project that chose fans of an international rock act, The Black Keys, to curate and produce an episode of the J Files. This case study provides a clear example of how expertise in different areas is brought together and exchanged between stakeholders to produce a programme that is extremely niche and tailored in regards to content, whilst marketable to the broad Double J audience. This demonstrates much of the cultural intermediation framework that will have been described in this book so far, whilst featuring another variation of co-creation within media organizations. This case study highlights that the knowledge and expertise exchange between the co-creative stakeholders is key to any form of participation within media organizations that seek to bolster interest from their audience. Further engaging with the market agent aspect of cultural intermediation, the Double J example demonstrates co-creative management is crucial to ensure cultural production aligns with market factors and audience trends.