This book includes the improvements in algorithms have made the customization and personalization of news easy, but this can lead to fragmentation in audiences and fractures in the public sphere. This book, however, explores a countervailing and different approach - journalists and their organizations are doing what this book calls "news personalization." This is an attempt to build bridges with audiences through a focus on relatable news that can help the news organization build credibility and trust with its news consumers. With a focus on the US, it examines tactics such as providing transparency cues in stories, responding to audience comments, and disclosing personal information to the audience. The book also addresses the challenges of news personalization, including how messaging from vested interests may also be seen by audiences as personalized news. With chapters filled with original research, this book offers a unique perspective on this emerging area in an age where individuals are determining their own ecology of news providers.
Kirsten Johnson, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Communications Program at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. She has co-authored two textbooks, The Broadcast News Toolkit and Shoot, Edit, Share. She conducts research in the areas of perceived credibility and trust of news, as well as citizen journalism.
Burton St. John III, Ph.D., is Professor of Public Relations at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His research encompasses risk and crisis communication involving the fields of public relations and journalism.