The Audience Impact of The Conversation Articles

Project Lead

Dr. Charles Davis

Emerging Researcher(s)

Stuart Duncan, Saniya Rashid

This project investigates how explanatory journalism is practiced throughout The Conversation and the relationship between explanatory journalism and audience impact. Taking a mixed-methods approach, Dr. Davis’ team is utilizing natural language processing tools like LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) to identify high-level trends in The Conversation articles, complemented by qualitative readings that confirm the automated results and highlight important nuances. Identifying common features of The Conversation stories allows for better understanding of The Conversation’s particular brand of journalism, and the concept of explanatory journalism more broadly.

Dr. Davis’ team is also investigating the character and quality of discussion surrounding The Conversation articles. Using a large corpus of data collected from Twitter, Reddit, and the comments section of English-language articles from The Conversation, this research seeks to assess whether certain modes of journalism might produce more meaningful audience engagement and give readers a deeper understanding of the topic at hand. Preliminary results suggest that various factors could be indicators of the quality of engagement. For example, if the article’s author is participating in a discussion in the comments section, this typically indicates positive discussion. 

This research will offer valuable insights into The Conversation’s non-traditional media model. By examining audience engagement with The Conversation articles, this study begins to identify the key components of this hybrid form of academic and journalistic writing and its effects on readers. Investigating audience commentary through social media engagement and readers’ comments on The Conversation website can help us understand whether and how explanation and knowledge translation occur through explanatory journalism. This study will also contribute to a deeper understanding of the significance of alternative forms of journalism and their impacts on public discourse.