Preprint / Version 1

Ends and Means: Rethinking Audiences

##article.authors##

Julian Alberto Gonzalez Mina University of Valle https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0766-5772

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/SciELOPreprints.11268

Keywords:

Audiences, strong publics, Extrinsic ends, Intrinsic ends, journalism

Abstract

This essay examines the relationship between ends and means in contemporary journalism. It suggests that the goal of capturing audiences for advertising monetization has historically shaped the structure and content of news media. It criticizes this model, pointing out that it reduces audiences to passive commodities, prioritizing economic survival over their social role. Instead, it proposes an approach focused on creating "strong publics," where audiences act as active agents in public communication and collective action.

Through a still very preliminary historical analysis, canonical journalism —neutral and text-centric— is contrasted with alternative forms that, at the dawn of journalism, such as social agitation journalism, are characterized by the fusion of information and activism, placing social action and citizens as agents at the center. An eight-level scale of audience-media interaction is presented, ranging from superficial consumption to the creation of their own media, highlighting the importance of extrinsic ends (strengthening democracy, citizen mobilization) over intrinsic ends (media survival).

The article concludes that rethinking the ends of journalism, drawing inspiration from historical practices and participatory horizons, is key to transforming audiences into political subjects capable of influencing the public sphere. Platforms like Ciudad Vaga could promote this approach, prioritizing critical communication and the generation of citizen media structures over traditional market metrics.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Julian Alberto Gonzalez Mina, University of Valle

Professor at the School of Social Communication at Universidad del Valle. He works in the areas of journalism and information, education, and new technologies. He is the author of the books Rethinking Journalism: Transformations and Emergences of Current Journalism (2004) and Children Who Play Video Games, Video Games That Structure Times (2018), and co-author of the books Design: Designating/Designing the Urban Young Body. A Study on the Somatic Culture of Young People Integrated into the City of Cali (2003), Land and Silicon: How the Word and Political Action of Indigenous Peoples Cultivate Digital Environments (2011), Facebook as a Mundane Work: Poeticizing Life and Recreating Personal Bonds (2016), Video Communities: They See Us, We See Them, and We Move (2020), and Diverse Subjective Voices: Polyphonic Reflections for the Construction of a Culture of Peace (2021). Recently, he published the book Everything Is So Weird: Postcards, Stories, and Unusual Approaches to Ordinary and Extraordinary News (2022), and the books Lo 0.0 (Zero Point Zero): Machines to Educate and Think by Hand (2024) and The Game of Designing Emerging and Situated Games (2024), both co-authored with Rocío Gómez, are forthcoming. He has also published numerous articles on journalism and information, education, and new technologies. He is a member of three research groups at Universidad del Valle: Nexus, Popular Education, and Psychological Development in Context.