News website personalisation: the co-creation of content, audiences and services by online journalists and marketers

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper investigates news website personalisation from a socio-economic perspective to help understand the role of journalists and marketers in online service provision. It focuses on a Belgian company that publishes the two major financial and economic newspapers in the country. Debates and day-to-day practices regarding personalisation in the company show that two professional groups are involved in the qualification of media products (content and audiences) into media goods and audience segments. In a context where media organisations explore alternative forms of service provision, this study makes an original contribution by pointing out the increase shared roles between online journalists and marketers, especially regarding gatekeeping and audience segmentation practices.