Participatory journalism policies in newspapers’ websites in Greece

This article examines the integration of participatory journalism policies in the websites of Greek daily political and financial newspapers. A survey conducted in these websites revealed a very reluctant attitude towards tools and applications that involve users in the production of news. The study identified the adoption of few and limited user-generated content (UGC) initiatives, which mainly allow readers to interact with the journalists’ work after it has been published, rather than produce their own content or take part in the initial stages of news production process. When users can create their content, this process is regulated by rules set by the editors. Furthermore, it was found that Greek newspapers use a number of methods, such as moderation, registration and CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart), in order to avoid problems caused by the coexistence of professional and amateur content and to ensure the quality of their websites.