Post-television practices: Reinventing broadcasting and print media with the use of web TV

These days, everybody seems to be producing television. In a way, this is a rather odd observation. It is odd because for the last decade or so, media researchers have proclaimed television’s death. They have asked: how can this old medium really survive given the explosion of social media and new technological platforms? The media development we see at the moment proves that this is already an outdated question. In fact, television seems to be prospering and flourishing as never before, but it comes in new forms and shapes on the web. Broadcasters and other media such as newspapers turn to the web to experiment with new productions to attract audiences. Producing web television has become an important strategy in reinventing their respective medium. The overarching research question in this project is formulated in direct relation to this development: How do broadcasters and print media make use of web television to reinvent their respective media and connect with audiences in new ways? In more specific terms, novel forms of talk and interaction that materialize as a result of the move to the web with its different conditions for production and reception will be explored. We will investigate how broadcasters and non-broadcasters design and organize their talk and interaction so as to relate to audiences in specific, inclusive and co-operative ways in a time of media convergence. This aim is situated within a broader research interest focused on the impact of new media on broadcasting in the so-called ‘post-broadcast era’. However, we also expand this interest to include the impact of new media for non-broadcasters (here print media). In more general terms, our ambition is to address the question of how we can understand new forms of television in the 21^st century.