This essay is about how changes in our communications environment have the potential to modify the way we produce information about the world in which we live, information that we conventionally call "news." In a networked environment, individuals engage in the production of news, telling their own version of the facts happening in the world, attributing meaning to them and debating over their relevance. This has led to the emergence of various collaborative media communities on the Internet (e.g. Kuro5hin and Slashdot), which generate enormous user traffic, attracting individuals who are eager to take part in the production of news or just interested in receiving information produced in a collaborative mode. In this context, it is crucial to evaluate whether, and to what extent, it is feasible to enhance the credibility of peer-produced news. Indeed, the future of collaborative media depends on sophisticated mechanisms of accreditation, capable of enhancing the trustworthiness of the information produced. Thus, the analysis in this essay will focus on such mechanisms introduced by collaborative media sites, their effectiveness, and their differences vis-a-vis traditional accreditation mechanisms of mass media. Based on a case study, this essay presents three broad conclusions. First, the discussion suggests that peer-production of accreditation is feasible and represents a significant departure from the mass media accreditation model. Second, as we learn to shape technology, social norms and business models to enhance cooperation among individuals in the creation of news, collaborative media will produce an important impact on mass media, fostering changes in the current communications environment. Third, peer-production of news has some positive effects on the political economy of information: it restructures the power relations and the creation of meaning in the public sphere, enhancing individual autonomy and democracy. This essay is divided into four parts. Part II will address the collaborative media phenomenon, its central characteristics, and the challenge of producing accreditation. In order to provide a more comprehensive description of collaborative media and its challenge, Part III will develop a case study. I will concentrate my analysis on a virtual community called "Kuro5hin" (it should be pronounced as "corrosion"), which also goes by the nickname "K5." I will discuss in detail the mechanisms created by K5 to generate credibility in a peer-to-peer model of production. Then, in order to capture the dynamic evolution of the collaborative media phenomenon, I will compare K5 and Slashdot, another popular collaborative media site with an elaborate system of accreditation. As the case study demonstrates, collaborative media Web sites are extremely complex and provide a feasible alternative for production of accreditation in a peer-to-peer environment. Part IV discusses the differences between traditional mass media and collaborative media, as well as the impacts that the latter may produce on the former. I suggest that the emergence of collaborative media represents two shifts from the traditional model: first, a shift from individual production of accreditation to diffuse production of accreditation; second, a shift from accreditation of the final product to accreditation of the publishing process. Then, I evaluate the potential impacts of collaborative media on traditional mass media. Finally, Part V provides a discussion of the potential effects of collaborative media on the political economy of information more broadly. I argue that collaborative media may produce positive effects on four different levels: (i) decentralization of control in the production of news; (ii) increasing diversity of content; (iii) fostering democratic values; and (iv) boosting individual autonomy. A brief conclusion will follow Part V
