Yamousoukrou declaration
much, too little; or quite simply the existence
and persistence of advertisements distracting
from news content (see noise).
Yaros defi nes personalization as ‘the degree
to which content is tailored for an individual
for consumption’, web research indicating that
user responses are usually more positive the
more personalized the content and presentation:
the more users can personalize their choice,
the more they become their own information
gatekeepers.
Th e author sees Involvement as made up of
two elements, interest and interactivity. Web
browsing is largely swift and cursory; a user
might spend only fractions of a second with a text
before moving on. Th is will depend on what Yaros
terms ‘individual interest’: something users bring
with them to new texts, knowledge and interest
which ‘develops over time’. ‘Situational interest’
on the other hand comes about as a result of an
encounter with text, pictures, sound or video
communication. User engagement will depend
on a number of factors, including well-written
and easily comprehended text with helpful and
attractive aids such as pictures, graphs, anima-
tions, colour and attractive page design.
The PICK model defines interactivity as
‘the degree to which content assists citizens to
input choices, responses or content ... any abil-
ity for citizen journalists to serve as the source
of content – through blogs, forums, uploaded
video, etc. – represents more meaningful inter-
activity because the model focuses on the user’.
Contiguity ‘is the extent to which the combi-
nations of hypertext, photos, animation, slides,
links, blogs, video and audio relate to each other
to maximize coherence of the single message
while preventing cognitive overload’. Quite
simply, do all the elements of a page ‘relate to
each other to form one coherent message’? For
example, the closer pictures are to the text they
illustrate, the more effective their contiguity,
the greater will be user understanding; equally,
‘contiguity within the structures of text and
hypertext is important’.
The Kick-out element of the PICK model
‘addresses those elements that threaten engage-
ment’. Yaros states, ‘if news is not personalized
enough for the user’s experience, prior knowl-
edge or interest, or is not interactive enough for
citizen involvement or is not contiguous enough
to quickly form a coherent message, the content
itself will likely “kick out” citizen engagement’.
Yaros argues that in a world of ‘overwhelm-
ing content’ and characterized by a media
environment that is ‘increasingly fragmented’,A further questionable connection with China
was the revelation that Yahoo! held a 40 per cent
share in Alibaba, a company trading in crocodile
products. In its defence, the organization argued
that 40 per cent ownership of the company
precluded it from exerting control over Alibaba’s
trade in China.
Yamousoukrou declaration Issued by African
leaders in 1985, the declaration states that ‘one
of the main keys to solving Africa’s development
problems lies in mastering the national manage-
ment of information in all its forms’. Th e text of
the declaration that appeared in an International
Bureau of Information report (1986) argued that
information management and control are ‘not
only a positive force for regional and continental
integration but also an essential condition for
the survival of Africa within the community of
nations in the twenty-fi rst century’. See core
nations, peripheral nations; develop-
ment news; information gaps; mcbride
commission; media imperialism.
★Yaros’ ‘PICK’ model for multimedia news,
2009 ‘PICK’ stands for three linked processes:
Personalization, Involvement and Contiguity;
the fourth, ‘Kick-out’, indicates that P, I and C
have not worked. Th e model posed by Ronald
A. Yaros relates to news reception in the
multi-media world of the internet; its theo-
retical intention ‘to maximize interest in and
understanding of complex news by non-expert
citizens’.
In ‘Producing citizen journalism or produc-
ing journalism for citizens: a new multimedia
model to enhance understanding of complex
news’ published in Journalism and Citizenship:
New Agendas in Communication (Routledge,
2009), edited by Zizi Papacharissi, Yaros notes
the ‘overwhelming complexity in news’ which
‘appears to be growing exponentially’. He raises
the question, ‘why and how should citizens with
limited expertise engage in complex news issues
on a medium that off ers so many other choices’?
Yaros’ model ‘attempts to answer with the
hypothesis that more citizens might better under-
stand complex news if the content was presented
with more personalization, involvement and
coherent multimedia structures’. Th e process the
author sees as an interactive one between profes-
sionals and news-consuming citizens.
Th e elements of the model work together; and
where they don’t enhance interest and under-
standing it is because kick-outs have occurred,
that is consumer switch-off or switch-over. Kick-
outs might be technical diffi culties, information
seen to be outdated, confusing, irrelevant, too