National Geographic and Puerto Rico: A Case Study of Journalistic Authority and Collective Identity in the Digital Age

This article presents a case study of journalistic authority and collective identity in the context of the changes in mass communications prompted by web interactivity. It traces National Geographic's coverage of Puerto Rico and examines comments posted on an online forum in response to the magazine's first article on Puerto Rico that was widely available to Puerto Ricans themselves. The analysis demonstrates the challenges in representing culture when discussion about the other, or "them," cannot be confined to insiders-"us"-because "they" may be networked and able to both access material and respond to it. Digital media interactivity allows groups to publicly dispute their representations, and in so doing to challenge journalistic authority.