Topic Guide

What Is Participatory journalism?

Participatory journalism is a subject covered in depth across 2 podcast episodes in our database. Below you'll find key concepts, expert insights, and the top episodes to listen to — all distilled from hours of conversation by leading experts.

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Key Concepts in Participatory journalism

Participatory journalism

Knoxville's unique approach to journalism involved actively participating in the stories he wrote, specifically by testing self-defense equipment on himself. This method was presented as an unconventional, desperate attempt to create compelling content and support his family, eventually evolving into the stunt-based entertainment of *Jackass*.

Creative control vs. mainstream opportunity

This concept highlights Knoxville's choice to turn down a guaranteed spot on "Saturday Night Live" to develop "Jackass" with his friends. He opted for full creative autonomy, believing in his team and vision, rather than sacrificing control for a high-profile but constrained role [14:21].

Performance for laughter

Both Conan O'Brien and Johnny Knoxville describe a psychological phenomenon where the presence of a camera and the potential for an audience's laughter overrides their common sense. This impulse leads them to perform dangerous, uncomfortable, or otherwise ill-advised acts that they would typically avoid [17:23, 23:25].

What Experts Say About Participatory journalism

1.Johnny Knoxville's career in stunt-based comedy originated from a desperate attempt to support his family, not a planned ambition.
2.His early work involved 'participatory journalism' where he tested self-defense equipment on himself, leading to the concept of filming these stunts.
3.Knoxville turned down a specific offer from Lorne Michaels for a weekly five-minute segment on *Saturday Night Live* to pursue *Jackass* for creative control.
4.The *Jackass* pilot was shut down mid-production after an unpermitted stunt in a West Hollywood hardware store provoked a major police response.
5.The hardware store incident involved an officer's car crashing into a telephone pole and Knoxville receiving a warning that he could have been shot.
6.MTV was prohibited from filming in West Hollywood for over 10 years due to the *Jackass* pilot's lack of proper permits for their stunts.