Community Journalism 2007 Abstracts
Community Journalism Interest Group
Weeklies and the Web: A Study of Newspaper Managers and the State of Their Online Editions • Jennifer Wood Adams, Auburn University • This study examines the state of the online newspaper at U.S. weekly newspapers and the management of the online edition. One interesting insight is that most respondents embrace their online editions as a reality of the newspaper business. A majority said they routinely review and evaluate the online newspaper and its goals. Three-fourths of the respondents said they view the online newspaper as complementary to printed newspaper and not as cannibalizing the subscription base.
Media Roles and Audience Engagement: Relationships Between Perceptions of Journalists’ Functions and Uses of Interactive Features • Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky • An online survey of a local newspaper audience assessed their perceptions of journalists’ roles and uses of various interactive features. Findings indicate that the audience held three distinct perceptions of journalists’ roles: interpretive disseminator, populist mobilizer and adversary. The audience also embraced civic journalism values. The results further revealed five distinct types of interactive features that represent the interactivity continuum. Correlation analysis revealed positive relationships between specific perceptions of roles and the uses of distinct interactive features.
Connecting Virtual and Geographic Communities: Toward a New Model of Journalism in Bluffton, S.C. • Heidi Fedak, University of Kansas • The advent of the Internet and changing revenue models have forced print newspapers to adapt and innovate in order to connect with their communities. That’s what Morris Publishing Group did when it decided in April 2005 to launch Bluffton Today as both a print and online entity. This study, part of a larger case study, examines how the Web site’s citizen bloggers view and use the online community network, BlufftonToday.com.
Fifty Years of Community News: The Erosion of Social Responsibility? • Jeffrey John, Wright State University • This paper suggests that modern America journalism has evolved away from the Social Responsibility Theory, toward an Entertainment Theory of the Press. A case study of news coverage of a mid-sized community over time illustrates this premise, using a secondary analysis of content-analysis projects describing the community’s media since 1956.
A Test of a Measure of Community Journalism • Wilson Lowrey, University of Alabama; Chang Wan Woo, Jenn Burleson Mackay • This study offers a test of an index measure of community journalism, designed to assess the degree to which newspaper content fosters community. Relationship between index score and newspaper size was also examined. Factor analysis results suggest the possibility of several new dimensions for the index. Results also suggest small community papers devote more space to general community surveillance, but they are not more rigorous than larger papers in using content to actively foster community.
Relentlessly Historical: Local History in South-Central Pennsylvania Community Newspapers • Rex Martin, Bowie State University • This paper begins with the premise that local history features in community newspapers serve to build a sense of inclusion and identity among readers. It is based on a survey completed by the editors of 14 community newspapers in south-central Pennsylvania, as well as comments from editors and reporters. It serves as an initial qualitative investigation into the use of local history in community journalism.
Print friendly
