Community Journalism Interest Group
2021 Abstracts
Research Paper • Faculty • Gregory Gondwe, University of Colorado; Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado-Boulder; Edson Tandoc Jr • Community gatekeeping: Understanding information dissemination by journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa • This study contributes to the theory of gatekeeping by examining how community media journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa navigate through conflicting information. Using the case of COVID-19, the study examined how journalists from community media in Zambia and Tanzania reported government information that conflicted with what the local communities they served believed to be untrue. Drawing from interviews with journalists from community media organizations, we were able to demonstrate that there was a schism between what the editors thought as newsworthy versus what the reporters believed as possessing journalistic values relevant for their communities. Unlike the reporters, most editors aligned much with what the government wanted the media to transmit. This is especially true in Zambia where reporters indicated that most of their stories were flagged as irrelevant by their editors. These findings are then examined through the lens of gatekeeping, particularly a focus on various levels of analysis.
Research Paper • Faculty • Kelly Kaufhold, Texas State University • Locating the Media’s Role in Empathy for Immigration • The relationship between media consumption and attitudes about immigration is well established, but with a focus on national news outlets. The role of local media consumption is not as well understood. This study surveyed residents of Texas (N-316) which shares two-thirds of the United States’ border, and Ohio (N=322) which is less diverse and politically predictable. Reading Ohio newspapers predicted significantly less support for immigration; reading national newspapers, more support. Local TV viewing wasn’t significant.
Research Paper • Student • Nick Mathews, University of Minnesota • Print imprint: The connection between the physical newspaper and the self • This research puts forward the theoretical concept “print imprint,” articulating the connection between the printed newspaper and its reader’s “Self.” This paper contends the newspaper draws out the meaningfulness of ownership, touch and nostalgia, all ingredients of the self. This research centers on interviews with 19 readers of a rural, weekly newspaper that shuttered. Ultimately, this research argues the loss of the weekly newspaper prompted a loss or lessening of self of the abandoned readers.
Research Paper • Faculty • Laura Moorhead, San Francisco State University • Collaborative coverage: A content analysis of articles by local journalists working to solve homelessness and engage community • Beginning in June 2016, 77 media organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area began working together to end homelessness in the community. Journalists put aside competitive and, oftentimes, philosophical differences to “flood airwaves, the internet, and print publications with news” about the “solutions to and causes of homelessness.” The effort, known as the SF Homeless Project (SFHP), continued beyond one day and has gained international attention, becoming a model for journalists and communities elsewhere. Yet, little is known about the SFHP’s coverage, impact, and potential for community change and replication elsewhere. This research — a content analysis of 977 articles published over 18 months by 134 media organizations — examined efforts to shape local public opinion and policy on homelessness and asked, What does coverage look like when journalists work to take a systems perspective to address homelessness?
Research Paper • Student • Jeffry Oktavianus, City University of Hong Kong • The role of integrated connectedness of community storytelling networks in empowering migrant domestic workers • “Situated against Indonesian migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Hong Kong, this study examined how MDWs’ integrated connectedness to the community storytelling networks (ICSN), comprising interpersonal communication, community organizations, and media outlets, was able to empower migrant helpers. The findings revealed that ICSN was positively associated with perceived social support and behavioral empowerment, while the influence of ICSN on intrapersonal and interactional empowerment operated via social support.
Keywords: communication infrastructure, community storytelling network, empowerment, migrant domestic workers”
Research Paper • Student • William Singleton, University of Alabama; Wilson Lowrey; Nick Buzzelli • Must I follow the script? Professional objectivity, journalistic roles and the black community journalist • The negotiation of objectivity as a community journalism norm has become timelier based on dissatisfaction many Black journalists have voiced over coverage of police brutality protests. This study examines how Black community journalists covering social-justice protests in local legacy news media, digital startups, and traditional community Black press have expressed journalistic objectivity and enacted their journalistic roles. Findings showed that coverage in the traditional Black press publication and the digital startup enacted a stronger advocacy role and showed more subjectivity than the legacy publication. Also, a “clarifier” role emerged from analysis of the digital startup publication, in which journalists gave local protest groups a platform to distinguish their identities from other protest groups.
Extended Abstract • Student • Anna Grace Usery • Examining how solutions journalism builds street credibility between media and audiences • This study explores how media organizations build credibility with their audiences through solutions journalism. It also seeks to understand how community partners are utilized by media organizations to augment storytelling and create a symbiotic relationship with audience members. Results from this study indicate that the definition and practice of solutions journalism is changing in the field and that symbiotic relationships are helping to build credibility at the individual level.
Extended Abstract • Student • Yidong Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Avery Holton, University of Utah • Pride and Protest: Intersectional Work of Queer Community Media • This study examines the practice of intersectionality in queer community media production. Drawing on interviews and surveys with nine queer community news outlets in the US as well as texts sampled from these outlets’ coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement in connection to the narrative of LGBTQ Pride, we find that queer community media serve as a platform where discussion around racism within LGBTQ communities takes place and where intersectional coalition can be mobilized.
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