Community Journalism 2009 Abstracts
Community Journalism Interest Group
Reasserting Radio: An Exploratory Survey of Staff and Volunteers At U.S. Community Radio Stations • Dean Graber, School of Journalism, University of Texas at Austin • Non-commercial “community radio stations” operated by citizens in more than 200 U.S. communities engage listeners in the public sphere, but little empirical data has been collected about U.S. community broadcasters. Through a nationwide Web-based survey, this study found that volunteers and paid staff at U.S. community radio stations participate primarily because of programming freedom, non-commercial principles, and to share music and knowledge with audiences. Most participants predicted community radio’s importance will grow in the future.
Community journalism and community history: A call for stories of the storytellers • Janice Hume, University of Georgia • The historical importance of community journalism in American life — while acknowledged anecdotally — has not been fully demonstrated. This bibliographic essay surveys the histories of community journalism, and calls for more complete and varied research into the relationship between local news and the construction and maintenance of communities.
Community News Editors as Citizens: Individual Level Predictors of Social Capital and Community Engagement • Seungahn Nah, University of Kentucky; Deborah Chung, University of Kentucky • Relying on social capital theory, this study examines the extent to which community news editors build social capital and engage in community activities. Data were collected using a statewide, Web-based survey in a southeastern state.
Journalism’s role in bridging fragmented community: The case of college sports communities • Chang Wan Woo, The University of Alabama; Wilson Lowrey, The University of Alabama; Jung Kyu Kim, University of Alabama; Hyuksoo Kim, The University of Alabama; Hyonjin Ahn, Universityof Alabama • Sports can be a source of social cohesion within a sports community; at the same time, it can obstruct the social bridging process in communities with diverse sports identities. Community journalism can play an integral role in bridging diverse community groups by listening widely to the community, helping to set an agenda, and by facilitating community interaction. This study examines how college sports as community institutions, shape local news media’s efforts to build community.
Community Newspapers and Their Use of Newspaper Design Technology • Jennifer Wood Adams, Auburn University • This nationwide study provides benchmark data on the use of newspaper design technology at community newspapers. The study reports the perceptions and attitudes of community newspaper managers toward implementing desktop publishing software into their newsrooms and if the managers think there is a preference in the newspaper industry for journalists to know a particular application. Differences between daily and weekly community newspapers are compared.
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