Community Newspapers Research Articles

Sustainability Living in a Carbon-Priced Economy: “Shoulds” and “Woulds,” Making Amends and Sustainability Guilt

Sustainability consumer behavior is a complex and emergent concept and involves progress toward creating a more sustainable society. Changes to government policy in Australia in the Rudd-Gillard era provide a new context for sustainability consumption. Little research appears to address how consumers make decisions and carry out practices to realize their own sustainability values from day to day in the context of a society and economy publicly committed to sustainability, which may also have the influence of not only changing social norms regarding sustainability but also social mores. This paper focuses on how sustainability-concerned consumers made their contribution to sustainability living. Qualitative research was undertaken using depth interviews with 15 sustainability-concerned consumers contacted by advertisement in a Melbourne (Australia) community newspaper along with snowball sampling. The research finds that concerned consumers’ contribution to sustainable living may be characterized on a shades-of-green continuum, as “shoulds” and “woulds”: those who know they should and were prepared to take action and those who are willing to seek more knowledge to take the right action. Sustainability-concerned consumers accept the responsibility to behave sustainably. However they frequently find that this is difficult to do. They consider that purchases and practices both contribute to sustainability and make amends for incorrect purchase by engaging in sustainability practices more widely and more frequently. This may provide an expanded understanding of the values purchase gap. The paper further uncovers how some consumers increasingly are experiencing guilt in regard to their sustainability behaviors. The paper concludes with a discussion of limitations and future research directions.

Book Review: Saving Community Journalism: The Path to Profitability, by Penelope Muse Abernathy

Penelope Muse Abernathy Saving Community Journalism: The Path to Profitability. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2014. 256 pp.Smaller news organizations might be answer to saving journalism, and it is important that they survive in digital revolution. Community newspapers, the basis of newspaper ecosystem (p. 196) and vitamin supplements for their communities (p. 224), are treasures that need to have game plan to address today's issues. That is overall theme strewn throughout Abernathy's new book.Abernathy, former executive with Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, is Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Using industry-based and academic research, she discusses risks and opportunities newspapers face as they work to reinvent themselves and identify new revenue streams. To start this discussion, context of journalism requires an examination. Abernathy begins by tackling definition for journalism, because traditional parameters of term are out of date due to digital age. Traditionally, papers with circulation of less than fifteen thousand are classified as newspapers (p. 2).However, online technology has changed newspapers:But in digital age, when print circulation for almost all newspapers is dropping yearly- and an increasing number of readers are accessing paper's digital edition only-that definition seems limiting and out-of-date. Many daily newspapers in small and midsized markets, for example-especially those with circulation of less than 100,000-also position themselves as community newspapers. (p. 2)Consequently, her definition of journalism is based on publication's mission and characteristics of markets it relies on for revenue. Under this framework, eight thousand newspapers in United States would qualify as newspapers (p. 21).The book is divided into three sections, and chapters contained within each section act as points of strategy for newspapers to follow as part of five-year plan to revamp themselves in digital era. Several case studies and numerous experiences at wide variety of newspapers are offered as rich references in every section. The first is titled Creating New Strategy. In this section, Abernathy explores why newspapers need to survive, why newspapers must change, and how they must change. The vitality of newspapers is rooted in watchdog role of democracy and agenda-setting function for public, and without this strong foundation, democracy would suffer. Without their vigilance, such concerns might well be overlooked and ignored, and these stories would never be told (p. 17).The second section, Implementing New Strategy, focuses on leadership. The chapters guide publishers and editors to put together a guiding coalition of people within news organization to help them grow a new strand of DNA (p. …

Framing Risks and Benefits of Medical Tourism: A Content Analysis of Medical Tourism Coverage in Korean American Community Newspapers

This study examines Korean American community newspapers’ representation of risks and benefits involved with medical tourism offered in Korea. Using framing theory, this research attempts to explain Korean Americans’ highly positive perceptions and high willingness to use health and medical services in Korea through medical tourism rather than using such services in the United States. The result of content analyses indicated that Korean American community newspapers are rarely engaged in risk communication and lack sufficient information about potential risks of medical tourism while emphasizing diverse benefits. Korean ethnic media, as the primary source of health communication for Korean Americans, should provide more reliable health and medical information for the population's appropriate health management.

Raising the Flag: The Early Years of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans Press in Brazil, 1963–1981

This article describes the beginnings of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) periodical press in Brazil. Structured around Benedict Anderson’s concept of imagined communities and Jürgen Habermas’s theory of the public sphere, it shows how a marginalized group constructed a positive sense of identity and set out to change popular culture by challenging prejudice and discrimination. The analysis concentrates on the mimeograph journals circulated among gay men in the 1960s, such as O Snob, and the pioneering community newspaper Lampião (1978–1981), examining their treatment of gender and sexuality through issues such as cross-dressing, sex roles, and street prostitution. Through their explorations of the LGBT subculture and innovative use of discourse based on popular slang, these publications helped create a new space for the public discussion of sexuality as well as greater cultural awareness of a shared but diverse community.

Amateur Photographs as Visual Quotes

The participation of amateurs in the production of news has been widely noted as a growing phenomenon. Recent research demonstrates that amateur photographs are understood as raw, additional or potential elements of news content making and are subject to a translation process. In this paper, I introduce the concept of the visual quote to show how news media workers both accommodate and distance themselves from amateur content. In making the connection between amateur photographs and quotes, I aim to shift the understanding of amateur photographs away from the perception that they represent a new form of journalism. Instead I use the concept of the visual quote to identify how news media workers maintain their professional authority over amateur photographs in much the same way as quotes from bystanders are used in written journalism. The concept of the visual quote also acknowledges the role of the camera as a note-taking device in contemporary media use. I argue that the sourcing of amateur photographs is not explicitly disruptive; rather it blends with the existing processes of professional news media practice. It questions claims that the rise of the amateur would lead to fundamental changes in media and society. The research was conducted in 2010/2011 using interview evidence and observations collected at the Australian Leader Community Newspapers chain. Interviews were also conducted with representatives from a further 14 media institutions in Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom. In addition, secondary sources were used to provide further insights and suggest general tendencies in the field.

Online news at Canadian community newspapers: A snapshot of current practice and recommendations for change

Abstract Community, or weekly, newspapers are the primary source of news for many Canadians, but remain an under-researched field. Though challenges facing daily newspapers in urban centres have been well documented, comparatively little is known about how smaller newspapers are responding to changes brought by the Internet. This article captures a nationwide snapshot of current online journalistic practice at Canadian weekly newspapers. A survey was sent to 776 community newspaper publishers in Canada to examine specific policies for news websites. Findings reveal a variety of approaches in Internet news distribution and website management, but a stronger emphasis and reliance on the printed edition. Enhancement of the online product is being stymied by a vicious cycle of poor revenues leading to poor quality online websites.

Emotional Tone of Ontario Newspaper Articles on the Health Effects of Industrial Wind Turbines Before and After Policy Change

Newspapers are often a primary source of health information for the public about emerging technologies. Information in newspapers can amplify or attenuate readers’ perceptions of health risk depending on how it is presented. Five geographically distinct wind energy installations in Ontario, Canada were identified, and newspapers published in their surrounding communities were systematically searched for articles on health effects from industrial wind turbines from May 2007 to April 2011. The authors retrieved 421 articles from 13 community, 2 provincial, and 2 national newspapers. To measure the emotional tone of the articles, the authors used a list of negative and positive words, informed from previous studies as well as from a random sample of newspaper articles included in this study. The majority of newspaper articles (64.6%, n = 272) emphasized negative rather than positive/neutral tone, with community newspapers publishing a higher proportion of negative articles than provincial or national newspapers, χ2(2) = 15.1, p < .001. Articles were more likely to be negative when published 2 years after compared with 2 years before provincial legislation to reduce dependence on fossil fuels (the Green Energy Act), χ2(3) = 9.7, p < .05. Repeated public exposure to negative newspaper content may heighten readers’ health risk perceptions about wind energy.

James Francis Monk (1915-2014)

James Francis Monk (1915-2014)

Personality Disorders and Erroneous Beliefs in Pathological Gambling

This study investigated the extent to which pathological gambling and gambling-related erroneous beliefs are related to personality disorders and the general dysfunctional beliefs that are common to these disorders. Respondents were recruited from the general community by advertising in community newspapers in southern Australia. Participants were asked to contact the researchers and were administered a short screening telephone interview to ensure that volunteers met study criteria. A package of measures, a consent form and other related information were mailed to them for self-completion. Once this was returned, participants were again interviewed by phone to validate their responses and finalise data collection. The sample comprised 140 regular gamblers who were recruited from the general public. A variety of self- report and semi structured questionnaires were administered, including the NORC DSM-IV Screen for Gambling Problems, The 21-item PDI (Peters et al. Delusions Inventory), the PAI-BOR measure of borderline personality disorder and the Gambling Related Cognition Scale (GRCS). Pathological gambling scores were strongly related to scores on borderline personality disorder measure as well as gambling-specific belief scores. A path analysis showed that personality disorders are only weakly related to gambling-related belief after controlling for delusion-proneness. In other words, there is evidence of a pathway between personality disorder scores, delusion-proneness scores and Gambling Related Cognition Scale scores which, in turn, are positively associated with pathological gambling scores. Dysfunctional beliefs associated with common personality disorders such as borderline personality may make people more susceptible to the gambling-related erroneous cognitions commonly held by pathological gamblers.

"Not just another walking program": Everyday Activity Supports You (EASY) model-a randomized pilot study for a parallel randomized controlled trial.

BackgroundMaintaining physical activity is an important goal with positive health benefits, yet many people spend most of their day sitting. Our Everyday Activity Supports You (EASY) model aims to encourage movement through daily activities and utilitarian walking. The primary objective of this phase was to test study feasibility (recruitment and retention rates) for the EASY model.MethodsThis 6-month study took place in Vancouver, Canada, from May to December 2013, with data analyses in February 2014. Participants were healthy, inactive, community-dwelling women aged 55–70 years. We recruited through advertisements in local community newspapers and randomized participants using a remote web service. The model included the following: group-based education and social support, individualized physical activity prescription (called Activity 4-1-1), and use of a Fitbit activity monitor. The control group received health-related information only. The main outcome measures were descriptions of study feasibility (recruitment and retention rates). We also collected information on activity patterns (ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometers) and health-related outcomes such as body composition (height and weight using standard techniques), blood pressure (automatic blood pressure monitor), and psychosocial variables (questionnaires).ResultsWe advertised in local community newspapers to recruit participants. Over 3 weeks, 82 participants telephoned; following screening, 68% (56/82) met the inclusion criteria and 45% (25/56) were randomized by remote web-based allocation. This included 13 participants in the intervention group and 12 participants in the control group (education). At 6 months, 12/13 (92%) intervention and 8/12 (67%) control participants completed the final assessment. Controlling for baseline values, the intervention group had an average of 2,080 [95% confidence intervals (CIs) 704, 4,918] more steps/day at 6 months compared with the control group. There was an average between group difference in weight loss of −4.3 [95% CI −6.22, −2.40] kg and reduction in diastolic blood pressure of −8.54 [95% CI −16.89, −0.198] mmHg, in favor of EASY.ConclusionsThe EASY pilot study was feasible to deliver; there was an increase in physical activity and reduction in weight and blood pressure for intervention participants at 6 months.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01842061 Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2055-5784-1-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

READERS’ PERCEPTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT INCLINATION OF ORIWU SUN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IN IKORODU AREA OF LAGOS STATE

Location and message content make Nigeria’s media urban-centred, thus creating information deficit on development issues particularly in the rural areas. Since community newspapers are designed to fill this development information gap at the local level, their efforts in carrying out this role deserve scrutiny. This study therefore assessed readers’ perception of the development inclination of Oriwu Sun community newspaper in Ikorodu area of Lagos State. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 104 respondents from the study area. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on demographic characteristics, content preference, development roles, credibility and perception of the development inclination of the community newspaper from the sampled respondents. Data were described using frequencies and percentages. Hypotheses were tested using Spearman rho and Chi-square at 0.05 level of significance. Results show that most readers were adults (77.9%), male (63.0%) with 17 years as mean year of living in the community. The most preferred section of the newspaper content was the local/community news. The major roles performed by the newspaper were giving voice to the community and mobilisation ( 1.51) while, the watchdog role ranked lowly 4th. Although the newspaper enjoys high credibility rating among the readers, they perceived it as having indifferent inclination to development issues. The local news segment should feature more development content in order to make it serve the community better. Keywords: Community development news, media decentralisation, news credibility and development inclination.

Mass Communication and Mass Incommunication: A Revisit

The need to revisit Adesanoye’s view on the prevailing communication gap between the urban and the rural areas over twenty-five years ago which he termed “mass incommunication” was as a result of the fact that the situation, rather than improving is increasingly deteriorating. The authors in analyzing the situation discovered that even when and where concerted efforts are made by the media industry to involve the Nigerian populace in a participatory and interactive communication process, the success is always limited by factors such as poverty, illiteracy, infrastructure, ownership, legal constraints, technology and media commercialization. The writers suggested and agreed with other media scholars on the establishment of rural radio and community newspaper. The government must revive the Adult Literacy campaign to improve the literacy level among the populace. Finally, there should be a return to the era of public service broadcasting. In essence, government news media should be well funded so as to accommodate the interest of everybody in participatory and interactive process of communication. Keywords: Mass Communication, Mass Incommunication

THE CxP TYPOLOGY

Structured interviews with community newspaper editors and publishers build on current theoretical understandings of normative deviance and gatekeeping theory. Editors and publishers encounter a great deal of audience interaction and a clear emphasis on news about “regular people and routine events,” which offers a topical rebuttal to gatekeeping theory's assertion that journalists are attracted to news about conflict and celebrity due to a lack of dialogue with media consumers. A deeper reading of the text, however, demonstrates that “regular people” and “routine events” remain rooted in conflict and celebrity. This study suggests a theoretical broadening of normative deviance and a new model, the “CxP Typology,” to aid the theoretical expression of normative deviance.

Nutrition Information In Community Newspapers: Goal Framing, Story Origins, and Topics

Obesity rates are high in the rural United States. Because small communities often have few health care practitioners, nutrition news in community newspapers may be a useful source of information. This content analysis of a random sample of 164 nutrition stories from 10 community newspapers in the rural West North Central Midwest was guided by concepts from goal-framing theory. Locally generated stories comprised nearly half of the sample, suggesting that nutrition is a salient topic in many rural communities. Hedonic frames related to food enjoyment were twice as frequent as health improvement frames. Results suggest food promotion was the most common topic of nutrition stories, with guidelines for a healthy diet appearing about half as often. Stories about a healthy diet and food promotion were most often written locally. Findings are discussed with recommendations for improvement of community news coverage of nutrition.

Uses, Dependency Model Remains Useful Framework

Telephone survey data show that print media dependency was significantly and positively associated with readership of the printed community newspaper, while online media dependency was significantly and positively associated with the use of the newspaper's website and the Internet.

Community Editors Look beyond Watchdog Role

A survey of community newspaper editors and publishers suggests that the turf covered by the traditional functions assigned to the press needs to be elaborated to include not only serving as the public's watchdog but also stimulating civic engagement and developing a sense of community.

It Takes a Team and Optimism

Right now, spring is in the air, and after a long and extremely cold winter, there is a sense of new beginnings. Classes are coming to an end. Students and faculty alike are excited about the imminent summer break.I, too, am witnessing a new beginning. I am in transition to a new team. Effective July 1, I will serve as dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). I have relinquished my tenure at Central Michigan University where I served as chair of the Department of Journalism for twelve years.You will note that the masthead of this edition of Journalism & Mass Communication Educator (JM the JM the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Publications Committee; and the AEJMC executive director, Jennifer McGill, also contribute greatly to this journal.Sometimes, it also takes optimism. Two articles in the past month have given me reason to be optimistic about the future of journalism and indeed about the future of journalism and mass communications education.Marty Baron, editor of The Washington Post, in his keynote speech at the fifteenth International Symposium on Online Journalism at the University of Texas-Austin, about the need for optimism in journalism, concluded his remarks by saying, There is no acceptable alternative to optimism.He said:We cannot be successful if we are not optimistic, if we do not recognize opportunities and seize on them. If we are not optimistic, why work to succeed? What use would it be? And if you are not working to succeed, no matter the obstacles, you are not working as you should.Baron's reasons to be optimistic about the future of journalism are as follows:* We've survived. We're still here. Real journalists are doing real journalism.* New owners are bringing needed new capital and a range of disparate ideas, rethinking business models. Such people include Jeff Bezos, new owner of the Washington Post; Red Sox owner John Henry who has acquired The Boston Globe; Warren Buffett who is acquiring newspapers in smaller communities; and Minnesota billionaire Glen Taylor who has offered to buy the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. …

Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT Community Newspapers in America ed. by Tracy Baim (review)

Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT Community Newspapers in America ed. by Tracy Baim (review)

Independent Websites Not So Different from Group-Owned

A comparison of the content of online news sites of conglomerate-owned versus independent community newspapers found that conglomerate sites were more likely to focus on public issues and have more original content than were independent sites.

Facebook Interactivity Rare on Community News Sites

An analysis of Facebook posts of 10 community newspapers found that online discussion that included “give and take” among multiple readers was rare. Posts about crime, disasters and the weather were more likely to generate responses than any other subjects.