Toward a Measure of Community Journalism

Abstract

This article reports the first stage in the development of a multiple-item summated scale to measure the degree to which media outlets aid community. Through a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of scholarship on community and news media, the article develops theoretical constructs of community and community journalism as well as general items for a summated measurement scale. Findings suggest (a) community is a process of negotiating shared symbolic meaning, and (b) degree of structure, or the degree to which facilities, institutions, and spaces are structured for interaction, facilitates the process of negotiation and sharing. In light of this definition of community as process, community news media should (a) facilitate the process of negotiating and making meaning about community and (b) reveal or ensure understanding of community structure. Community media aid this process by both listening and leading and by both encouraging pluralism and offering cohesive, coherent representations of the community.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wilson Lowrey

Wilson Lowrey is an associate professor of journalism at The University of Alabama. His research focuses on media sociology.

Amanda Brozana

Amanda Brozana is a PhD Student in the College of Communication and Information Sciences at The University of Alabama, and an instructor of communication studies at Bridgewater State University. Her research focuses on community journalism and media studies.

Jenn B. Mackay

Jenn Burleson Mackay is an assistant professor of multimedia journalism at Virginia Tech. Her research area is journalism ethics.