“We Write with Our Hearts”

Abstract

While news organizations worldwide struggle to adapt to the changing media landscape and large regional papers in Norway decline, the local Norwegian newspaper enjoys some of the highest readership in the world. Since the decentralization of the government in the 1970s, Norwegian culture has witnessed what Skogerbø and Winsvold describe as a “revalorization of the local”: a counter-urbanization in which local newspapers play a key role in preserving a sense of local community identity. This qualitative inquiry uses a media sociology perspective to explore the role community journalists see for themselves in a society that places such salience on preserving local identity, and whether they feel pressure to adapt to a changing media landscape. A total of 36 journalists at nine local newspapers were interviewed.

KEYWORDS:

• community journalism
• journalists
• local
• media sociology
• Norway
• qualitative

Additional information

Funding

FUNDING: The research and travel for this project was funded through a Grant-in-Aid through the University of Minnesota and a further grant from the Office of the Vice President of Research.