Structural Pluralism, Ethnic Pluralism, and Community Newspapers

Abstract

This study expanded the conceptual definition of community structural pluralism to include a consideration of community ethnic pluralism, and used that revised definition as a basis for analyzing the relationships among community characteristics and the orientations of local newspaper editors. Findings indicate that editors in more ethnically pluralistic communities are more likely to include ethnic minorities in their lists of influential persons and important news sources. Editors who include ethnic minorities in a list of important news sources are more likely to consider it important to cover stories about ethnic minorities.

Building a health promotion agenda in local newspapers

“…The second question is raised because previous research suggests that community groups will be more successful in altering the news agenda of weekly newspapers, given the local orientation and the limited staff and resources and this type of newspaper (Hindman, 1996). The size and complexity of the community has also been shown to be related to community decision making, news source diversity and the orientation to local versus nonlocal news (DuBick, 1978;Donohue et al, 1989Donohue et al, , 1995Finnegan and Viswanath, 1996;Hindman et al, 1999). Larger communities tend to have more diverse centers of power and influence than do smaller, more homogenous communities.…”

The influence of community structure on crime news coverage: structural pluralism, ethnic diversity, and local crime news

“…The original community structural pluralism scholars in mass communication developed structural pluralism as a single unidimensional concept by only examining the difference of structural elements within a community. Other scholars, however, have proposed that one dimension does not adequately capture the complex characteristics of community and, thus, have suggested that the traditional structural pluralism concept needs to be multidimensional (e.g., Armstrong, 2006Armstrong, , 2008Hindman, Littlefield, Preston, & Neumann, 1999;Jeffres & al., 2000). For instance, community pluralism scholars have proposed that structural factors, such as ethnicity may play an important role in the community power structure (e.g., Hindman & al., 1999;Jeffres & al., 2000).…”

“…For instance, community pluralism scholars have proposed that structural factors, such as ethnicity may play an important role in the community power structure (e.g., Hindman & al., 1999;Jeffres & al., 2000). Hindman et al (1999) explicated community structural pluralism based on two dimensions: structural Kim, J.H. & Abisaid, J.…”

“…And thus, in light of Hindman et al's study, rather than simply merging ethnicity into indicators of an overall traditional structural measure of power distribution, ethnicity would be better represented as its own dimension. In their research on the relationship between the community structure and newspaper editors' perception of ethnic minorities, regardless of the level of traditional structural pluralism, the greater the percentage of ethnic minorities in the community, the greater the percentage of editors who include ethnic minorities in their list of local power actors and crucial news sources (Hindman & al., 1999). Studies conducted by Armstrong (2006Armstrong ( , 2008 supported for the multi-dimensional conception of community power structure.…”

A comparative case study of newspaper coverage of the Umatilla Chemical Weapons Depot/Incinerator from 1994 to 1998.

“…More recently, several other measures have been used; for example, the number or variations of religious denominations, percentage of minority children in school, ratios of Black-White home ownership, and other ethnic-based measures (Jeffres et al, 2000). Methods have varied from the above-mentioned use of census data, to surveys and content analysis (Coleman & Corbitt, 2003;Demers, 1998;Hindman, Littlefield, Preston, & Neumann, 1999;Jeffres, Cutietta, Sekerka, & Jae-Won, 2000). The studies focus on one channel of communication (i.e., newspapers) as the context, which could be expanded to include television and the internet.…”