The Community Caretaker Role: How Weekly Newspapers Shielded Their Communities While Covering the Mississippi ICE Raids

Mathews, Nick

doi:10.1080/1461670x.2021.1897477

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Many publishers viewed the traditional print product as the chief news production vehicle, and social media as a nuisance to their newspapers’ survivability. These findings align with the previously established literature on the roles and functions of community newspapers—as a vehicle of community cohesion and immersion and citizen discussion (Ball-Rokeach et al, 2001; Edelstein & Larsen, 1960; Janowitz, 1952; Jenkins & Nelson, 2020; Lewis et al, 2014; Marco & Hess, 2021; Mathews, 2021, 2022; Robinson, 2013; Rosenberry, 2017; Rubado & Jennings, 2020). These findings also indicate publishers adhere to some practices and strategies that do not align with mainstream journalism rules, which are explicated through the normative theory perspective.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Community journalism scholars tend to agree on the functions of the local press; the most commonly shared perspective is the functions of community media are vastly different than larger mainstream newspapers often found in major metropolitan cities (Abernathy, 2014; Emke, 2001/2007; Hanusch, 2015; Jenkins & Nielsen, 2020; Olien et al, 1968). Previous scholarship has described functions of community journalism include build cohesiveness within their geographical communities and connected audiences (e.g., people who move away and still identify as belonging), helping new citizens immerse themselves into their communities, serve as a communication tool between members, and foster discussions between residents (Ball-Rokeach et al, 2001; Edelstein & Larsen, 1960; Janowitz, 1952; Jenkins & Nelson, 2020; Lewis et al, 2014; Marco & Hess, 2021; Mathews, 2021, 2022; Robinson, 2013; Rosenberry, 2017; Rubado & Jennings, 2020).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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COVID-19 and the “Golden Era”: Turning the page on rural, weekly newspaper production

Smith,

Miller

2023

Newspaper Research Journal

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The rural weekly newspaper industry rooted in traditional geographically bounded U.S. communities was long thought to have been shielded from industry dilemmas—revenue and circulation—at larger mainstream daily newspapers. However, recent data show a shift in these rural community journalism trends, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Using normative theory and diffusion of innovations, this study examines how rural weekly newspaper publishers perceived, nearly 18 months after the onset of the pandemic, how COVID-19 impacted their newspapers’ advertising, news, technology, and community involvement. Survey results reveal short-term and long-term content and financial challenges plague U.S. rural grassroots information sources with circulation less than 3,000—indicating the end of the “golden era” of weekly newspapers. Despite the constraints, publishers remain optimistic and dedicated to their audiences, albeit reluctant to swift change, as they perceive themselves as the only reliable information source for their rural communities.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and the “Golden Era”: Turning the page on rural, weekly newspaper production

Smith,

Miller

2023

Newspaper Research Journal

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“…To address these portrayals, these communicators acted as “community caretakers” of local narratives. The distorted regional and national coverage of their communities had made them aware of the potential for narratives to reach outside of the community and become situated in a national context (Freeman and Hutchins 2022; Mathews 2021). In some cases, they omitted difficult truths to help protect the reputation of the community as a whole (Mathews 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Will Tell the Stories of Health Inequities? Platform Challenges (and Opportunities) in Local Civic Information Infrastructure

Battocchio,

Thorson,

Hiaeshutter-Rice

et al. 2023

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Scie

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The decline in the number and quality of local news media has led to digital platforms becoming more central in circulating local information, affecting what information and issues are accessible to community residents. We demonstrate this by focusing on health disparities related to COVID-19, examining how both news and non-news civic organizations in six Great Lakes communities addressed pandemic-related racial inequities. Our analysis of interviews and a corpus of Facebook posts suggest that (1) very little discussion of health disparities emerged on Facebook from organizations in these communities, and (2) the majority of this content was produced by local news outlets. This article offers a vision of what local content might look like in the absence of robust local news outlets and highlights potential consequences of local civic information infrastructure with digital platforms playing a central role.

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“…Concerns about potential negative effects from critical news coverage can subsequently influence objectivity in hyperlocal reporting (Bowd 2012;Stephens et al 2021). As we will show, these concerns can see rural editors and journalists perform a "caretaker" role, whereby they position themselves as "civic custodians" of social cohesion, working to minimize conflict associated with sensitive local issues (Hess and Waller 2020;Mathews 2021). Hyperlocal journalism about rural environmental disputes navigates a complicated terrain of local struggles, conflicting discourses, and ideological interests associated with rurality.…”

Section: Recognizing Rural Power Inequalitiesmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Printed news is common in small rural communities that have limited or unreliable telecommunications infrastructure and where publishers have meager resources and/or digital skills (Freeman 2020). Examples of print mastheads that make a "virtue of smallness" include the Bendigo Weekly in Australia and Scott County Times in the United States (Gans 1979: 49;Hess and Waller 2020;Mathews 2021).…”

Section: Hyperlocal News and Environmental Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power Struggles in a Small Town Community: The Intersection of Rural Environmental Protest, Politics, and Hyperlocal News Media

Freeman

Hutchins

2022

The International Journal of Press/Politics

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This article presents an in-depth case study of large-scale conflict in a small town, and reveals the complex ways that community groups and activism, hyperlocal news media, and political power intersect through rural environmental disputes. An important but under-recognized feature of such conflicts is the unique role performed by notions of rurality in the construction of environmental protests, discourses, and decisions; that is, the ways in which rural communities’ conservation efforts can be unfairly characterized as “backwards” and “anti-development”. Through a series of interviews and focus groups with protestors and residents, our case study examines a controversial boat ramp development that had a marked environmental impact on the isolated coastal town of Mallacoota (population 1,000) in the state of Victoria, Australia. We show that the environmental activism of protesters lifted the issue's visibility to the level of regional, state, and national news and politics. But the community consultation processes that occurred in response to protests raise significant concerns about government decision making that fails to acknowledge and negotiate the diverse understandings of place and rurality that exist within a community. The outcomes of struggles for power in this small town are lamentable and lasting, damaging the hyperlocal news environment and undermining the community newspaper's reputation among citizens.

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The Community Caretaker Role: How Weekly Newspapers Shielded Their Communities While Covering the Mississippi ICE Raids

Cited by 11 publications

References 38 publications

COVID-19 and the “Golden Era”: Turning the page on rural, weekly newspaper production

COVID-19 and the “Golden Era”: Turning the page on rural, weekly newspaper production

Who Will Tell the Stories of Health Inequities? Platform Challenges (and Opportunities) in Local Civic Information Infrastructure

Power Struggles in a Small Town Community: The Intersection of Rural Environmental Protest, Politics, and Hyperlocal News Media

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