MCM531 Handouts by VUBuddy

LESSON 01 Defining Community Journalism

Defining Community

A community is a social group of organisms sharing an environment, normally with shared interests. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness. We often think of 'community' as a defined geographical area such as our home town or current place of residence. When asked to describe the community we belong to, our response will usually include descriptors such as rural/urban, population, majority ethnicity, political history, economic base, etc. Community can be defined as any group of individuals with a common point of reference, including location, profession, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, etc. We all have many communities to which we belong, groups of individuals with which we share common interests or experiences, history or geography. For example, in addition to being members of the campus community and greater Pullman community, WSU students find community in academic departments, residence halls, Greek chapters, cultural centers, student government, intramurals, and numerous clubs and organizations. The word community comes from the Latin communis, meaning "common, public, and shared by all or many." The Latin term "communitatus" from which the English word "community" comes, comprises three elements, " Com" — a Latin prefix meaning with or together, " Munis" — ultimately Proto-IndoEuropean in origin, it has been suggested that it means "the changes or exchanges that link" (Both municipal and monetary take their meaning here), and "tatus" a Latin suffix suggesting diminutive, small, intimate or local.

Community is a group of people living in the same locality and under the same government, the district or locality in which such a group lives. A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international business community. A like search for the definition of journalism returns the following: The collecting, writing, editing, and presenting of news or news articles in newspapers and magazines and in radio and television broadcasts. Material written for publication in a newspaper or magazine or for broadcast. The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation. We choose to define it as the reporting of news and information for a certain geographic area... a community, if you will, with the purpose to serve the best interests of that certain group. As an old Publisher friend once said, " Make them happy... make them mad... but whatever you do... make them think."

Defining Community

Community newspapers, defined for the purposes of this paper as small dailies and weeklies that focus almost entirely on local news (police blotter, school board, city council, high school sports, Little League, social gatherings, weddings, births and businesses on Main Street—and not on the car bombings, suicide missions, mortar attacks, kidnappings and beheadings in faraway Iraq--nevertheless have kept Iraq on their radar screens. Increasingly in the community press, readers are getting stories and pictures about departures of local National Guard units, homecoming stories about soldiers and their families, e-mailed letters to the editor from troops in a combat zone, and even articles about local townspeople sending school supplies, medicines and toys to their soldiers to distribute to villages in Iraq (Floyd, 2005). But what happens when a community newspaper suddenly finds itself dealing with an international story — about a local man whose loved one has been kidnapped in Iraq?

By virtue of membership in communities, individuals make a personal commitment and investment of time and energy. As citizens and members of many communities, we strive to develop personal awareness, participate in meaningful activities, and contribute to the benefit of those communities. This is called community service. What constitutes a community? This is a word that researchers have struggled to define for decades (Stamm & Fortini-Campbell, 1983). One of the most obvious ways is by using census data, but a community can also be defined by the development of relationships and systems within a location or organization (Stamm & Fortini-Campbell,1983).This research implements Stamm and Fortini-Campbell’s (1983) three domains of community: community as a place, community as a social structure and community as a Social process. Stamm and Fortini-Campbell (1983) break down these domains into connections or ties that people form. Ties to place include home ownership, years of residence in the community and anticipated length of stay. Ties to structure include friendships, relationships with neighbors and other community members, and participation in volunteer groups, service clubs and committees. Ties to social process involve engaging in community affairs, attending meetings, sharing concerns and thoughts, and facilitating change.

Community journalism is the “bonding between reader and newspaper that occurs when a genuine caring relationship” replaces profit motive (Waddle, 2003, p. 14). Jock Lauterer, in his book, “Community Journalism: A Personal Approach,” elaborates on the definition of community journalism. He says:

• Community journalism occurs when journalists become “citizen journalists, intimately involving themselves in the welfare of the place, the civic life of their towns” (Lauterer, 2000, p. xiv).
• Community journalism flourishes when journalists are “an active member of the very community they’re covering” (Lauterer, 2000, p. xiv).

Lauterer makes a distinction between community newspapers and large dailies, saying, “The most common misconception is that the community paper is a small version of the big city daily. Nothing could be further from the truth” (Lauterer, 2000, p. xiv). A positive and intimate relationship between a newspaper and its community is what sets small-town papers apart from big city dailies (Lauterer, 2000). Community journalists care about the town’s “successes and tragedies and rewards and problems and even its wonderfully plain, ordinary, everyday life” (Waddle, 2003, p. 16). Community newspapers also provide an “affirmation of the sense of community,” a reader’s desire that bigger papers cannot fulfill (Lauterer, 2000, p. 14) – in addition to the local news that other newspapers and other media do not cover. Small-town newspapers are often the only source for local news; and this is the news that weekly newspaper readers care about (Anderson, personal communications, March 1, 2005). Community journalists play a role “in defining and reflecting the perspectives of community members” (Husselbee & Adams, 1996) and with more than 60 million weekly newspaper readers nationwide, that role is significant (Steffens, personal communication, June 6, 2005). In 2003, there were 1,456 daily newspapers and 6,704 weekly newspapers in the U.S. (Newspaper Association of America Web site, retrieved June 6, 2005). The readership and potential impact of weekly newspapers is significant. “In Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Iowa, the majority of newspaper association members are weeklies – most of them independently owned” (Tezon, 2003, p. 4). According to the Kansas Newspaper Directory (2005), there are 43 dailies in Kansas, compared to 193 weeklies, most of which are located in small towns. Many employees at newspapers of all sizes are tightly connected to their communities through home ownership, friendships, memberships and other forms of community ties. Lauterer says true community journalists should belong to local organizations in order to develop connections that will allow them to improve coverage of issues and events (personal communication, Sept. 22, 2004). A lack of connection leads to detachment from the community, less credibility and fewer readers (Lauterer, personal communication, Sept. 22, 2004). In a small town, journalists often find it hard not to be part of the community. For example, Tezon surveyed 36 publishers at papers with an average circulation of 5,302 and found that 35 said they have to be “married to the communities they serve” (Tezon, 2003, p. 10).

To study journalism ethics in small towns, it is important to understand the relationship small-town journalists have with their communities. In small towns most people know the editor of their local paper. When asked whether she allowed her newspaper to endorse local candidates, Linda Geist, a publisher and owner of a weekly in Monroe City, Mo., said “no” because “we’re related to half of them or live next to them” (Anderson, 2003, p. 15). In some cases, there is a disconnection between the small-town Journalists and the community, but this problem is much more common in larger market papers (Lauterer, personal communication, Sept. 22, 2004). It has been argued that small-town journalists cover their communities better when they are involved in them. But this involvement can pose conflicts of interest, which most journalism codes of ethics warn about. The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics developed in 1996 with the help of many journalists from small newspapers, states that conflicts of interest are to be avoided. But it is common for weekly editors to be involved in civic organizations (O' Brien, 2003). These small-town journalists may also hold elected positions. What happens when the editor of the paper serves on the school board? Or the publisher holds a position on a local business organization? Does participating in community clubs and organizations interfere with the journalist’s ability to be fair and balanced? According to O' Brien (2003), scholars and small-town journalists have somewhat conflicting views about a journalist’s involvement with his or her community. Bob Steele, senior faculty and ethics group leader at The Poynter Institute, said, “Each of us has connections to the community . . . it's how far those connections go that could create problems” (O’Brien, 2003, p.17). O’Brien (2003) interviewed many small-town journalists and found that involvement, not including elected positions, does not create problems with conflicts of interest (O’Brien, 2003). Tim Blagg, who runs a newsroom of 12 people in Greenfield, Mass., said “It doesn't matter who my reporters are seen with out in public, just as long as the reporters’ stories are fair and balanced” (O’Brien, 2003, p.17). Brook Hodges, editor of the 4,100 circulation newspaper in Winslow, Ariz., said journalists shouldn't have to choose between being a journalist and being involved in civic activities (O’Brien, 2003). “‘Our town is so small, if you aren’t involved outside of the newspaper, you can’t have a life,’ Hodges said. ‘Everybody’s kids play ball. Everybody goes to the same church. You’re entitled to be involved in your community’” (O’Brien, 2003, p. 16). The dynamic of a small town can pose other potential dilemmas for journalists. They may have to print something negative about a neighbor or a friend who is a local official. The personal relationship that readers have with a weekly editor is different from the one daily readers have with a daily newspaper editor, who often is faceless to his audience (Pumarlo, 2005). Community pressures, in addition to small-town journalists’ social ties to the community, do have the potential to influence content (Kennedy, 1974, Bagdikian, 1983, Pumarlo, 2005). “Some small-town newspapers just bypass the difficulties of reporting on tough and sensitive issues by implementing a blanket policy of not reporting them.” (Pumarlo, 2005) He believes that newspapers must be “prepared to print all the news if they are to survive.” But not all publishers would agree. Soley and Craig found that publishers respond to pressure from the community by putting pressure on their staff to self-censor (Soley & Craig, 1992). “Every major step in the journalistic process involves a value-laden decision.” (Bagdikian, 1983) Lauterer agrees, saying: “The community newspaper editor better have a moral compass that is locked unswervingly on magnetic north, because his or her reasons whether and how to publish will be tested and questioned with almost every issue that comes along and with every issue of the paper that comes out” (Lauterer, 2000, p. 288). What Can We Do to Define Community Journalism? The Emerging of Community Journalism -- A wrap up by Cole Campbell Cole Campbell: journalists get to choose who gets heard and who does not. We are trying to develop a successor model. But only recently did we start thinking we need a new model of journalism. The researchers are having trouble trying to define what community journalism is against the model of the crumbling industrial age journalism. A family newspaper: Like a newspaper company, but also like a family. Community journalism is a conceptual blend. What will we bring from community and what will be bring from journalism. What elements of community will open up a space for journalism? What are the concepts, the theories? People are looking for coherence, meaning and possibilities. If we make people feel they can actually do something, they will work to get something done. Some elements we should be considering in building community journalism:

1. Closeness, intimacy and really getting to understand the community and care about what is happening in the community.
2. Personal connection
3. Have a cultural connection, understanding to the community.