DEADLINE EXTENDED to Oct. 12 for abstracts of papers responding to initiative on journalism, citizenship and democracy

Abstracts are due Oct. 12Sept. 19 in response to AEJMC's call for papers exploring "relationships between journalism education and practice with citizenship, communities and democracy in the digital age." The headline of the call is "Revitalizing the Bonds of Journalism, Citizenship and Democracy."

The call says the reviewers, led by COMJIG member Jack Rosenberry, will be "particularly interested in papers that develop and test a new curriculum, or experiment with a practice innovation in the newsroom or in other media."

The call is a result of an initiative by the Kettering Foundation that convened a select group of journalism educators to discuss how service to democracy can play a larger role in journalism education.

As Jack said in a Sept. 9 message to COMJIG members, the call is "focused on journalism that helps communities to recognize their shared problems and act on them. Our goal is to develop innovative ideas for meaningful changes in journalism education."

Interested scholars are invited to submit, by Sept. 19, abstracts of no more than 1,500 words that clearly state: (1) The objective of the work and its relevance to the topic of how journalism can address problems of democracy by helping foster the process of citizens working together to solve shared public problems; (2) The methods that will be used to examine the question or topic; (3) What the project is expected to discover; and (4) What will be the expected significance of the work.

Abstracts will undergo peer review and up to 20 proposals will be selected for researchers to turn into full papers by April 2016. Top papers as selected by further peer review will be presented at the 2016 AEJMC conference in Minneapolis and also appear in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. The very top papers will earn cash awards.

Full details of the research call, including the process for submitting the abstracts, can be found at http://www.aejmc.org/home/2015/07/citizenship-democracy/.

Digital Communities and How to Build Them

Here's an article discussing how to build digital communities as one strategy to sustain news organizations:

Why Journalism Needs to Build With the Community, Not for It
 

What are your thoughts? We'd like to know!

Journalism Practice: Special Community Journalism Issue

J-Practice's special community journalism issue is out:

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjop20/8/2#.UvvLtTzZVTg

Lots of good stuff.

Community papers' coverage of drug violations discourages abuse, study finds

Areas with a community newspaper typically have fewer drug-related arrests, according to a study published in the winter issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.

"Community newspapers function to foster a perception of close-knit cohesive communities," and the greater their penetration into a market, the more civic engagement a community has, the researchers write. Civic engagement leads to a sense of belonging, which results in fewer drug-related arrests, they found.

"Community newspapers promote civic engagement by highlighting the characters and activities of local residents and institutions, fostering affective attachment to community, presenting information that helps participate in community events and activities, and cultivating common values in pursuit of social goods," the researchers write. "Communities with such information resources tend to develop voluntary participation."

The study examined a nationally representative sample of 389 counties in 24 states, chosen at random to represent the nation's four main regions. It used information from the federal Uniform Crime Reporting Program and defined "community newspaper" as one with a circulation of less than 50,000. The authors are Masahiro Yamamoto of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Weina Ran of Washington State University. To read their full report, click here. A subscription may be required.

Here it is: COMJIG'S Refereed Paper Research Session

COMJIG'S Refereed Paper Research Session has been assembled and is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 10, from 5:15 p.m. - 6:45 p.m.

The session is titled: “Community Journalism in the Centennial Year of AEJMC: Connection and Engagement with Audiences.” Our presenters are: 

"A plain circle: Imagined Amish and Mennonite community in the national edition of The Budget," Michael Clay Carey, Ohio University.

"A rural drought in a national flood: Washington State residents' assessments of local news,"Doug Hindman and Michael Beam, Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University.

"Community journalists and relationships with sources and local organizations," Richard Johnson, Arizona State University.

"Patch.com's online community journalism; Professionalism, localism, and the journalistic field," Burton St. John, Old Dominion University, Kirsten Johnson, Elizabethtown College, and Seungahn Nah, University of Kentucky.

"The new community influence: iHigh producers, their communities, and content decisions," Sarah Cavanah, University of Minnesota, and Julie Jones, University of Oklahoma.

Please come out to hear this fascinating discussion about community journalism in the 21^st Century.

Leaders of tornado-blasted community cite weekly's reappearance as sign of revival

The office of the weekly Licking Valley Courier "was demolished" and Publisher Earl Kinner's home across the street "was leveled" as Kinner took refuge in his basement during a tornado in West Liberty, Ky., a week ago today, Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson reports. Janet Patton of the Lexington Herald-Leader has a story about the paper's struggle to recover.

This week's edition was a day late, but at a press conference timed to start exactly a week after the storm hit, Morgan County Judge-Executive Tim Conley held up a copy and said it was a sign the community will return. The headline: "Thank God for sparing so many." (Photo by John Flavell)

The weekly newspaper established its first online presence in the wake of the tornado, as reporter Miranda Cantrell started a Facebook page that includes news updates and the paper's story about the disaster. "It was one of the proudest moments of my life when I saw that press rolling our papers," she told us.

KPA's Kentucky Journalism Foundation has created a fund to assist the paper and any others in Eastern Kentucky that suffered damage. "If you wish to make a donation, please make the check payable to Kentucky Journalism Foundation and mail to 101 Consumer Lane, Frankfort, KY 40601," Thompson writes. "I'm pleased to report that contributions are on their way to the foundation from newspapers in other states as well as state press associations. And I’ve been in touch with Xerox Corporation to request the donation of a printer or two." 

Nominations sought for Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism

The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues seeks nominations by Sept. 1 for the annual Tom and Pat Gish Award that recognizes courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism. The award is named for the couple, right, who published The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., for almost 52 years. Last year’s winner was Samantha Swindler of the Tillamook Headlight-Herald in Oregon for her investigative reporting at The Times-Tribune in Corbin, Ky., and the Jacksonville Daily Progress in Texas. Earlier winners have been the Gishes; the Ezzell family, publishers of The Canadian Record in texas; and former publisher Stanley Dearman and Publisher Jim Prince of The Neshoba Democrat of Philadelphia, Miss. For more details see http://www.ruraljournalism.org/.

The Institute seeks nominations that measure up, at least in major respects, to the records of previous winners. Nominators should send detailed letters explaining how their nominees show the kind of exemplary courage, tenacity and integrity that the Gishes and other winners demonstrated in their rigorous pursuit of rural journalism. Documentation does not have to accompany the nomination, but will be needed in choosing finalists, and additional documentation may be requested or required. Letters should be postmarked or emailed by Sept. 1 and mailed to: Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, 122 Grehan Journalism Building, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY 40506-0042. For more information, contact Al Cross at 859-257-3744 or Al.Cross@uky.edu.

Networked neighborhoods study

Out of London, an interesting set of documents forms a study of online network neighborhood news sites, how people use them and the impact on those who do use them.

You'll find them at networkedneighbourhoods.com.

I've only gotten to the summary (PDF), but the general thrust is this: "The research shows that they serve to enhance the sense of belonging, democratic influence, neighbourliness and involvement in their area. Participants claim more positive attitudes towards public agencies where representatives of those agencies are engaging online."

Among other things:

• 42% of those surveyed said they met someone in their neighborhood online
• 75% said participation on the sites made it more likely people would pull together to improve their neighborhoods
• 69% felt a greater sense of belonging
• From a quarter to about two-thirds (depending on the site) said people make negative remarks online, but three-quarters said they are quickly countered.

In other words, these are the sorts of things traditional community media once did and, where they continue to exist, often still do. I have not come across details yet on what community media might have pre-existed in these areas, the attitudes of those surveyed toward any existing media and their community-building roles, or any effect such sites might have had on those relationships.

But this looks to be useful reading and a block on which to build further research.

[Also posted on Common Sense Journalism]

Durham Voice begins

COMJIG founder Jock Lauterer sends word from North Carolina that Durham Voice has launched in that city as a cooperative venture between UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina Central Univeristy.

The site can be found at durhamvoice.org.

It serves the Northeast Central Durham community. The area is known as the "bull's eye" to police because of the crime rate.

Content for Durham Voice is being provided by UNC and UNCC journalism students and from teenagers in the community who are being mentored by those students.

The Voice will be published bi-weekly online through November and will add a monthly 24-page tabloid print edition in February 2010. The Daily Tar Heel, UNC's student newspaper, is covering the costs of printing 2,000 copies monthly for the first year of publication. The Voice will be distributed at neighborhood schools, churches and businesses.

Newspapers and Community Building Symposium

This is the program for the 2008 Newspapers and Community Building Symposium to be held Sept. 26-27 in conjunction with the National Newspaper Association Convention in St. Paul, MN. Several COMJIG members are presenting papers at the symposium.

Community Building Symposium – Local voices
Score one for the home team: The return of independent journalism to
Madera, CA
Gary Rice, California State University, Fresno, CA
Lessons in community (re)building from the post-Hurricane Katrina created
Gazebo Gazette
Lawrence Strout, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS
Keeping quiet or taking the lead: A study of editorial pages, local editorial
material and political endorsements in one state’s newspapers
Al Cross, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues,
Lexington , KY, and Elizabeth Hansen, Eastern Kentucky University,
Richmond , KY
Friday, Sept. 26, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m.
Community Building Symposium – Local Business
Free ads increase revenue: Three counterintuitive solutions to problems at a
small-market daily
Mark Furman, School of Journalism and Communications, Eugene, OR
The twain has met: Advertising and the newsroom should take responsibility
for a better (and more ethical) product
Joe Marren, Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY
What community newspapers can learn from the fast-growing free U.S.
daily newspaper industry
Peter Gade, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Friday, Sept. 26, 2:15 – 3:15 p.m.
Community Building Symposium – Local Web
New media/new challenges: A tale of three newspapers
Timothy Boudreau, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI
Building community online: A twice-weekly’s experience extending its
reach with a citizen-based news site
Douglas J. Fisher, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
Seeking the essence: Community journalism meets the digital age
Jacquelyn A. Lowman, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
Friday, Sept. 26, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.