Community-Centered Journalism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
News Media ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Community Stakeholders ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Local Journalism ◽  
Communication Infrastructure Theory ◽  
Solutions Journalism ◽  
Theory Framework

In A Case for Community-Centered Journalism: Solutions, Engagement, Trust, Andrea Wenzel maps out a process model for building trust—not just in journalism, but between different sectors of communities. She details how, in many communities, residents gauge trust in news not only based on factors like accuracy and credibility, but also based on how these are intertwined with the perceived motives of news media, and whether outlets are seen to represent communities respectfully. For this reason, Wenzel contends that more local journalism alone is not enough. Rather, she argues that a different kind of local journalism is needed—a community-centered journalism that is solutions-oriented and that engages and shares power with community stakeholders. Through a series of case studies across the U.S., in urban, suburban, and rural communities, Wenzel uses a communication infrastructure theory framework to explore how local journalism interventions attempt to strengthen relationships between residents, community organizations, and local media. She examines the boundary challenges to dominant journalistic practices and norms that arise from place-based interventions to build relationships of trust. Mindful of dynamics of race, class, place, and power, Wenzel recommends a process that is portable – rather than scalable -- that centers on community stakeholders, and is shaped as much by local assets as by needs. She argues that if they shift away from a model that puts journalists at the center and marginalized communities on the periphery, engaged journalism and solutions journalism have the potential to strengthen not just journalism, but the communication health of communities.

The Case for Shared Community Stories

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Andrea Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Community Groups ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Communication Infrastructure Theory ◽  
Solutions Journalism ◽  
Local News Media

This introductory chapter offers an overview of key concepts and the book’s argument for a model of community-centered journalism to build trust between local news media and communities. It outlines how the book conceptualizes trust (looking at factors including perceived representation and motives), solutions journalism (reporting focused on responses to social problems), and engaged journalism (practices that involve community members in journalistic production). It then sets out key questions tackled by other portions of the book, including how place-based interventions using engaged and solutions journalism practices can present boundary challenges to journalism norms and influence what communication infrastructure theory (CIT) calls community “storytelling networks”—the links between residents, community groups, and local media which can be indicators of an area’s communication health and predictors of civic participation. Finally, it offers an outline of the chapters that follow.

Engaging stigmatized communities through solutions journalism: Residents of South Los Angeles respond

Journalism ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 649-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Wenzel ◽  
Daniela Gerson ◽  
Evelyn Moreno ◽  
Minhee Son ◽  
Breanna Morrison Hawkins
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local News ◽  
Civic Journalism ◽  
South Los Angeles ◽  
Project Study ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Communication Infrastructure Theory ◽  
Solutions Journalism

In many communities across the United States, substantive local news is a rare commodity. For areas long stigmatized and associated with high levels of violence, crime, and poverty, negative reporting may be the only local news available. Drawing from communication infrastructure theory and literature on local news audiences and civic journalism, this study explores how a local solutions journalism project is received by members of an underrepresented and stigmatized community. Solutions journalism stories focus on responses to social problems, usually exploring problem-solving efforts that have the potential to be scaled. This case examines how participants in six focus groups with 48 African-American and Latino South Los Angeles residents responded to solutions-oriented stories produced by a local media project. Study findings illustrate how residents navigate and critically interpret local media coverage, and how their response to ‘solutions journalism’ is largely positive but tempered by concerns regarding structural inequalities.

Shifting Stories with Solutions Journalism

2020 ◽  
pp. 23-46
Author(s):  
Andrea Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Community Organizations ◽  
Local News ◽  
South Los Angeles ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Negative News ◽  
Communication Infrastructure Theory ◽  
Solutions Journalism

Chapter One introduces an example of how communication infrastructure theory can be used to diagnose the communication health of communities and to design an intervention in response. It also explores the role of place in influencing relationships between actors in local storytelling networks—in this case focusing on majority Black and Latinx communities in South Los Angeles that have historically been stigmatized by negative news representations. The chapter outlines a research-based intervention that sought to strengthen weak connections between local news outlets and community organizations by bringing representatives together to produce a series of solutions journalism stories about South LA. These stories were then discussed with South LA residents in a series of focus groups. While residents responded favorably to the solutions-orientation of stories, they wanted to see local media take steps to address power imbalances and to involve communities more in the process of making journalism.

To Repair, or to Burn It Down?

2020 ◽  
pp. 158-164
Author(s):  
Andrea Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Communication Infrastructure ◽  
Local Journalism ◽  
Communication Infrastructure Theory ◽  
Key Questions

The concluding chapter summarizes the argument for a community-centered process model that uses communication infrastructure theory to assess local storytelling networks and design interventions that aim to strengthen them. It reviews key questions about how local journalism can share power with and offer more wholistic narratives of stigmatized communities—and how this will require journalists to challenge some norms and practices. The chapter maps out steps in a process, including assessing information needs, convening a participatory design process, and piloting, monitoring, and evaluating interventions. It reflects on how intervention may work to address barriers to trust including perceived negative/inaccurate coverage, polarization, and objectivity norms that create distance between journalists and communities. Finally, it reviews how outcomes of this process will vary depending on local place and power dynamics, and how these cases add to communication infrastructure theory by illustrating how trust operates in local storytelling networks.

The Process Is Portable

2020 ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
Andrea Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
Process Model ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Community Outreach ◽  
Local Information ◽  
Suburban Area ◽  
Urban Neighborhood ◽  
Local Communication ◽  
Communication Needs ◽  
Communication Infrastructure Theory ◽  
Solutions Journalism

Chapter Four makes the argument that while interventions to strengthen local storytelling networks are not scalable, the process of designing them is portable to different regions. The chapter follows an attempt to apply a communication infrastructure theory-based process model developed in Kentucky to areas of Philadelphia. This process includes a research study exploring local information needs and assets, followed by a workshop to brainstorm interventions, followed by piloting interventions. Applying the same process in different places demonstrates how place, and both local communication needs and assets, can shape the nature of interventions that emerge. In this case it shows how in the suburban area the process led to an idea for students to produce solutions journalism stories. Meanwhile in the urban neighborhood, the process led to development of the Germantown Info Hub, an engaged journalism project that focuses on connecting different storytelling network actors through community outreach and discussions.

Developing an Intervention

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-104
Author(s):  
Andrea Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
Participatory Design ◽  
Place Identity ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Network Ties ◽  
Participatory Journalism ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Economically Marginalized ◽  
Communication Infrastructure Theory ◽  
Solutions Journalism ◽  
Western Kentucky

Chapter Three integrates previous research on solutions journalism and engaged journalism into a communication infrastructure theory framework, which looks at the health of local “storytelling network” ties between local media, organizations, and residents. This framework is used to assess storytelling networks, then design and pilot interventions to strengthen them. It focuses on Western Kentucky, an economically marginalized, but more rural region with a different demographic and political context to previous urban cases. The chapter explores how place identity and political polarization affect ties between residents, community groups, and local journalists. It then looks at a series of pilot interventions that grew out of a participatory design process—including an online and offline town hall, a participatory journalism program, and a series of listening sessions focused on informal rural gathering spaces. It explores how these interventions address key trustworthiness factors, and account for the needs and assets of local places.

Promoting Disposal of Left-Over Opioids After Surgery in Rural Communities: A Qualitative Description Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 109019812110575
Author(s):  
Lyen C. Huang ◽  
Jordan E. Johnson ◽  
Josh Bleicher ◽  
Allison N. Blumling ◽  
Mark Savarise ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Process Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Qualitative Description ◽  
Adoption Process ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Rural Context ◽  
Mixed Efficacy ◽  
Mountain West

Background Patients rarely dispose of left-over opioids after surgery. Disposal serves as a primary prevention against misuse, overdose, and diversion. However, current interventions promoting disposal have mixed efficacy. Increasing disposal in rural communities could prevent or reduce the harms caused by prescription opioids. Aims Identify barriers and facilitators to disposal in the rural communities of the United States Mountain West region. Methods We conducted a qualitative description study with 30 participants from Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. We used a phronetic iterative approach combining inductive content and thematic analysis with deductive interpretation through the Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM). Results We identified four broad themes: (a) awareness, engagement, and education; (b) low perceived risk associated with nondisposal; (c) deciding to keep left-over opioids for future use; and (d) converting decisions into action. Most participants were aware of the importance of disposal but perceived the risks of nondisposal as low. Participants kept opioids for future use due to uncertainty about their recovery and future treatments, breakdowns in the patient–provider relationship, chronic illness or pain, or potential future injury. The rural context, particularly convenience, cost, and environmental contamination, contributes to decisional burden. Conclusions We identified PAPM stage-specific barriers to disposal of left-over opioids. Future interventions should account for where patients are along the spectrum of deciding to dispose or not dispose as well as promoting harm-reduction strategies for those who choose not to dispose.

Connecting Journalists and Community Members

2020 ◽  
pp. 47-74
Author(s):  
Andrea Wenzel
Keyword(s):  
Limited Extent ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Public Radio ◽  
Network Ties ◽  
Communication Infrastructure ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Communication Infrastructure Theory ◽  
Digital Engagement ◽  
White Suburbs

Chapter Two explores an effort to involve residents in the process of making journalism. It follows the case of Curious City, a series produced by WBEZ Chicago public radio that invites listeners to nominate questions about Chicago that they want reporters to explore, using the Hearken digital engagement platform. Curious City undertook a foundation-supported experiment to determine the most effective outreach strategies to elicit participation from residents of historically stigmatized majority Black and Latinx neighborhoods as well as some majority white suburbs. The chapter finds that through offline engagement they strengthened, to a limited extent, what communication infrastructure theory calls “storytelling network” ties –particularly the links between local media and community members. However, because they failed to establish two-way connections with residents, stories were often told about communities without giving residents in those communities opportunities to listen to stories and participate in dialogue.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document