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.

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.

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.

Neighborhood Considerations for Social Determinants of Health and Risk

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holley A. Wilkin
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Communication Infrastructure ◽  
The Social ◽  
Action Context ◽  
Communication Infrastructure Theory

When it comes to health and risk, “place” matters. People who live in lower-income neighborhoods are disproportionately affected by obesity and obesity-related diseases like heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes; asthma; cancers; mental health issues; etc., compared to those that live in higher-income communities. Contributing to these disparities are individual-level factors (e.g., education level, health literacy, healthcare access) and neighborhood-level factors such as the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhood; crime, violence, and social disorder; the built environment; and the presence or absence of health-enhancing and health-compromising resources. Social determinants of health—for example, social support, social networks, and social capital—may improve or further complicate health outcomes in low-income neighborhoods. Social support is a type of transaction between two or more people intended to help the recipient in some fashion. For instance, a person can help provide someone who is grieving or dealing with a newly diagnosed health issue by providing emotional support. Informational support may be provided to someone trying to diagnose, manage, and/or treat a health problem. Instrumental support may come in the help of making meals for someone who is ill, running errands for them, or taking them to a doctor’s appointment. Unfortunately, those who may have chronic diseases and require a lot of support or who otherwise do not feel able to provide support may not seek it due to the expectation of reciprocity. Neighborhood features can enable or constrain people from developing social networks that can help provide social support when needed. There are different types of social networks: some can enhance health outcomes, while others may have a more limiting or even a detrimental effect on health. Social capital results in the creation of resources that may or may not improve health outcomes. Communication infrastructure theory offers an opportunity to create theoretically grounded health interventions that consider the social and neighborhood characteristics that influence health outcomes. The theory states that every neighborhood has a communication infrastructure that consists of a neighborhood storytelling network—which includes elements similar to the social determinants of health—embedded in a communication action context that enables or constrains neighborhood storytelling. People who are more engaged in their neighborhood storytelling networks are in a better position to reduce health disparities—for example, to fight to keep clinics open or to clean up environmental waste. The communication action context features are similar to the neighborhood characteristics that influence health outcomes. Communication infrastructure theory may be useful in interventions to address neighborhood health and risk.

Co-Creation’s Role in Digital Public Archaeology

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Bollwerk
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Public Archaeology ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Creative Methods ◽  
Community Projects ◽  
Digital Engagement ◽  
Proper Context

AbstractSimon (2010:187) notes that the purpose of co-creative community projects is “to give voice and be responsive to the needs and interests of local community members; to provide a place for community engagement and dialogue; and to help participants develop skills that will support their own individual and community goals.” This paper explores the role that co-creation currently plays in digital public archaeology and discusses how co-creative methods can inform broader archaeological digital engagement efforts. It begins by placing co-creation in its proper context in order to demonstrate its unique characteristics, its value, and how it complicates approaches used in other types of archaeological engagement projects, such as Open Access initiatives. The discussion then turns to evaluating its impact and the broader need to measure success in digital public engagement projects. A discussion of research from the archaeology and the cultural heritage sectors provides examples of evaluation metrics and methods for assessing digital public archaeology projects. The paper concludes by suggesting that all digital engagement projects can benefit from incorporating some of the principles that are inherently part of co-creative methods but that not all archaeological digital engagement projects should strive to be completely co-creative.

Applications of Communication Infrastructure Theory

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 611-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holley A. Wilkin ◽  
Meghan Bridgid Moran ◽  
Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach ◽  
Carmen Gonzalez ◽  
Yong-Chan Kim
Keyword(s):  
Communication Infrastructure ◽  
Communication Infrastructure Theory

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.

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.

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