Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This research sought to understand how the loss of a local newspaper impacts the community. Focus groups were conducted among a purposive sample of community leaders. The overall consensus was that residents miss having a single community information platform. Business owners lack an effective way to advertise. Respondents’ perception of the emerging communication platforms trying to fill the information void depends on the consumers’ technical proficiency and prior use of such platforms.

Keywords

community journalism audience analysis media management media economics new media internet

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abernathy

P. M.

(2016). The rise of a new media baron and the emerging threat of news deserts. Center for Innovation & Sustainability in Local Media, University of North Carolina School of Media and Journalism.

Abernathy

P. M.

(2020). News deserts and ghost newspapers: Will local news survive. Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, School of Media and Journalism, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Adler

E. S.

Clark

(1999). How it’s done: An invitation to social science research. Wadsworth.

Albarran

A. B.

Anderson

Bejar

L. G.

Bussart

A. L.

Daggett

Gibson

Gorman

Greer

Guo

Horst

J. L.

Khalaf

Lay

J. P.

McCracken

Mott

Way

(2007). “What happened to our audience?” Radio and new technology uses and gratifications among young adult users. Journal of Radio Studies, 14(2), 92–101.

Ali

Radcliffe

Schmidt

T. R.

Donald

(2020). Searching for Sheboygans: On the future of small market newspapers. Journalism, 21(4), 453–471.

“American Fact Finder.” (2017). United States Census ACS demographic and housing estimates. https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF

Atwood

M. V. M.

(1923). The country weekly and the community. A.C. McClurg.

“Baldwin City, Kansas.” (2019). https://www.baldwincity.org/

Baldwin City Signal ending publication with current edition. (2015, December 30). Baldwin City Signal. http://signal.baldwincity.com/news/2015/dec/30/

10.

Berelson

(1949). What “missing the newspaper” means. In Lazarsfield

P. F.

Stanton

F. N.

(Eds.), Communication research 1948-1949 (pp. 111–129). Harper.

11.

Brosnon

(1998). Technophobia: The psychological impact of information technology. Routledge.

12.

Bucay

Elliott

Kamin

Park

(2017, Spring). America’s growing news deserts. Columbia Journalism Review. https://www.cjr.org/local_news/american-news-deserts-donuts-local.php

13.

Carlson

J. R.

Zmud

R. W.

(1994, August). Channel expansion theory: A dynamic view of media and information richness perceptions. In Manor

(Ed.), Academy of management proceedings (Vol. 1994, No. 1, pp. 280-284). Academy of Management.

14.

Carlson

J. R.

Zmud

R. W.

(1999). Channel expansion theory and the experiential nature of media richness perceptions. Academy of Management Journal, 42(2), 153–170.

15.

Cheung

C. M.

Lee

M. K.

(2010). A theoretical model of intentional social action in online social networks. Decision Support Systems, 49(1), 24–30.

16.

Chmura Economics & Analytics. (2019, January 17). Economic overview: City of Baldwin City, KS. https://www.baldwincitychamber.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Economic-Overview-City-of-Baldwin-City-KS.pdf

17.

Dagger

(1997). Civic virtues: Rights, citizenship, and republican liberalism. Oxford University Press.

18.

D’Urso

S. C.

Rains

S. A.

(2008). Examining the scope of channel expansion: A test of channel expansion theory with new and traditional communication media. Management Communication Quarterly, 21(4), 486–507.

19.

Fiedler

(2011, November 3). What happens when a community loses its newspaper? CommonWealth. https://commonwealthmagazine.org/arts-and-culture/003-what-happens-when-a-community-loses-its-newspaper/

20.

Friedland

Napoli

Ognyanova

Weil

Wilson

E. J.

III . (2012). Review of the literature regarding critical information needs of the American public [Unpublished manuscript]. Federal Communications Commission. https://transition.fcc.gov/bureaus/ocbo/Final_Literature_Review.pdf

21.

Harris

E. P.

Hooke

F. H.

(1923). The community newspaper: Its promise and development. D. Appleton.

22.

Hoffman

L. H.

Eveland

W. P.

(2010). Assessing causality in the relationship between local community attachment and local news media use. Mass Communication and Society, 13(2), 174–195. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205430903012144

23.

Hsiao

C. H.

Chang

J. J.

Tang

K. Y.

(2015). Exploring the influential factors in continuance usage of mobile social apps: Satisfaction, habit, and customer value perspectives. Telematics and Informatics, 33(2), 342–355.

24.

Katz

Blumler

Gurevitch

(1974). Utilization of mass communication by the individual. In Blumler

Katz

(Eds.), The uses of mass communication: Current perspectives on gratifications research (pp. 19–34). SAGE.

25.

Kiousis

(2002). Interactivity: A concept explication. New Media & Society, 4(3), 355–383.

26.

Liu

Heikkilä

Heijden

H. V. D.

(2015). Modeling hedonic is continuance through the uses and gratifications theory: An empirical study in online games. Computers in Human Behavior, 48, 261–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.01.05361-272

27.

Liosetta

(2003). Using focus groups in research. Continuum.

28.

McMillan

D. W.

Chavis

D. M.

(1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14(1), 6–23.

29.

Mwangi

S. C.

Smethers

J. S.

Bressers

(2014). If you build it, will they come? An exploratory study of community reactions to an open source media project in Greensburg, Kansas. Community Journalism, 3(1), 72–86.

30.

Pew Research Center. (2019). For local news, Americans embrace digital but still want strong community connection. https://www.journalism.org/2019/03/26/for-local-news-americans-embrace-digital-but-still-want-strong-community-connection/

31.

Ruggiero

T. E.

(2000). Uses and gratifications theory in the 21st century. Mass Communication & Society, 3(1), 3–37.

32.

Sanders

(2017, April 16). KNBU-FM will soon transition to online only. The Baker Orange. http://thebakerorange.com/13805/news/knbu-fm-will-soon-transition-to-online-only/

33.

Shaker

(2014). Dead newspapers and citizens’ civic engagement. Political Communication, 31(1), 131–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2012.762817

34.

Smethers

J. S.

Bressers

Willard

Harvey

Freeland

(2007). Kansas readers feel loss when newspaper closes. Newspaper Research Journal, 28(4), 6–21.

35.

Smethers

Bressers

Mwangi

(2017). Friendships sustain volunteer newspaper for 21 Years. Newspaper Research Journal, 38 (3), 379–391.

36.

Stanford

Wachs

Abernathy

P. M.

Blackmar

(2018, April). Silent signal: Baldwin City adjusts to life without a newspaper. Panel discussion conducted at the 18th annual Huck Boyd Lecture in Community Media, Kansas State University, Manhattan. https://jmc.k-state.edu/about/affiliated/huckboyd/

37.

Stites

(2011, December 8). Layoffs and cutbacks lead to a new world of news deserts. NiemanLab. http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/12/tom-stites-layoffs-and-cutbacks-lead-to-a-new-world-of-news-deserts/

38.

Thompson

(2016, March 3). Without newspapers, small towns disintegrate. https://clarkstonnews.com/without-newspapers-small-towns-disintegrate/

39.

Timmerman

C. E.

Madhavapeddi

S. N.

(2008). Perceptions of organizational media richness: Channel expansion effects for electronic and traditional media across richness dimensions. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 51(1), 18–32.

Signal interruption in Baldwin City: Filling a communication vacuum in a small town “news desert”

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References