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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Rise of the Audience: News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation

Simpson, Edgar C.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1341590884

Abstract Details

2012, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Journalism (Communication).
Professional daily journalism is contracting nationwide as metro newspapers withdraw from their suburbs, reduce zoned editions, and even cut back from printing seven days a week. Smaller dailies and community newspapers also are downsizing and closing their doors. Neither broadcast television nor radio nor Web start-ups have replaced the displaced journalism, creating what the Federal Communications Commission calls a ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿media deficit¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ in many communities. This dissertation seeks to explore what this trend means for public affairs information entering the public sphere by examining two live news environments, one with a daily newspaper (Wood County, Ohio) and one where a newspaper had closed (Geauga County, Ohio). Methods used were textual analysis of media texts and audience contributions including those associated with print reports, television, social media, and start-up Websites. In-depth interviews were conducted with journalists, citizens, and public officials. A survey polled opinion leaders in both counties about their assessment and use of the media in their areas. Two focus groups were conducted. Overall, this study found that daily professional journalism makes a significant difference not just in the amount of public affairs information available to a community, but also in the amount and type of conversations that take place in the digital world. In the community without daily professional journalism, residents were forced to craft their own news feeds through cobbling together social media, digital, and the less regular print reports from weekly news operations and those outside the county. The implications for representative democracy in the face of a daily professional journalism in retreat are clear: If the U.S. system is to thrive, more resources, at the community level, must be marshaled to support journalism. Further, the citizens will have to become increasingly sophisticated in understanding the type of content they are consuming to inform their worlds and, more importantly, what information are they not consuming.
Michael Sweeney, PhD (Committee Chair)
David Mould, PhD (Committee Member)
Aimee Edmondson, PhD (Committee Member)
Katherine Jellison, PhD (Committee Member)
394 p.
Journalism
journalism; public sphere; public affairs; First Amendment; newspapers; television; news Websites

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Simpson, E. C. (2012). Rise of the Audience: News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1341590884

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Simpson, Edgar. Rise of the Audience: News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation. 2012. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1341590884.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Simpson, Edgar. "Rise of the Audience: News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1341590884

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1341590884
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© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12