Whose Community? Mapping Perceptions of Power, Issues, and Solutions Across Communities

• In Event: Researching Ecologies of News: The Role of Markets and Communities

Abstract

Covering social conflict through a community journalism lens creates difficulties for newspapers that must grapple with complex geographic communities. Previously defined as journalism dedicated to revealing its community’s values, beliefs, and structures, community journalism’s goal is to enable readers to situate themselves within their community and engage in public deliberation. This paper looks to four newspapers representing four different distinct communities – local, national, institutional, and racial – to understand the degree to which each publication practiced “good” community journalism in their coverage of the racial unrest on the University of Missouri’s campus in fall 2015 at its national fallout. Findings show the newspapers – regardless of the type of community they serve – grapple first and foremost with conceptions of power. Following the focus on the powerful actors within the social movement, the newspapers tended to cover leadership, economic fallout, diverse perspectives, and the evolution of the movement across generations and the nation.

Authors

• Kimberly Kelling, U of Missouri

• Brett Gregory Johnson, Missouri School of Journalism, U of Missouri