Local Journalism: The Decline of Newspapers and the Rise of Digital Media

LOCAL JOURNALISM
THE DECLINE OF NEWSPAPERS AND THE
RISE OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Edited by RASMUS KLEIS NIELSEN
Published by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd in association with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford
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OURNALISM
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About the Book For more than a century, we have been able to take local journalism for granted. We no longer can. The newspaper industry that has provided the most local coverage is in decline and it is not yet clear whether digital media will sustain new forms of local journalism. This book provides a cross-country overview over the challenges facing changing forms of local journalism today. It identifies the central role that diminished newspapers still play in local media ecosystems, analyse the relations between local journalists and the politicians, government officials, community activists, and ordinary citizens they interact with, and examines the uneven rise of new forms of digital local journalism. Together, the ten chapters present a multifaceted portrait of the precarious present and uncertain future of local journalism in the Western world. Local Journalism The Decline of Newspapers and the Rise of Digital Media offers a detailed, research-based and comparative account of developments in local news and journalism at a time of structural change and transition in local news ecosystems.
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen reasserts the significance of local news and journalism for local communities and their economic, political, social and cultural life. Local Journalism The Decline of Newspapers and the Rise of Digital Media sets a benchmark for future studies of local news and journalism during a period of change and uncertainty. Bob Franklin, Professor of Journalism Studies, Cardiff University Journalism is changing, nowhere more rapidly than in locally produced news. This edited volume provides an on-the-ground glimpse of these changes as they are taking place across Europe, the UK, and the United States. An invaluable snapshot of a fast-moving process … and an important touchstone for research yet to be done. David Ryfe, Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa About the Editor
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen is Director of Research at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, and Associate Professor of Political Communication at Roskilde University, Denmark. His first book, Ground Wars Personalized Communication in Political Campaigns, won the 2014 Doris Graber Award for the best book publishes in political communication in the last ten years. He is also the recipient of the 2014 Tietgen Prize for his work on the changing business of journalism and its implications for democracy. What follows is a short extract from this book. More information can be found at www.ibtauris.com/reuters
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Published in 2015 by
I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
London • New York www.ibtauris.com
Copyright editorial selection and introduction © 2015 Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Copyright individual chapters © 2015 CW. Anderson, Olivier Baisnée, Piet Bakker, Franck Bousquet, Stephen Coleman, David Domingo, Bengt Engan, Julie Firmstone, Dave Harte, Marco van Kerkhoven, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Florence Le Cam, Emmanuel Marty, Matthew Powers, Nikos Smyrnaios, Nancy Thumim, Jerome Turner, Andy Williams, Sandra Vera Zambrano
The right of Rasmus Kleis Nielsen to be identified as the editor of this work has been asserted by the editor in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.
References to websites were correct at the time of writing.
ISBN: 978 1 78453 320 5 (HB)
ISBN: 978 1 78453 321 2 (PB)
eISBN: 978 0 85773 980 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number available
Typeset by Riverside Publishing Solutions, Salisbury SP 6NQ
Printed and bound in Great Britain by T.J. International, Padstow, Cornwall
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The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford aims to serve as the leading international forum fora productive engagement between scholars from a wide range of disciplines and practitioners of journalism. As part of this mission, we publish work by academics, journalists, and media industry professionals focusing on some of the most important issues facing journalism around the world today.
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