Communication & Community Involvement: The Link Between Media Use &
Civic Participation in a Changing Urban Environment
In 1965, Scott Greer noted that the creation of community, which he
defines as the sharing of values and objectives, requires a
communicative process.[1] A growing body of research has helped reveal the
role news media play in facilitating this process. Many of these
studies
have focused on the association between individuals' community ties,
or
level of involvement in a community, and their use of the local
newspaper. This study builds on that earlier work, expanding on these
basic concepts in several ways.
Today, newspapers no longer wear the mantel of sole, or even principal,
community media. Therefore, this study extends the analysis beyond
newspapers to look at a broader range of information variables. But
more importantly, changes in culture and lifestyle as well as
technological advances have helped redefine the very concept of
community. Therefore, the community-involvement measure has been
refined to help reflect some of these changes. While most prior research
in this area has looked only at the number of groups to which an
individual belongs, this measure incorporates the number of hours spent
with local groups as a second indicator of community involvement.
In
addition, the researcher examines a qualitative dimension of
community
involvement -- the types of ties individuals have to their
communities
-- more thoroughly than in past studies.
A number of specific research questions are addressed: Do people with
different levels of involvement in the community differ in their use
of
information sources? Do individuals with strong community ties
depend
primarily on newspapers for community news, or do they rely on other
news sources? Which members of a community are most likely to rely on
"external" news sources? And finally, does type of group involvement
--
whether one belongs to a local chapter of the Sierra Club or a
neighborhood watch -- affect an individual's use of news sources?
Research Background & Literature Review
Sociologists explored the importance of newspapers as mechanisms for
integrating people into their communities as early as the 1920s.
Robert
E. Park argued that individuals' "community ties" were associated
with
newspaper reading.[2] I turn, newspaper use then served to maintain
those
ties. Robert K. Merton later expanded on this concept,
distinguishing
between two types of community ties or "orientations" -- "local" and
"cosmopolitan."[3] He operationalized community ties as membership in
local organizations. A local orientation was associated with interest
in
local newspaper content. Cosmopolitans displayed some interest in
local
matters, but were primarily oriented toward the larger society. They
were more likely to read both newsmagazines and prestige newspapers
external to the community than localities. In the 1950s, work by
Janowitz corroborated these findings.[4] He proposed that the greater
individuals' involvement in their communities, the greater their use of
local newspapers. Janowitz operationalized community involvement as
participation in and identification with local organizations and
institutions.
More recent studies by communication scholars have supported these
earlier findings. Sobal and Jackson-Beeck, for instance, found that
newspaper readers were more active in their communities than
non-readers.[5] Viswanath, Finnegan, Rooney and Potter showed that
involvement in local volunteer organizations was associated with
subscribing to local and regional newspapers, suggesting that people
involved in local groups were more likely to be readers.[6] Their
results
also suggest that community "elites" who are active in civic or
political organization are often exposed to "external" media, such as
regional newspapers, as a result of their community roles. However,
the
authors did not find a significant relationship between subscription
to
local cable television and community involvement. Stamm and
Fortini-Campbell also identified community involvement as among the most
consistent correlates of newspaper readership.[7]
Some association has also been found between types of community ties
and media use. For instance, Stamm reports research results which
showed
local church involvement correlated positively with subscriptions to
both church and commercial newspapers.[8] And the results of several
studies suggest that people who are politically active and participate
in local elections are more likely to be newspaper readers.[9]
Another group of studies explains demographic linkages to media use in
terms of individuals' community ties. Newspaper readership has
frequently been linked to age, with very young adults more likely to be
non-readers.[10] Stamm and Fortini-Campbell suggest that this can be
explained by the trend among Americans to establish families at an older
age.[11] As a result, family ties, home ownership and other
variables that
contribute to community involvement occur more often among older
people.
And Neuwirth, Salmon and Neff found that higher income, education
and
organizational membership were associated with reading newspapers and
magazines external to the community.[12]
In other research, Stamm and others found that community involvement
may encompass multiple dimensions.[13] These "communities within
communities" could refer to both places and social structures. The
former might include a suburb within a metropolitan area. An example of
the latter would be ties to a social structure, such as a church.
Similarly, Tichenor, Donohue and Olien proposed that a community may
comprise a variety of interacting subsystems, including the mass
media.[14]
According to Stamm, the causal order of the association between
community involvement and media use has also been subject to debate.[15]
In
some cases, researchers have treated community involvement as an
antecedent of media use. Other studies have treated media use as an
independent factor that strengthens community ties. Still a third
approach suggests that the two are reciprocal. However, Stamm suggests
that few, if any, studies have shown "a temporal relationship in
which
newspaper use precedes construction of a community tie."
In summary, a strong body of evidence links newspaper reading and
community involvement. However, few studies have sought to determine
whether this same association exists with any other information
variables. In addition, the concept of community involvement has
traditionally been fairly narrowly defined. Thus, this study builds on
previous research in this area by refining both the communication
and
the community involvement variables.
Research Method
Data for this study was collected in a telephone survey during March
1994 in Austin, Texas, a city of approximately one-half million
residents. Students in two communications classes at the University of
Texas at Austin conducted the survey. The study population included
all
Austin residents age 18 and older. Using a systematic random
sampling
method, students drew a sample of one original telephone number and
three alternates from each page of the Austin telephone book, for a
total of 500 original numbers. Before beginning the surveys,
interviewers added a "1" to the last digit of every phone number to
ensure that unlisted phone numbers would be included in the sample. A
total of 474 respondents comprised the final sample, with a sampling
error of 4.2. Graduate students then used the Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyze the data. The survey covered
a
range of different topics. This report was based on respondents'
answers to questions about media use (including discussion of issues
with family and friends) and their involvement in Austin-area groups
and
organizations.
Results: Frequency Analysis
A frequency analysis constituted the first phase of data analysis. The
study sample split nearly evenly in terms of gender, with around 49
percent male and 51 percent female. Anglos comprised the largest racial
group (78 percent), followed by Latinos (10 percent),
African-Americans
(6 percent), and Asians (2 percent).[16] Approximately 2 percent of
the
interview subjects responded "other" when asked to give their race.
The respondents ranged from 18 to more than 70 years in age, but the
majority were middle-aged or younger. Almost half (44 percent) were
under 35. And more than three-fourths (80 percent) were under 50. Only
13 percent of those interviewed were older than 60.
The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce claims that Austin is the most
highly educated among U.S. cities of its size. The poll results
reflected that. [17] Nearly half of the respondents (48 percent) had
received college degrees; 14 percent of this group also held graduate
degrees. Another third of the sample (30 percent) had completed some
college or technical training. And approximately one-fifth (18
percent)
were high school graduates.
Most of the respondents lived in middle-income households. About 22
percent reported annual incomes between $10,000 and $19,000, and about
30 percent between $20,000 and $59,000. Another 14 percent lived in
households with incomes of $60,000 or above. Only about 6 percent of
annual household incomes fell below $10,000.[18]
Although five colleges and universities are located in Austin, with a
combined student population of around 87,000, only 12 percent of
respondents said they were full-time students.[19] Married respondents
comprised about half of the sample (49 percent). Another 34 percent
said
they were single, and around 16 percent were either widowed or
divorced.
Community Involvement
Community involvement was measured on a scale ranging from "none" to
"high." As conceived here, the variable comprises two indicators --
"Membership" and "Hours." The Membership factor indicated the number
of
local organizations to which an individual belonged. A rating of
none
meant that the respondent belonged to no organizations. Low
involvement
was defined as membership in one or two groups. High involvement
meant
membership in three to 10 groups, however, only 6 percent of
respondents
belonged to more than five.
The Hours indicator of community involvement measured the total number
of hours per month individuals spent with the group in which they
were
most involved. Only respondents who belonged to at least one group
could
be rated on this factor. Low involvement was operationalized as
spending
up to 10 hours a week in group activities including meetings,
committees
and projects. High involvement was defined as spending more than 10
hours a month on organizational activities, although only 10 percent of
respondents spent more than 40 hours with any one group. Half of the
474
respondents in this survey did not belong to any local
organizations.
About a third belonged to one or two, and the remainder belonged to
between three and 10 groups. Of the respondents who belonged to at
least
one group, 60 percent spent one to 10 hours a month with the
organization in which they were most involved. About 40 percent spent
more than 10 hours a month with one group.
Another aim of the study was to determine the types of community groups
to which people belonged and how that affected their use of news
sources. Out of 234 locally "involved" respondents, around 19 percent
belonged to a religious group (includes church membership), 15
percent
to a community service group, 10 percent to a school-educational
group,
10 percent to a business-professional group, 9 percent to a
political-governmental group, 8 percent to a recreational group, 6
percent to a social group, 6 percent to a youth group and 5 percent to
an environmental group.
Use of News Sources
The news sources examined in this study included a local newspaper,
local television newscasts, national television-network newscasts,
news
magazines, radio, and discussion with family and friends. The
researcher
conceived of radio as a local news medium, assuming that radio news
programming would include local items. The exception might be a
nationally produced news show such as National Public Radio's "All
Things Considered." But the specific shows respondents listened to could
not be determined from the study data. The variable was measured on
a
three-level scale which ranged from "never/seldom" use to use "every
day
or nearly every day." More than half of the respondents (51
percent)
ranked as high-frequency readers (read every day or nearly every
day).
Only 14 percent of the sample subjects counted as "non-readers"
(never
or seldom read the newspaper). About 35 percent were low-frequency
readers (one to four days a week).
The frequency with which respondents watched local television news
showed a distribution pattern similar to that for newspapers. A
majority
(59 percent) said they watched daily or nearly every day. Another 29
percent watched with low frequency. Only 13 percent of respondents
seldom or never watched. In contrast, 24 percent of subjects never or
seldom watched network newscasts. Forty-two percent of those who said
they were viewers fell at the low end of the viewing scale. Another
34
percent watched with high frequency. About two-thirds of respondents
said they never or seldom watched CNN, the Cable News Network, or
watched it with low frequency. About 28 percent watched daily or nearly
every day.
More respondents said they never or seldom used newsmagazines than any
other news source. Some 58 percent of subjects fell into this
category.
Another 23 percent read them one to three times a month and 20
percent
read them every week. The distribution pattern for radio use was
just
the reverse. About 30 percent seldom or never listened to radio news,
16.3 listened one to four days a week and more than half listened
daily
or nearly ever day. Very few respondents (13 percent) said they
never or
seldom discussed the news with their family or friends. And almost
half
(44 percent) said they discussed the news nearly every day or daily.
Results: Cross-Tabulations
To complete the second phase of data analysis, three sets of
cross-tabulations were run and tested for significance with Pearson's
Chi-square. The first set compared community involvement, measured
both
as number of group memberships (Membership factor) and amount of
time
spent with group (Hours factor), with demographic variables including
race, sex, age, education, income and marital status. The researcher
treated the demographics as independent variables. These tests
detected
several significant relationships.
TABLE 1
Community Involvement Measured as
Number of Group Memberships* by Education
Memberships
Education
None (%)
Low (%)
High (%)
High school
71.6
21.6
6.9
(N=102)
Some college
50.3
32.2
17.5
(N=143)
College grad
41.2
32.9
25.9
(N=228)
Missing Cases=1
Pearson Chi-square=29.66, DF=4, p<.01
*Community Involvement is based on two factors. "Membership"=total
number of local groups to which respondent belongs. (Question: Now I'd
like to ask some questions about your involvement in Austin-area
groups
or organizations. In the past three years, about how many groups,
clubs, or organizations have you been a member of?) "Hours"=Hours per
month respondent spends with group in which he/she is most active.
(Question: Think of the group that you've been most active in. About how
many hours a month do you spend with that group, including meetings,
committees, projects and similar activities?)
Low=1-2 local group memberships
High=3-10 local group memberships
Cross-tabulations of the Membership factor of community involvement
with the set of demographic variables detected significant
relationships between the Membership variable and both education and
race. The former relationship appeared to be the stronger of the two
(p<.01). As shown in Table 1, one-quarter of respondents with college
or
graduate degrees belonged to three or more community groups (high
involvement), compared with around one-fifth of those with some college
or technical training, and less than one-tenth of those who had
attended
or graduated from high school. Approximately one-third of all
respondents with a college degree and one-third of all respondents with
some college or technical training, versus one-fifth who had a high
school degree or less, belonged to one or two community groups (low
involvement). The majority of respondents at each educational level
said
they were not involved in any group. But nearly three-fourths of
those
subjects with a high school education or less were not involved,
compared with half of those with some college/technical school and less
than half of those with a college degree or more. In summary, the
more
highly educated respondents appeared to fall higher on the community
involvement scale when measured by number of group memberships. No
significant relations was found between education and the Hours measure
of community involvement.
TABLE 2
Community Involvement Measured as
Number of Group Memberships by Race
Memberships
Race
None (%)
Low (%)
High (%)
Anglo
48.2
32
19.98
(N=369)
Black
60
26.7
13.3
(N=30)
Latino
65.3
16.3
18.4
(N=49)
Asian
45.5
18.2
36.4
(N=11)
Other
36.4
63.6
----
(N=11)
Missing Cases=4
Pearson Chi-square=16.13, 8DF, p<.05
Table 2 shows that a cross-tabulation of race by the Membership factor
of community involvement also proved significant (p<.05). Some 36
percent of Asians belonged to more than two community groups (high
community involvement). Lower percentages of Anglos (20 percent),
Latinos (18 percent) and African-Americans (13 percent) belonged to more
than two groups. About a third of Anglos and blacks belonged to one
or
two organizations (low involvement), compared with less than
one-fifth
of Asians and Latinos. More than half of Latinos and blacks and less
than half of whites and Asians were not members of any groups. Thus,
Asians and whites appeared to be involved in more community groups
than
Latinos and blacks.
TABLE 3
Community Involvement Measured as
Hours Spent With Group Per Month* by Race
Hours per Month
Race
Low (%)
High (%)
Don't know (%)
Anglo
60.7
38.2
1
(N=191)
Black
30.8
53.8
15.4
(N=13)
Latino
66.7
33.3
----
(N=18)
Asian
80
20
----
(N=5)
Other
71.4
28.6
----
(N=7)
Missing Cases=240 (Includes all respondents who did not belong to at
least one group.)
Pearson Chi-square=19.25, 8DF, p<.05
*Community Involvement is based on two factors. "Membership"=total
number of local groups to which respondent belongs. (Question: Now I'd
like to ask some questions about your involvement in Austin-area
groups
or organizations. In the past three years, about how many groups,
clubs, or organizations have you been a member of?) "Hours"=Hours per
month respondent spends with group in which he/she is most active.
(Question: Think of the group that you've been most active in. About how
many hours a month do you spend with that group, including meetings,
committees, projects and similar activities?)
Low=1-10 hours a month
High=More than 10 hours a month
The researcher also found a significant association with race using the
Hours factor of community involvement, or the hours per month spent
with
the organization in which the respondent is most active (p<.05). As
shown in Table 3, more than three-fourths of Asians and more than half
of Latinos and Anglos said they spend between one and 10 hours a
month
on group activities (low involvement). More than half of blacks, in
contrast, spend in excess of 10 hours a month involved with one
organization (high involvement). In summary, African-American
respondents appeared to devote more time than members of other ethnic
groups to the community organizations in which they were most
involved.
Asians appeared least likely to spend more than 10 hours a month
with
any one group.
Finally, the Hours factor measure of community involvement showed some
association with age (p<.01). Nearly three-fourths of respondents
in
the 25- to 39-year-old age group and more than half in both the 40-
to
54-year-old group and the 55 and over group spent fewer than 10
hours a
month with any one group (low involvement). The group of respondents
between 18 and 24 split nearly evenly between the low and high
community
involvement levels. In summary, respondents between 25 and 34 years
seemed less likely than other age groups to spend more than 10 hours a
month with a local group.
Type of Group and Media Use
The second set of cross-tabulations examined the relationship between
types of community memberships and media use. The type of group in
which
an individual was most active served as the independent variable.
Here
the analyses detected two significant relationships. Both involved
television viewing. The most significant association appeared between
group type and viewing of network newscasts (p<.01). About half of
those respondents who were most active in a social group said they
never
or seldom watched network news. A third of those in an
education-school
group, a quarter of those in a business-professional group, a
quarter of
those in a community service group, and about a fifth of those in a
religious group said they did not watch. The majority of members who
were involved in a youth group (69 percent), a recreation group (61
percent), a religious group (54 percent) and a political-governmental
group (50 percent) said they watched one to four days a week (low
frequency). Those group types which had large percentages of members who
said they watched network news every or nearly every day (high
frequency) included political-government (41 percent) and community
service (49 percent). Thus, members of a social group appeared least
likely to watch network news on a daily basis, while members of a
political-governmental or community service organization were most
likely to watch daily or nearly daily.
Watching local television news also varied significantly with group
type (p<.05). About 36 percent of respondents who were involved in a
social group did not watch, while 21 percent of those who were members
of an educational-school group said they were non-viewers.
Thirty-nine
percent of the members of social and youth groups said they watched
one
to four days a week (low frequency), followed by religious (34
percent)
and educational-school (33 percent). A majority of the members of a
number of groups said they watched daily or almost daily (high
frequency), including community service (77 percent),
political-governmental (68 percent), youth (62 percent),
recreational
(56 percent), business-professional (54 percent) and religious (53
percent). In summary, people who were most active in a social group
appeared least likely to be daily viewers of local TV news, and members
of political-governmental or community service groups were most
likely
to be daily viewers. These results closely resemble those found in
the
cross-tabulation between network news viewing and group type.
Community Involvement and Media Use
The final set of cross-tabulations compared community involvement
(Membership and Hours factors) with use of news sources, treating the
former variable as independent. Several significant relationships
were
found. Not surprisingly, given the association between these
variables
documented in the literature, newspaper use showed a strong positive
relationship with community involvement operationalized as number of
group
TABLE 4
Community Involvement Measured as
Number of Group Memberships by Newspaper Use
Memberships
Newspaper use
None (%)
Low (%)
High (%)
Seldom/never
19.1
12.7
3.31
Low frequency
39
31.7
28.6
High frequency
41.9
55.6
68.1
(N=236)
(N=142)
(N=91)
Missing Cases=5
Pearson Chi-square=24.07, 4DF, p<.01
Low=1-2 local group memberships
High=3-10 local group memberships
Low frequency=1-4 days a week
High frequency=every day or nearly every day
memberships (p<.01). For example, as shown in Table 4, just 3 percent of
those respondents who belonged to between three and 10 local groups
(high involvement) said they never or seldom read a newspaper. In
contrast, 13 percent of those who belonged to one or two local groups
(low involvement) and 19 percent of those who belonged to no local
groups said they seldom or never read a newspaper. Differences were less
pronounced at the low frequency readership level, with about a third
of
both high community-involvement respondents and low-involvement
respondents and 40 percent of respondents who belonged to no community
groups saying they read one to four days a week. Nearly
three-fourths
of the high involvement group said they read the paper nearly every
or
every day versus just over half of the low involvement group and
less
than half of subjects who held no memberships. These results support
earlier research which suggests that people who are involved in their
communities are interested in local newspaper content. However,
newspaper readership was not found to be significantly related to the
number of hours individuals spend with one group.
TABLE 5
Community Involvement Measured as
Number of Group Memberships by Radio Use
Memberships
Radio use
None (%)
Low (%)
High (%)
Never/seldom
34.7
25.9
26.4
Low frequency
18.8
14.7
12.1
High frequency
46.4
59.4
61.5
(N=239)
(N=143)
(N=91)
Missing Cases=1
Pearson Chi-square=9.36, 4DF, p<.05
Low=1-2 local group memberships
High=3-10 local group memberships
Low frequency=1-4 days a week
High frequency=every day or nearly every day
A cross-tabulation for radio use and community involvement proved
significant for the Membership factor (p<.05), but not the Hours factor.
As shown in Table 5, using the Membership factor measure, almost
two-thirds of the people who belonged to three or more groups (high
involvement) listened to radio news daily or almost daily. A slightly
smaller number (59 percent) of those who belonged to one or two
groups
(low involvement) were high-frequency listeners. In contrast, less
than
half of those who held no group memberships were high frequency
listeners. Differences between group members and non-group members were
not as pronounced at the other two levels of frequency for radio
use.
About 12 percent of those high in community involvement, 15 percent
of
those low in community involvement and 19 percent of non-members
said
they listened one to four days a week (low frequency). And around a
quarter of both low- and high-community involvement respondents said
they never or seldom listened to radio news, versus 35 percent of
non-group members. In summary, respondents who belonged to local
organizations tended to listen to radio news more frequently than
non-members.
The final cross-tabulation that proved to be significant compared the
Membership Factor for community involvement and the frequency with
which
individuals discuss the news with their family and friends (p.<.01).
As
seen in Table 6, about 60 percent of respondents who belonged to
three
or more community groups discussed news events daily or nearly
daily. In
contrast, about 40 percent both of those who belonged to one or two
groups and those who held no memberships discussed the news daily. Only
a small percentage of all three groups of respondents said they
never
discussed news events -- about 9 percent of the high
community-involvement group, 11 percent of those in the
low-involvement
group and 16 percent of those who were not involved in any
TABLE 6
Community Involvement Measured as
Number of Group Memberships by Discussion
Memberships
Discussion
None (%)
Low (%)
High (%)
Never/seldom
16.4
10.6
8.8
Low frequency
43.3
49.3
31.9
High frequency
40.3
40.1
59.3
(N=238)
(N=142)
(N=91)
Missing Cases=3
Pearson Chi-square=13.95, 4DF, p<.05
Low=1-2 local group memberships
High=3-10 local group memberships
Low frequency=1-4 days a week
High frequency=every day or nearly every day
groups. In summary, individuals with many community ties, measured as
group memberships, appeared more likely than individuals who were not
as
involved in the community to discuss the news with their family and
friends on a daily basis.
Discussion & Conclusions
Many of the findings from this study support earlier examinations of
the nature of the association between individuals' community
involvement
and their use of news sources. The significant relationship found
between newspaper readership and community involvement presents perhaps
the most important example. Judging from these results, newspapers
remain an important instrument for integrating people into their
communities. However, this relationship only appeared when the
researcher, following past studies, used the number of local
organizations to which an individual belonged as a measure of community
involvement. It was not evident when involvement was measured as the
number of hours per month survey respondents spent with the group in
which they were most active.
This and other data reported here suggest using only one community
involvement indicator may produce an incomplete or even misleading
picture of community involvement. For instance, the cross-tabulation
between race and the Membership factor of involvement showed that
Asian-Americans were more likely than other ethnic groups to be members
of many local organizations. However, a test of race and the Hours
factor of involvement found that African-Americans spent more hours per
month with a single group.
Stamm conceives community involvement as encompassing multiple
dimensions.[20] In a city the size of Austin, people's affiliations may
not
extend community-wide. Instead, they may be linked to smaller
"communities within communities," to use Stamm's phrase. And the nature
of their involvement may vary accordingly, as a function of the
culture
dominant in their primary group or groups. These differences in the
nature of communities and community involvement warrant further
investigation, perhaps with a larger sample which could include a more
substantial number of ethnic minorities. However, unlike the
Membership
factor of community involvement, the Hours factor did not appear to
be
associated with media use. This researcher suggests that this may
be
due to certain cultural and class-based biases. Within the Anglo
community, people who belong to many local groups generally share
certain other demographic characteristics such as high levels of
education and income, which also correlate with high (news) media use.
In the African-American community, some people may be more involved
in
terms of the amount of time they spend with any one group, but they
may
not share these same demographic characteristics.
This research also detected some previously unexamined relationships.
For example, the amount of time people spend discussing news events
with family and friends related significantly to community
involvement,
measured as number of group affiliations. Lazarsfeld, in his
landmark
study The People's Choice, determined that people receive much of
their
information from other people, in a "two-step flow of
communication."[21]
This results when less-informed people seek information from "opinion
leaders" who use other news sources to keep up with politics (and
presumably other local affairs). Other researchers have found that
community involvement measured by number of memberships often is
associated with community leaders who are active in civic affairs. These
findings suggest that these opinion leaders may comprise the most
involved segment, using Membership as the measurement criteria, of the
population. The positive relationship between group membership and
education also seems to support this interpretation, since research has
shown that newspaper readers also tend to be among the most educated
members of a community.[22]
In past years, the growth of talk radio has renewed interest in this
news source. The fact that community involvement, using the
Membership
factor, proved to be significantly related to radio use, suggests
that
further work should be done here as well.
Finally, past studies have detected few significant relationships
between television news viewing and community involvement measured with
quantitative indicators such as number of group memberships held.
The
findings presented here indicate that type of membership may be a
more
important determinant of television use. A larger sample would
improve
further research into these associations, since responses can easily
comprise a dozen or more categories of memberships, from
"environmental"
to "social" to "military." All of these findings suggest that there
is a
great deal of research yet to be done in this area of the field.
[1] Scott Greer, The Emerging City (New York: Free Press, 1956).
[2]
Robert E. Park, "The Natural History of the Newspaper," in W. Schramm, e
d. , Mass
Communication, 2d ed. (Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1975, pp. 8-23).
[3] Robert K. Merton, "Patterns of Inf
luence: A Study of Interpersonal Influences and
of Com
municaiton Behaviors in a Local Community," in P. Lazarsfeld and W. Stant
on, eds,
Communication Research, 1948-49 (New York): Harper & Co., 1950
.
[4] Morris Janowitz, The Community Press in an Urban Setting (Chicago
: Chicago
University Press, 1952).
[5] Jeff Sobal & M
arilyn Jackson-Beeck, "Newwspaper Non-Readers: A National Profile,"
Journalism Quarterly, 58:9-14 (Spring, 1981).
[6] Kasisoma
yajula Viswanath, John R. Finnegan Jr., Brenda Rooney & John Potter,
"Community Ties in a Rural Midwest Community and Use of Ne
wspapers and Cable
Television," Journalism Quarterly,,
67:899-911 (Winter, 1990).
[7] Keith Stamm & Lisa Fortini-Campbell, "Th
e Relationship of Community Ties to
Newspaper Use," Jo
urnalism Monographs, 84 (August, 1983).
[8] Keith Stamm, Newspaper Use a
nd Community Ties: Toward a Dynamic Theory (Norwood,
N
.J.: Ablex, 1985).
[9] Sobal & Jackson, op. cit.; Viswanath, Finnegan,
Rooney & Potter, op. cit.
[10] Paula M. Poinderxer, "Daily Newspaper Non
-Readers: Why They Don't Read,"
Journalism Quarterely,
56:764-770 (Winter, 1979).
[11] Stamm & Fortini-Campbell, op. cit.
[12
] Kurt Neuwirth, Charles T. Salmon & Mary Neff, "Community Orientation an
d Media
Use," Journalism Quarterly, 66:31-39 (Spring,
1989).
[13] Stamm, op. cit.
[14] Philip J. Tichenor, George A. Donohue
& Clarice N. Olien, Community Conflict and
the Press
(Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1989).
[15] Keith Stamm, "Community Ties and Me
dia Use," Critical Studies in Mass
Communication, 5:35
7-361 (September, 1988).
[16] The number of Latinos interviewed was low
er than expected, given Austin's
demographic profile.
The difficulties students encountered interviewing
Spa
nish-speaking heads of households may account for this.
[17] In fact, th
e survey found a higher level of education than expected among
respondents. Researchers speculated that a lower response rate a
mong the less-educated
segments of the population migh
t account for this.
[18] This percentage was smaller than expected. But
low-income subjects probably were
among the respondent
s who refused to answer this question.
[19] The survey did not account f
or part-time students.
[20] Stamm, op. cit.
[21] Shearon A. Lowery and
Melvin L. De Fleur, Milestones in Mass Communication
Research (New York: Longman, 1983).
[22] Neuwrith, Salmon & Neff, op. c
it.
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