Community Journalism - The Dawn of the Civic Journalism Era

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The fundamental necessity of media lies in communities than the mainstream media.

Introduction:

Community journalism or civic journalism is designed to deal with distinct communities, specifically suburbs or urban neighborhoods. The concept of community journalism long has been regarded as a specific practice of gathering, packaging, and distributing news in predominantly small, distinct geographic markets with an emphasis on local news and information about community life.

For many decades in the 20th century, “community journalism” was used as a synonym for “small-town newspapers.” 

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Yet in the first decade of the 21st century, renewed interest in the cultural roles of journalism in community life has broadened the concept to something that reaches well beyond newspapers in small towns and includes various media in many different types of communities—special-interest magazines, online-only newsletters for professional communities, local independent radio, “hyperlocal” websites, and so on.

Benefits of Community Journalism:

Some of the most important benefits of community journalism are increased diversity, greater depth and context of the news coverage, and a stronger understanding of the various communities that make up a particular viewing area. Community journalism is credited with representing, reinforcing, and even constructing community. 

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The form speaks to, from, and about community, presumably bringing people together with an understanding of their shared frame of reference, and their responsibility for upholding it. The latter insist on objectivity and stand above local values. Nevertheless, both kinds of news organs share an inherent responsibility to gather and report stories of vital interest to citizens, including external threats and challenges as well as internal conflicts and tensions. 

The Growth of Local News Organizations:

Moreover, glowing praise of independent community weeklies often ignores that community newspapers increasingly are units of chains, edited by careerists without local roots, and written by people who don’t know one another and rarely meet up at regional offices. 

Having a local news organization brings interests in the community together to create a personal impact on the readers. The media can focus on a specific group of people in a specific area. People have things in common, such as language and knowledge, and the local media brings those things together and due to this reason, community journalism is becoming popular of late. 

The purpose of local media is to understand the community in better ways and nowadays people are becoming more aware of the community in which they are living. Therefore, the purpose of community journalism has been served well.

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For instance, the organization, ‘the print’ publishes detailed news of any instance that takes place. In the referred to a particular article that they published on the Ram Mandir controversy, the writer has focused on the revised plan on the architecture and gives every detail of the temple being constructed. 

This information helps in the betterment of the place and concentrates on the Hindu community knowing the infrastructure of the temple being built for them. It also gives information on the investment part and tells the readers about the trust not having the requisite funds. This indicates that community journalism concentrates on the details and gains popularity among the readers.

News - The Center of Human Connections:

News is that part of communication that keeps us informed of the changing events, issues, and characters in the world outside. Though it may be interesting or even entertaining, the foremost value of news is as a utility to empower the informed. 

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The purpose of community journalism is thus to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments. The above article favored the community that is concerned with worshiping Hindu deities and did give a sense of excitement in people and informed them about the expenditure on the construction.

Effects on a Society without News:

The more obvious consequence of a society without community news is that specific groups of people would not be reached, or reached properly. This sort of society would cause a distance if there were only large media outlets rather than a community news outlet where people can have a voice.

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In community journalism, there is an importance of building relationships and the stories are about the people. The less obvious consequence of a society without community news is that would mean important breaking news and information would not be covered as thoroughly and much. 

I think that the rising of more Internet outlets and social media platforms adds to how journalists do their jobs. It adds an extra step, instead of not only posting an article in the daily newspaper, but journalists are also now informing readers on Twitter, etc. 

Conclusion:

In this day and age, it is even more crucial, in my opinion, for the local media to make sure they are still engaging with their community and continuing relationships built off trust. 

Henceforth, community journalism does play an important role in society and benefits them in several ways like developments as well as being aware of the local community.

Written By - Amulya Sriharsha

Edited By - Daniel Deepak Charles