Digital media and local democracy: news media, local governments and civic action Freeman, Julie and Hutchins, Brett 2016, Digital media and local democracy: news media, local governments and civic action, Australian journalism review, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 19-30. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads freeman-digitalmedia-2016.pdf Published version application/pdf 456.01KB 2 Title Digital media and local democracy: news media, local governments and civic action Author(s) Freeman, Julie Hutchins, Brett Journal name Australian journalism review Volume number 38 Issue number 2 Start page 19 End page 30 Total pages 12 Publisher Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia Place of publication St. Lucia, Qld. Publication date 2016 ISSN 0810-2686 Summary The study of digital media and political action must consider variations in media ecologies to account for the ways in which contextually specific circumstances influence the character of local democratic participation. This article argues for this need by synthesising the disconnected literatures on Australian communications infrastructures, municipal governments and local news media. It reveals uneven levels of connectivity, restricted digital government practices and a decreasing capacity of local newsrooms and journalists to cover local politics. These problems coalesce to create risks of ill-informed citizenries, illegitimate local decision making, and minimally accountable local governments. This situation contributes to the democratic marginalisation of communities, with political power remaining embedded within the hierarchal decision making system of Australian local government. Language eng Field of Research 200102 Communication Technology and Digital Media Studies 200104 Media Studies 2001 Communication And Media Studies Socio Economic Objective 890404 Publishing and Print Services (incl. Internet Publishing) HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article Grant ID Edward Wilson Estate Copyright notice ©2016, JERAA Free to Read? Yes Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30091529 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Arts and Education School of Communication and Creative Arts Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Connect to Elements publication management system Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Mon, 27 Feb 2017, 10:46:54 EST Tue, 28 Feb 2017, 04:00:10 EST Wed, 01 Mar 2017, 07:51:39 EST Fri, 31 Mar 2017, 05:04:32 EST Tue, 20 Jun 2017, 10:10:40 EST Tue, 20 Jun 2017, 10:14:37 EST Mon, 17 Jul 2017, 13:28:55 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 15 Abstract Views, 3 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 27 Feb 2017, 10:46:54 EST

Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au.