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Mining a news desert: The impact of a local newspaper’s closure on political participation and engagement in the rural Australian town of lightning ridge
This article examines how a local newspaper’s closure impacts the way everyday people in a rural Australian town are informed about and engage with political affairs. It draws on a two-month focused ethnographic study in the outback town of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, and
explores people’s media-related practices following the closure of the town’s only newspaper, The Ridge News, in 2015. While social media is considered to have partly filled a news void, there is an increasingly fragmented and less vibrant local public sphere that has led
to growing complacency among individuals about political affairs. Local residents highlight a dearth of reliable, credible information and lament the loss of the newspaper and its role in community advocacy and fostering people’s engagement with political institutions, especially local
government.
explores people’s media-related practices following the closure of the town’s only newspaper, The Ridge News, in 2015. While social media is considered to have partly filled a news void, there is an increasingly fragmented and less vibrant local public sphere that has led
to growing complacency among individuals about political affairs. Local residents highlight a dearth of reliable, credible information and lament the loss of the newspaper and its role in community advocacy and fostering people’s engagement with political institutions, especially local
government.
History
Journal
Australian Journalism ReviewVolume
43Issue
1Pagination
99 - 114Publisher
IntellectPublisher DOI
ISSN
0810-2686Language
enPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalUsage metrics
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