Publication details
‘I see myself as Batman : I’m doing it in the name of the local community.’ Addressing the complexity of the relationship between the local, the local audience and local journalists
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Citation | |
| Description | The relationships between local media, local audiences and local journalists are often boldly asserted. They are assumed to be stronger, closer and more emotional than those at national level. However, they are mostly defined in a fragmented and one-dimensional way that does not fully address their mutuality and variability. Understanding these relationships is crucial to an understanding of local media performance. This chapter proposes a concept of closeness based on three dimensions – spatial, temporal and emotional. Thus far, it has been a theoretical construct based on a review of theoretical material, but the aim of this chapter is to provide empirical support for the assumptions about the characteristics of closeness. It is an exploratory study which focuses on a Czech local audience and local journalists and provides a reappraisal of the concept of closeness based on qualitative interviews and focus groups within a specific locality. The case study, in a particular Czech town which boasts extensive local media coverage, is based on focus groups with the local audience, and interviews with local journalists and certain members of the local audience. The findings suggest that both the audience and the journalists regard those concepts which constitute closeness as important. |