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Volume 43, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0810-2686
  • E-ISSN: 2517-620X

Abstract

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, , 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.

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/content/journals/10.1386/ajr_00059_7
2021-06-01
2025-01-22
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/content/journals/10.1386/ajr_00059_7
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): community engagement; focused ethnography; local journalism; media practice; news gaps; social media

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