News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation

Rise of the Audience

Edgar Simpson

Missing from the ongoing conversation about the titanic forces reshaping national journalism is the meaning of daily professional journalism in communities where the majority of Americans live. Edgar Simpson spent a year intimately engaged with all the news streams available in two Midwest counties—one where a daily newspaper had closed and one where a daily newspaper continues to operate—to better understand and illuminate national news trends and translate them to specific communities. News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation: Rise of the Audience outlines the clear implications for representative democracy in the face of a daily professional journalism in retreat. If the U.S. system is to thrive, more resources at the community level must be marshaled to support journalism. Further, citizens will have to become increasingly sophisticated in understanding the type of content they are consuming and, more importantly, what information they are not consuming. This book not only puts the problems in stark terms but offers unique, community-based solutions. « less more »

Lexington Books

Pages: 265 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7391-9015-9 • Hardback • August 2014 • $104.00 • (£70.00)

978-1-4985-0038-8 • Paperback • February 2016 • $46.99 • (£31.95)

978-0-7391-9016-6 • eBook • August 2014 • $44.50 • (£29.95)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Journalism, Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Political Science / Public Affairs & Administration, Social Science / Media Studies, Political Science / Public Policy / Communication Policy, Language Arts & Disciplines / Political Communication

News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation

Rise of the Audience

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Missing from the ongoing conversation about the titanic forces reshaping national journalism is the meaning of daily professional journalism in communities where the majority of Americans live. Edgar Simpson spent a year intimately engaged with all the news streams available in two Midwest counties—one where a daily newspaper had closed and one where a daily newspaper continues to operate—to better understand and illuminate national news trends and translate them to specific communities. News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation: Rise of the Audience outlines the clear implications for representative democracy in the face of a daily professional journalism in retreat. If the U.S. system is to thrive, more resources at the community level must be marshaled to support journalism. Further, citizens will have to become increasingly sophisticated in understanding the type of content they are consuming and, more importantly, what information they are not consuming. This book not only puts the problems in stark terms but offers unique, community-based solutions.

Book Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 265 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7391-9015-9 • Hardback • August 2014 • $104.00 • (£70.00)

978-1-4985-0038-8 • Paperback • February 2016 • $46.99 • (£31.95)

978-0-7391-9016-6 • eBook • August 2014 • $44.50 • (£29.95)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Journalism, Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Political Science / Public Affairs & Administration, Social Science / Media Studies, Political Science / Public Policy / Communication Policy, Language Arts & Disciplines / Political Communication

Author

Edgar Simpson is assistant professor of public affairs and digital journalism at Central Michigan University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: Rise of the Audience
Chapter 2: The Shifting News Landscape
Chapter 3: Pixels, Posts, and Producers
Chapter 4: Building Their Own Narrative
Chapter 5: The Mean Sphere and the Empty Sphere
Chapter 6: #chardonshooting: The Inverted Sphere
Chapter 7: Citizens and Journalism
Chapter 8: Journalism

Reviews

Simpson’s case studies of Ohio counties are detailed, thorough, and rigorously analyzed. The author effectively catalogues what is happening locally in print, on television, and online, and seamlessly ties it into economic and cultural patterns affecting the nation and the industry as a whole. The result is a fresh and insightful window into the public sphere, at eye level, of a local media market.
— Joseph Hayden, University of Memphis

Edgar Simpson’s intriguing book explores how the changing nature of journalism affects real people and actual communities. Simpson uses his impressive research to help us understand how news is reported and consumed in our transformed media environment. News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation: Rise of the Audience is important reading for those who want to ensure that we live in a democracy with informed citizens.
— Jon Marshall, Northwestern University

News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation

Rise of the Audience

Edgar Simpson

News, Public Affairs, and the Public Sphere in a Digital Nation

Rise of the Audience

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