Page 9 - Luce 2021

I nternational Perspectives

An American perspective on the global pandemic

In March 2020 the World Health news is disseminated into communities.
Organisation declared COVID-19 a This work has been particularly
pandemic. For many of us, this was interesting in the context of COVID-19,
experienced through varying periods because local and original news and
of lockdown and isolation. It has also information have become a key source
meant that we have become well-versed for community members navigating the
in monitoring global patterns of viral complexities of COVID-19.
case counts, keeping up to date with
ever-changing national health guidelines Local news is generally taken to mean
and tracking the evolution of disease the news and information that informs
variants. While the international and residents about their immediate
national news of the day dominates community. Local news is provided by
many social media feeds and headlines, newspapers, local television stations,
the COVID-19 pandemic has also been radio stations, websites, and social
a local news story. I have been studying media – but it is hard to put a firm continued to struggle to generate a
the changing nature of news media, geographic boundary on what defines financial profit.
and local news, for nearly 15 years. community, as that varies from person
Research on local news has become an to person and from town to town. Local news continues to be among
increasing priority for me in the midst of the most trusted sources of news and
the pandemic. Changing patterns of local news information, but the balance is shifting
coverage also translate to a change in and so are the sources. In the US, one
It has been 21 years since I studied how we think about community. In in five Americans now turn to social
abroad at the University of Melbourne 2021, my research team conducted a media as a primary source of local
and lived in Janet Clarke Hall. When I survey of more than 2,500 community news. Television remains the most
graduated from university, I navigated members in the United States in order popular source of local news (44% of
a path from advertising and media to to better understand how perceptions respondents in a 2018 survey by Pew
academia. I have worked as a professor of local news are evolving. We are Research) – community members still
for more than a decade, and 2021 learning that people increasingly define prefer watching local news – but online
brought me back to Rutgers University, community based on fuzzy boundaries, news, including social media, continues
the State University of New Jersey, using expressions such as ‘what’s local to grow (preferred by 34%).
where, coincidentally, I had started my is what is near me’ or ‘I know it’s
career as an academic. local because I’m able to drive there I am looking ahead to new challenges
and I know the businesses.’ When we for local news; I work a lot with
For me, and for my family, 2021 has consume more local media, however, colleagues around the globe – in South
been a year of transitions. In late 2020, we tend to have a clearer sense of what Korea, Australia, the UK and the EU –
we relocated from Minnesota to New our community is (in the same way that and I plan to continue expanding my
Jersey – approximately 1900 km. This Luce helps to maintain and build the work to better understand how the
was a decision driven by careers as well Janet Clarke Hall community). US context compares to international
as a choice of where we wanted to raise settings. We know there are a lot of
our children but moving was also greatly One of the biggest challenges facing similarities in the way local news
complicated by COVID-19. After months local news has been the demise of is changing, and COVID-19 has
of relative isolation, we had to figure out the traditional print newspaper model. consistently reinforced the importance
how to move with two kids and a dog, Today, more people get their local news of local information, but many countries
selling a home, moving our possessions from online platforms than ever before. outside the United States have more
– and because of travel restrictions, we For instance, in the United States, a entrenched cultures of traditional
had to find a rental home in New Jersey 2020 study by Pew Research found that local news.
without actually being able to travel 23% of Americans are paying more
and visit first. It was daunting, to say the attention to local news. The global I am also looking forward to resuming
least, but we managed our way through, pandemic has meant that many are travel to many of my international
along with everyone else navigating the searching for relevant local information collaborators in 2022 and beyond.
challenges of the pandemic era. such as news on the status of schools, A 2020 trip to Australia was cancelled
information on local business closings, due to the pandemic and I am eager
In the midst of this period of transition, and changes in local community health to reschedule. I am counting down the
I have continued my work as a policies. This has translated into a days until restrictions are lifted and I am
researcher. Beyond my work on local renewed focus on news and information able to travel abroad again.
news, I study technological change, in local communities. For instance,
media and organisations. As an according to research conducted by
academic, I have been able to spend the News Media Alliance, visits to local Matthew Weber (2000)
a lot of time looking at companies news websites in the US jumped 89% A/Professor, Department of
producing local news and have used from February to March 2020. Local Communication, Rutgers University,
big data to study the way in which local news organisations, however, have New Jersey, USA

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