Jm. Mcleod et al., Community, communication, and participation: The role of mass media and interpersonal discussion in local political participation, POLIT COMM, 16(3), 1999, pp. 315-336
This study examines the role of community integration and mass and interper
sonal communication is predicting two types of local political participatio
n; more conventional, "institutionalized" acts of participation and less tr
aditional acts of participation and speaking out in a forum. An analysis of
survey data (N = 389) showed a strong role of newspaper readership and a s
omewhat lower impact of interpersonal discussion oil istitutionalized parti
cipation. Different patterns emerged for participation in a civic forum, wi
th interpersonal discussion having the strongest impact of the three commun
ication variables. Television news use had no direct impact on either type
of participation, but it did have a modest indirect impact on institutional
ized participation. The data also showed direct effects of dimensions of co
mmunity integration for participation in a forum only. Orientations toward
the larger community rather than the local neighborhood were positively rel
ated to participating in a civic forum.