Community, communication, and participation: The role of mass media and interpersonal discussion in local political participation

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.