Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
1-30-2014
Subjects
Civic engagement -- Influence of media industries on, Mass media -- Social aspects, Newspapers -- Political aspects
Abstract
Using data from the 2008 and 2009 Current Population Survey conducted by the United States Census, this article assesses the year-over-year change in the civic engagement of citizens in America’s largest metropolitan areas. Of special interest are Denver and Seattle, where the Rocky Mountain News and Seattle Post-Intelligencer closed during the intervening year. The data from the CPS indicate that civic engagement in Seattle and Denver dropped significantly from 2008 to 2009 – a decline that is not consistently replicated over the same time period in other major American cities that did not lose a newspaper. The analysis suggests that this decline may plausibly be attributed to the newspaper closures in Seattle and Denver. This short-term negative effect is concerning –and whether it lasts warrants future attention.
Rights
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1080/10584609.2012.762817
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/10645
Citation Details
Published as: Shaker, L. (2014). Dead newspapers and citizens’ civic engagement. Political Communication, 31(1), 131-148.
Included in
Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons
Description
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Political Communication. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Political Communication, 31(1), 131-148.