Community, Communication, and Participation: The Role of Mass Media and Interpersonal Discussion in Local Political Participation

TLDR

The study investigates how community integration, mass media, and interpersonal communication predict conventional institutionalized participation and nontraditional civic forum engagement. Survey of 389 respondents found newspaper readership strongly predicts institutionalized participation, while interpersonal discussion best predicts civic forum engagement; television news had no direct effect, and community integration and broader community orientation were linked to forum participation. Keywords: efficacy, interpersonal communication, knowledge, mass media, nontraditional participation, traditional participation.

Abstract

Abstract This study examines the role of community integration and mass and interpersonal communication in predicting two types of local political participation; more conventional, "institutionalized" acts of participation and less traditional acts of participating and speaking out in a forum. An analysis of survey data (N = 389) showed a strong role of newspaper readership and a somewhat lower impact of interpersonal discussion on institutionalized participation. Different patterns emerged for participation in a civic forum, with interpersonal discussion having the strongest impact of the three communication variables. Television news use had no direct impact on either type of participation, but it did have a modest indirect impact on institutionalized participation. The data also showed direct effects of dimensions of community integration for participation in a forum only. Orientations toward the larger community rather than the local neighborhood were positively related to participating in a civic forum. Keywords: Efficacy;Interpersonal Communication;Knowledge;Mass Media;Nontraditional Participation;Traditional Participation