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English
This article evaluates the impact of community appraisals undertaken in 46 predominantly rural communities in south-west England. The analysis is based on responses to a questionnaire and focus groups with representatives of 10 communities. The survey considered the extent to which community concerns were addressed and the impact of the appraisals on community development and the stock of social capital. The study indicated that the impact of the process was limited. Progress in addressing concerns was restricted primarily to the resolution of relatively simple problems. Similarly, the gains for community development and social capital were modest.

Recently, the print and television news media have begun to question the future of their industries. From newspaper executives at the New York Times who have asked whether there will be a print version of their paper in ten years, to television news executives who openly speculate on whether there will be network nightly news, the stated cause for alarm is the competitive threat of the Internet. This article looks at the hypothesized shift of news consumption from the traditional media to the online news media. The hypothesized mass migration of news consumption behavior is not supported by the facts. Some migration from offline to online news consumption has occurred, but this number (12 percent direct substitution) is less than many believe. Another 22 percent of U.S. adults have substituted some online news for offline news, but for a substantial portion of this group, the online news media acts as a complement rather than as a substitute. Most significant is the fact that two-thirds of the U.S. adult population have not shifted to online news consumption and appear unlikely to do so. The author also examined the advertising markets for the traditional news media and for the online media and found that online advertising is an imperfect substitute for advertisers. Despite declining television viewership and newspaper circulation, advertising revenues are not only staying with the traditional news media but are also increasing, albeit slowly. The author has found no major impact on the economics of the news industry due to the online news media. This is not to say that pressures are not being felt, but they are not felt to an extent that warrants predictions of the demise of the traditional news media.

This study examines the extent and consequences of press independence in the realm of problem definition. Beginning with an experiment, the analysis shows that many of the words and phrases used in the 1998 to 1999 Social Security reform debate were misleading in the sense that they caused citizens to draw incorrect inferences about the financial problems facing Social Security. Next, the study compares the prevalence of these same expressions in the mass media and in transcripts of political speeches and press releases. Contrary to theories of indexing, reporters and journalists exhibited considerable independence in how they described Social Security's financial problems. Ironically, however, this meant that media accounts had more misleading rhetoric than the actual statements of government officials.

After an earlier study found the public's dominant expectation of the press was to be a good neighbor and not a watchdog, the present study set out to determine what being a good neighbor meant for different segments of the public. The analysis revealed that being a good neighbor was strongly valued by women, African Americans, and Hispanics. Many in these groups wanted more coverage of education, health and medicine, science, and arts and culture. The segment of the public that expected the press to be a good neighbor was concerned about crime and social issues, and television was viewed as best able to address these concerns. This study fills a void in the empirical public journalism literature that has primarily focused on journalists' opinions, the content of public journalism projects, and the impact of public journalism projects on the public. Unlike most of the previous literature, which has ignored the public's opinions about journalistic practices associated with public journalism, the present study connects the public's expectations of local news as a good neighbor with techniques that epitomize public journalism, that is, caring about the community, reporting on interesting people and groups, understanding the local community, and offering solutions.