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Evaluating the Efficacy of Engagement Journalism in Local News: An Ethnographic Study of the Dallas Morning News

The Dallas Morning News is a leader in using engagement journalism to increase and retain digital subscribers. This ethnography examined the efficacy of the engagement journalism work by the News in rebuilding trust and forming relationships with its audience. This research is exceptionally timely as more newsrooms are erecting paywalls to their content and asking their audiences to offer monetary support in exchange for greater access and engagement by journalists. This work is examined through two mass communications theories: functionalism, which says a society can be viewed like an ecosystem as a "system in balance" consisting of complex sets of interrelated activities, each of which supports the others in maintaining the system as a whole; and the dual responsibility model, which says that companies should operate in the best interests of all in the community who depend on them, not only those who benefit financially. Additionally, the work is considered from a human-interaction design standpoint to evaluate whether the News has created affordances that enable the journalists and the readers to communicate, and whether the journalists are effectively practicing service design when publishing news and information for the audience.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1505148
Date05 1900
CreatorsWise, Hannah Marie
ContributorsEverbach, Tracy, Fuse, Koji, Owens, Keith
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatvi, 82 pages, Text
CoverageUnited States - Texas - Dallas County - Dallas
RightsPublic, Wise, Hannah Marie, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved.

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