Transcript Insights from the Communications Theme

The New Rural Economy Project
Researchers:
David Bruce
Ivan Emke
Doug Ramsey
Bill Reimer
Derek Wilkinson
Anna Woodrow
Insights from the
Communications Theme
October 27, 2006
Students:
Jennifer Butler
Colene Chisholm
Nancy Delury
Katrina Ellis
Lori Gould
Lindsay Lyghtle
Tara Madigan
Alison Moss
Paula Romanow
Andrea Sharkey
& Many others!
Presentation Outline
• Background and Context for Communication
 oil, web, glue
• Some Evidence
 From a number of data sources
• Summary and Conclusions
 Communications Capacity and Policy
Which capacities need to be built?
• Does rural Canada need to:
 better use existing tools and/or learn new ones?
 find and share information about the New
Economy within the community?
Communication is:
• A multi-faceted aspect of community life,
 Glue to bind people together.
 Oil to lubricate social and economic relations.
 Web to mark lines of influence and interaction.
Communication(s)
• Builds community collectively,
• Produces/maintains culture and identity,
• Provides necessary information for full
participation of community members,
• Provides a ‘voice’ to otherwise excluded
groups, via local tools.
Evidence
• Communication Tools (inventory)
• Traditional media (Key Informant Survey)
 Newspapers and Newsletters (content analysis,
Rural News Editors survey, Lot 16 - case study)
 Radio (Twillingate survey, Mackenzie case study)
• New forms of media
 Internet (Chat rooms)
Traditional Communication
• Market
• Bureaucratic
• Associative
• Communal
Traditional Media Remains Important
• Variety of Important Forms:
 Newspapers, Radio, Television, Bulletin boards,
Gathering spaces, Word of mouth.
• New communication tools enhance and
augment existing tools.
Twillingate Survey
Where do you find out about something going on in the community?
3%
Local Cable TV
6%
Interpersonal
7%
85% get their
information
from (local)
television or
word of
mouth
9%
52%
23%
TV Channel Not
Specified
Bulletin Boards
Newspaper
Radio
Twillingate Survey
How do you communicate local concerns to municipal officials?
3%
1%
1%
Phone Call
6%
Letter
Don't bother
15%
74%
Go to Town
Hall
Internet
Public Meeting
Rural Newspaper Editors Survey
(Emke, 2002 and 2006)
45
38.9
43.4
Percent who
agree/disagree that:
sometimes community
newspapers have to
champion particular
development strategies
(and dismiss others) to
help the community to
develop appropriately
40
35
30
0
Strongly
agree
Agree
3
4.5
5
12.1
10
23.7
15
15.7
17.7
20
18.7
22.2
25
Neutral Disagree Strongly
disagree
2002
2006
Rural Newspaper Editors Survey
(Emke, 2002 and 2006)
40
30
25
20
5
0
Strongly
agree
8.4
10.2
10
9.9
9.7
15
Agree
14.9
17.3
33.2
27.6
33.7
35.2
35
Neutral Disagree Strongly
disagree
Community
newspapers should
consider the possible
effects on the region in
deciding whether to
cover certain stories
2002
2006
Content Analysis - Rural Newspapers
• How has the Local Newspaper covered issues
in the new economy over the past 20 years?
• Frequent and continuing coverage of:
 local heritage
 concern about natural resources and the
environment (water, parks)
 changes in industry
Content Analysis - Rural Newspapers
• No detailed discussion of globalization
• No detailed discussion of external markets
• 1996-2004, shows a decline in local and
political facts and analysis, and an increase
in human-interest news
Impact of a Community Newsletter
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
100
79
61
B
el
on
gi
ng
ac
ti
on
es
t
In
te
r
In
te
r
A
w
ar
e
n
es
s
42
Agree or Strongly
Agree
Twillingate Radio Survey
• What was the most
important issue
covered in the radio
broadcast?
Local Info
10%
13%
33%
Rural Challenges
History/Culture
• Community Radio
makes use of
associative and/or
communal relations
16%
Local Talent
28%
Conference Info
How to use community radio?
13%
4%
24%
7%
12%
16%
24%
Cover Local
News
Community
Events
Showcase Local
Talent
Discussion of
Local issues
Pride &
Cohesion
Heritage &
Culture
Other
Reclaiming Community Radio
• Mackenzie BC
• Responding to the loss of a key
communication tool
• Mackenzie Area Radio Society created (nonprofit). Allows the community to talk to and
with itself, critical web and glue
New Forms of Communication
Learning Facilitated By technology
Constrained by:
• social capacity,
• hardware,
• speed of access,
• time constraints and busy schedules,
• relative importance of learning and motivation,
• Imagination.
Learning Facilitated By technology
Implications:
• Invest in training and capacity
development (youth?)
• Expand technology training opportunities
Summary
Communicative
Capacity
The capacity to communicate in the
NRE?
• Existing networks/tools constrain choices
• Media tools not necessarily used effectively
or for intended purposes
• Local champions are key (CAP Coordinator,
Newsletter Creator, Newspaper Editor)
Capacity to use tools?
• Some communities have learned to use
community radio, newspapers, and/or
newsletters
• Strategic local approaches to using the
Internet and Broadband are emerging and
evolving
Capacity to use content?
• Some editors champion new rural economy
issues
• Content of most communication is local
• Importance of building, maintaining and
addressing social networks outside the
community
Capacities to Build
• Find and share information about the NRE
and its impacts on the community,
• Use information for planning and decisionmaking
• Improve use of the Internet and Broadband
• (Re) discover the power of traditional media
(radio, TV, newspaper) with the right content
Policy Suggestions
• Increase support for traditional forms of
community media
• Increase support behind newer forms of
media
• Provide support to connect different forms of
communicating
• Develop policies to resist ‘Oligarchy’
ownership pattern in Canadian media
Conclusion
• Traditional Media remains the principle form
of rural communication.
• Rural residents can increase their
communicative capacity by expanding and
connecting local tools.
• Policy needs to address the importance of
old and new forms of communication(s).