New Communication Technologies, Local Journalism and the Perception of Locality

Abstract

Studies on local journalism as an important element of participatory democracy generally focus on the history of the local press, the financial insufficiencies of local newspapers as well as technical/technological incompetency that occurs as a result of these factors. This research analyzes local newspapers with a new scientific point of view by focusing on the perception of locality as a mental projection of geographical constraint. Perspectives regarding the transformations on perceptions of locality as a result of the disappearance of time and space constraints due to new communication technologies, and the opportunities that new communication environments offer to local newspapers will be provided. Moreover, the ways in which local newspapers reflect on locality with their printed versions under time and space constraints will be analyzed. The research scope of the study has been limited to 15 newspapers in Konya. Structured interviews and content analysis methods were used for data collection and analysis.