Physical proximity to a community changes how journalists report on it

Evidence

A key differential between the ethics of local journalism and that of national journalism is seen to be the proximity of the local journalists to the communities they serve (Frost, 2006). Frost elaborates how this close relationship often results in ‘placing a different emphasis on first the approach to the source and the story, and then the way the story is used when published’ (p.278). This further leads to a more thoughtful approach to the story with a reluctance to sensationalise (Frost, 2006). — Nadia Haq, ‘The National Media Just Sees Muslims…, 48

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to debates about insider vs. outsider ethnography and to reporting-from-your-own-street models like community journalism. — connects to: Movement impact depends on media proximity more than size or state rupture. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 267; Journalists’ political biases shape which protest demands they report — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 414; A journalist’s source network shapes which narrative of a protest they produce — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 416
• SEED: Angle: what proximity buys and costs in journalism — accountability vs. capture by the community you live in.