Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach

“Geo-Ethnicity” and Neighborhood Engagement: A Communication Infrastructure Perspective

This article introduces the concept of “geo-ethnicity”—ethnically articulated attitudes and behaviors grounded in a specific temporal and spatial situation. Based upon survey data gathered in seven “geo-ethnic” communities, we demonstrate a unique effect of geo-ethnicity on individuals neighborhood engagement. We analyze two types of cross-sectional comparisons: a comparison of different ethnic groups in the same Los Angeles area and comparisons of the same ethnic group across different locations in Los Angeles County. To highlight the unique effect of geo-ethnicity, socioeconomic status, immigration history, residential tenure, and home ownership are held constant for all analyses. The implications of the results are discussed from a communication infrastructure perspective.

Ally or Adversary? Using Media Systems for Public Health

The media system controls information resources that public health agencies may wish to use to accomplish their goals, particularly in a crisis. The resources of the public health system sometimes are prized by the media system, and this provides opportunities for public health agencies to gain access to the media. This paper reviews the goals and resources of the media system as they relate to the mission of public health agencies in the periods before, during, and after a public health crisis. The various media are reviewed with attention to the role each can play for different purposes and at different stages of a crisis. The importance of presenting health information in the form of stories is emphasized, with specific advice regarding the attributes of an effective story.

Ethnic Differences in Health Information-Seeking Behavior: Methodological and Applied Issues

Ethnicity is a key factor in determining who is at the greatest risk for health problems. This article explores how survey methodologies may affect researchers recommendations about the best communication channels that practitioners should employ to reach these populations. A similar question regarding health communication connections was asked on both a community telephone survey using random digit dialing, conducted in the preferred language of the respondent; and a nationwide Internet survey; which was conducted in English. Findings for Hispanics and Anglos from two different surveys are compared. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Causing Ripples in Local Power Relations

Hyperlocal news operations have been considered a promising alternative to the shrinking legacy media for sustaining civic discourse and engagement in local communities. However, these operations’ meso-level influence on civic engagement has not been widely investigated. Building upon the Media System Dependency theory, this article proposed an analytical framework for assessing such influence. This framework was applied to an ethnically diverse city as a case study, and 15 interviews with city officials and legacy media reporters helped elucidate the ways in which organizational actors might respond to the entry of a non-commercial, participatory local news website. The implications of these organizational responses for shifting the power–dependency relation between the local media and political systems were discussed, and the findings pointed to both promises and barriers in materializing the democratic potential of hyperlocal news websites while calling for more research across different community contexts.

Neighborhoods and Perceived Norms: Understanding the Impact of Neighborhoods on Perceived Norms and Cancer Screening

ABSTRACT This study examines the importance of urban ethnic neighborhoods as the context of everyday life, where normative influences on health are formed, modified, and maintained. Built on communication infrastructure theory, this study investigates the role of women’s connections to their neighborhood storytelling network—consisting of residents, local/ethnic media, and community organizations—in shaping their descriptive normative perceptions regarding cervical cancer screening. Specifically, we explore the communication mechanisms that underlie Latinas’ exposure and attention to media information about Pap tests, their discussions with health-care professionals about Pap tests, their perceptions about how normative Pap tests are among “women like them”, and their compliance with cervical cancer screening guidelines. Our findings suggest that neighborhood storytelling resources hold promise for health communication research to understand not only the uptake of Pap tests but also health disparities in other domains that affect diverse populations and communities.

From Audience to Reporter

This study explores a hyperlocal news website that has trained dozens of community members to report on their own multiethnic city. It examines two approaches to participatory media used by the site: a loose community contributor model based around monthly in-person meetings and a more structured youth training program. Using the observations of the founding editor (the lead author), a professional journalist who facilitated both programs, as well as feedback from content contributors collected through a focus group, interviews and written reflections, we look at the process and investigate the outcomes on contributors’ sense of agency to tell local stories. Reflecting on best practices and key challenges, including sustainability, we situate this case within the context of the rise of locally based community news websites, and changing ideas of what defines a journalist.

Urban Nightmares: The Media, the Right, and the Moral Panic over the City, by Steve Macek

policy” (p. 123). One also can’t help but notice an irony for conservatives in Ballard’s study and its application to the post-9/11 policy environment: In both cases the policy response was essentially conservative and reactionary—tightening borders, expanding the reach of the death penalty, abridging civil liberties—yet as Ballard shows, the end result is inevitably one the Right supposedly loathes: a larger, richer, more invasive central government.