JASPER DRAGGING DEATH: CRISIS COMMUNICATION AND THE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER, THE

Communication Studies, Spring 2004 by Glascock, Jack

A second reason is to extend the study of communication crisis discourse to the media, in this case the community newspaper. Other studies of crisis communication have examined corporations (Benoit, 1995; Benoit & Brinson, 1994; Brinson & Benoit, 1996; Brinson & Benoit, 1999; Brown & Crable, 1983; Fishman, 1999; Hearit, 1995; Johnson & Sellnow, 1995; Ulmer & Sellnow, 2000) politicians (Benoit, 1982; Benoit, Gullifor & Panici, 1992), celebrities (Benoit, 1997; Benoit & NiIl, 1998), sports (Benoit & Hanczor, 1994) and religious figures (Blaney & Benoit, 1997), even fictional TV characters (Benoit & Anderson, 1996). While there was a concentrated effort in the town to respond to the crisis and from that proliferated a number of initiatives, one of the more visible was that of the local newspaper, The Jasper NewsBoy, a weekly publication with a circulation of about 6,000 (Editor & Publisher, 2000). According to editor and publisher Willis Webb, the paper's objectives during the crisis were twofold, to report the news as it happened and to help the town cope with the crisis (W. Webb, personal communication, March 3, 2000). The latter initiative, according to Webb, was pursued primarily in the paper's opinion section. It is argued here that the combination of crisis communication discourse and the practice of community, or civic, journalism allowed The NewsBoy to implement an effective campaign in its opinion pages to help restore the town's image.

Civic journalism is loosely defined as a recent trend in which the media, primarily newspapers, become more involved in a community's affairs (Anderson, Dardenne & Killenberg, 1997). One important element of civic journalism is for the media to become more active in finding solutions to community problems, as opposed to merely reporting them. By providing a forum, or public space, for people to speak out, be it town meetings, focus groups, etc., newspapers can advocate change or assist in solving problems based on community input (Voakes, 1999). In sum, the media seeks out community input on issues and solutions to problems, and this community involvement in turn shapes the newspaper's coverage. Civic journalism seems to be particularly suited to small-town markets, such as Jasper, in which local journalists are more likely to be involved in community organizations and have been found to be more accepting of the approach, which to some critics reeks too much of "community boosterism" (Fouhy, 1994; Voakes, 1999).

Newspaper opinion pages provide a ready-made public forum for readers to share information in the form of "Letters to the Editor." The NewBofs guidelines for submission describe the section as forum for readers in the paper's circulation area. Typically letters to the editor are edited for length as well as libel and invasion of privacy, as was the policy of The NewsBoy ("Letters to the editor," 1999). The editorials reflect the paper's official stance on issues while the columns at the NewsBoy are written by and attributed to members of the editorial staff. As such they typically reflect a more personal point of view than the editorials.