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The article offers information related to newspaper BridgeDetroit, which is developing a Community Priorities Model that will continually engage Detroiters to identify and prioritize the issues that challenge people understanding of and connection to vital civic information. It reports that BridgeDetroit produces journalism and community information directly responsive to its Community Priorities Model.

The article discusses how changes in local media ownership have largely led to a decline in radio news. There are about a dozen radio stations that serve Stevens Point today, but none offers local radio news. Local news on commercial radio, has been on a steady path of decline caused by the trends and events that started some 20 years ago and peaked with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Commercial radio is no longer a reliable source of local information, even during times of breaking news and major emergency, according to David Rubin, dean of Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York. Rubin knew what a radio station dedicated to local news would do: The news crew would report to work en masse regardless of prearranged shifts and schedules; the station's disaster coverage plan would be implemented and reporters would be dispatched to gather information at key sites; local officials would be in the studio taking questions from anxious callers; commercials would be suspended. The decline of local radio news most greatly affects its historic stronghold: small-town and rural U.S., where television coverage was not universal and people depended on the ubiquitous radio for everything from tornado warnings to agricultural alerts. Commercial stations committed to cost reductions turned to another source of programming in the 1980s and 1990s that was cheaper than local news: the so-called news/talk format. At one end of the spectrum, news/talk shows include programs such as National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation, which provides serious programming. Local commercial radio news is following a pattern first seen in the local newspaper industry as circulations started declining 30 years ago, largely because of the industry's failure to attract younger readers for whom local news is not a top priority.

Part IX. Presents a case study on a joint community journalism project between a local newspaper and a local television station. Background on the partnership between the newspaper and the television station; Information on the Media Leaders Forum panelists; Responses of the panelists to questions on community journalism and the role of newspapers in their communities.

The article presents suggestions for journalists at community newspapers for ways to cover political elections. One suggestion is to be prepared when interviewing candidates including following the same writing format and being critical when using press releases. For newspapers that choose to endorse particular candidates they should explain such decisions through editorials and establish criteria by which candidates are measured. Letters to the editor submitted on election topics should, the article suggests, be edited harshly and writers required to present facts proving their allegations.

Looks at the decline of afternoon newspapers in the United States. Theories on why the afternoon newspaper has been dying abound; Why efforts to save the papers are fruitless; Afternoon publications that are safe from distribution problems.

Examines local news reporting. Need to provide local reporters with international background on hometown stories; Need to give editors ideas for localizing international news; Plans to help hometown journalists access the Web to add depth and context to their own interviews and sources; Reporting opportunities in the growing global economy.

This article discusses the significance of reporting issues related to high school athletics. Nowhere is community pride reflected more strongly than in hometown, high school sports. A season's ups and downs are talk of the town--from coffee shops to barber shops to break rooms to dinner tables. The headaches of coaches--including successes and failures of teams--often are common knowledge. The widespread attention is why community newspapers should report the accomplishments and shortcomings of teams and individual athletes. Fans deserve to know why athletes, in particular those who are integral to a team's success, miss a game. The issue of reporting suspensions goes beyond sports. It quite often involves chemical health and as such is part of a far greater community discussion. Newspapers won't win a lot of points for identifying suspended athletes. That doesn't mean they should shirk from reporting the facts. Missing players can affect a team's performance. If a player is injured, it's reported. If someone is out for other reasons, that ought to be told, too. INSET: A GUIDE TO REPORTING SPORTS SUSPENSIONS.

A community newspaper in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is working to bridge the gap between Hispanic and traditional American cultures. La Semana Del Sur, a Hispanic paper, has a weekly circulation of 5,000 copies. By March 2004, the newspaper was planning to print its articles in English to supplement its Spanish-language edition. Newspaper publisher Guillermo Rojas believes that the move will help the American audience to learn a little more about Hispanic problems and what is going on in Latin American countries. The newspaper is distributed at 150 stores across the Tulsa area.