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This research seeks to delve into the dynamics of participation within news platforms curated by non-professional journalists residing in inland Portugal. Through an exploratory study, two initiatives originating from communities located in the country's inland areas are analysed: Vela Notícias, in the Centre region, and Jornal da Aldeia, in the Alentejo region. These initiatives serve as empirical objects illustrating a phenomenon that reflects the shift away from traditional media, the community's eagerness to disseminate locally pertinent knowledge, and the citizens' yearning for social and cultural representation. Both initiatives have emerged in ageing and sparsely populated regions, with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, according to the 2021 Census (Instituto Nacional de Estatística, 2021). To understand and address these concerns, alongside a thorough review of pertinent literature, semi-structured interviews were conducted as a methodological approach involving participants engaged in information production for the two community media outlets. The significance of this study lies in unravelling the intricacies of proximity communication dynamics spearheaded by non-journalist citizens. The residents of both parishes actively contribute to content creation, topic selection, editing, and distribution of the newspapers. Production operates outside the norms of journalistic selection, filtering, and hierarchy. Nevertheless, interviewees exhibit keen interest and confidence in the published information. The motivation for participation stems from a desire to share common values and cultural connections, fostering a sense of belonging and social responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the literature on political agenda-setting on social media in the local context. Using interviews with local politicians in northern Norway, we discuss local politicians' use of social media for agenda-setting in between elections from an agency perspective. We ask whether local politicians seek to promote and control the definition of an issue on social media, and whether local politicians are influenced by citizens' opinions on these platforms. We find that local politicians do take advantage of social media in the agenda-setting process, both for problem definition and to sell their ideas. Our findings reveal that local politicians use social media to bypass traditional media for political messaging and that they are sensitive to public opinion on Facebook. Furthermore, there is evidence in our study of online debates brought into formal policymaking processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kiowa County Media Center was set up as a community media that would focus solely on citizen-produced news content. But challenges such as technophobia, citizen’s lack of time to contribute content, and an aging population meant the media center had to reinvent itself and evolve beyond its citizen-journalism mission if it hoped to survive. Four main findings from this study offer key lessons for other community media facing challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]