Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the volume’s core proposition: that Americans need information to govern themselves, to participate effectively in society, and to be safe. These needs fall along eight dimensions, including emergencies and risks, health and welfare, education, transportation, economic opportunities, the environment, civic information, and political information. Yet, despite these growing needs, the American information landscape is at a precarious moment as “news deserts” increase in the face of a contracting news media economy. New public policies at the federal level are necessary in order to help local communities meet the information needs of the American public.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bates, Timothy, and Alicia Robb. 2015. Impacts of owner race and geographic context on access to small-business financing. Economic Development Quarterly 30: 159–170.
Cohen, Rachael. 2015. Pushing civic tech beyond its comfort zone. The American Prospect 26: 76.
Fisher, Dana R., Erika S. Svendsen, and James Connolly. 2015. Urban environmental stewardship and civic engagement; how planting trees strengthens the roots of democracy. Human Ecology 43(5): 783–784.
Frey, William. 2015. Diversity explosion: How new racial demographics are remaking America. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Friedland, Lewis. 2014a. Civic communication in a networked society: Seattle’s emergent ecology. In Varieties of civic innovation: Deliberative, collaborative, network, and narrative approaches. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
Friedland, Lewis. 2014b. The real story behind the FCC’s study of newsrooms. Washington Post, February 28.
Friedland, Lewis, Philip Napoli, Katherine Ognyanova, Carola Weil, and Ernest J. Wilson III. 2012. Review of the literature regarding critical information needs of the American public. Washington, DC: Federal Communications Commission.
Gimpel, James G., and Dante Chinni. 2010. Our patchwork nation: The surprising truth about the “real” America. New York: Penguin.
Gimpel, James G., and Jason E. Schuknecht. 2004. Patchwork nation: Sectionalism and political change in American politics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Ioannides, Yannis M., and Linda Datcher Loury. 2004. Job information networks, neighborhood effects, and inequality. Journal of Economic Literature 42: 1056–1093.
Katz, Bruce, and Jennifer Bradley. 2013. The metropolitan revolution: How cities and metros are fixing our broken politics and fragile economy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Moretti, Enrico. 2012. The new geography of jobs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Sampson, Robert J. 2012. Great American city: Chicago and the enduring neighborhood effect. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sampson, Robert J., Doug McAdam, Heather MacIndoe, and Simon Weffer-Elizondo. 2005. Civil society reconsidered: The durable nature and community structure of collective civic action1. American Journal of Sociology 111(3): 673–714.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Friedland, L.A. (2016). America’s Critical Community Information Needs. In: Lloyd, M., Friedland, L. (eds) The Communication Crisis in America, And How to Fix It. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94925-0_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94925-0_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-94924-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-94925-0
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)