The Rise of Engagement: Online and in Real Life

This is Chapter 3 from a new report “Local Journalism in the Pacific Northwest: Why It Matters, How It’s Evolving, and Who Pays for It,” published last week by the Agora Journalism Center, University of Oregon. Read Chapter 1 (Why Local Journalism Still Matters) here, Chapter 2 on The Evolution of Local Journalism, as well as the Executive Summary also on Medium.

“An effective journalist has always been on a first-name basis with the movers and shakers of a town. With the coffee shop owner, the lunch spot waitress, the city manager, the mailman, and both the official and self-appointed ‘mayors’ in the neighborhood.”

— Caitlyn May, Editor, Cottage Grove Sentinel (Oregon)

Introduction

Engagement was arguably the media buzzword of 2016.[1] But definitions of this term vary. Most interviewees for this project agreed that engagement was important, but they were still endeavoring to define what it meant, how to prioritize it, and where their focus should be.