Local Press in a Small Community—A Case Study of Relationships Between a Local Weekly and Different Local Actors

What are the issues and problems to consider when discussing local (community) media? What are the challenges that local media are facing nowadays? Are phenomena such as: civic journalism, niche journalism, alternative journalism, or the combination of professional and civic journalism, opportunities for further development of local media or are they a threat to the professionalization of local media? 
In my paper, I discuss these issues within the context of culture—exploring local media situations in a variety of countries (e.g., Poland, UK, USA, Germany). However, the primary focus is on local media in Poland, and I examine what the biggest challenges are and whether current processes in journalism and media influence local media, and if so, to what extent. On the basis of my own qualitative research (case studies), I show how complex the local relations are and the level of involvement of local journalists and local media owners in these networks of relations. This complexity of relations (media-politics, media-business, media-church, media-media, etc.) might often be a cause of conflicts of interest (individual or institutional) or media bias.


Social Actors as a Challenge
Local press is still the most developed segment of media in Poland-it is estimated that there are between 2500 and 3000 local newspaper titles (Kowalczyk 2008). These newspapers are very often one of the most important sources of information for a community, it is therefore important to investigate their content, the kinds of problems they face, and the directions they should take in order to survive, without sacrificing their significant role in the community.
One of the issues under investigation is how local media function in a particular social context-that is, the relations between the media and other social local actors (e.g., local government, politicians, local businessmen, church, etc.), who try to influence media content, and how this is manifested (informal relations, indirect political influences, advertisement withdrawal, etc.).
In research focused on Polish journalists, conducted as part of the international project The Global Journalist in 21st Century, 1 respondents (86%) claimed that one of the most important aspects of journalistic work is the level of autonomy they have. At the same time, 83% thought they did 1 The research was conducted in 2009 using CATI; 329 respondents took part in the surveys-journalists working for dailies, weeklies, monthlies, news agencies, radio journalists and television journalists, journalists working for electronic media.
have "almost complete" or "a great deal of" freedom to choose the topics they cover (Stępińska et al. 2012). These results would suggest that journalists feel "professionally free" to a great extent and furthermore, that this freedom is a significant issue for them, so it might be assumed that they will defend it.
However, the literature on the subject shows quite a few instances where the media are influenced, particularly by political forces. Tomasz Goban-Klas (2000) argues that completely free media have never existed and never will. Media are dependent on the recipients, owners, economic conditions, and legal norms. In real social contexts, local media (i.e., journalists, editors, media owners, publishers) interact with many different social actors and institutions (not only local authorities). Such a network of relations might be complex and unclear (or even covert) for ordinary citizens. In the literature, there are various classifications of the relations between the local media and local institutions or individual actors. Michalczyk (2000:110) suggests four types of to deal with a quite complex field of study. These complex relations between local media and other social actors influenced the choice of my own research area. I decided to conduct qualitative field studies to gain a better and deeper understanding of the observed interactions and relationships. The assumptions and partial results of the study are presented later in the article.

Technological Challenges for Local Media
It seems that in comparison to Western local media Polish local media are still based in print and what is more, most of the copies are sold in a traditional way 3 (even though it is possible to buy electronic versions). In 2005, Sargeson and Astill noted " [i]f newspapers stick to ink, they will sink" (Pilling 2006:105), because of the technological changes in the media, the growing significance of the Internet, and falling number of readers, they simply will not be able to compete. Is this the future for the local press? Rod Pilling's (2006:105-106) study in the UK in the late 1990s identified a number of significant changes that were already tak- Apart from relations with groups or institutions, local media also interact with individuals. Generally, there are two types of these relations: 1. with ordinary citizens; 2. with elites (local leaders in politics, business, social organizations, administration, associations, and churches). There are formal and informal channels of communication, and being a leader gives the possibility of greater influence on media content (this is often supported by informal acquaintances with the media representatives). Elites often have resources at their dis-2 Symbiosis (living together)-both sides have profits from this type of relation. There is cooperation between them, which is possible thanks to formal and informal bonds. The institutions provide information, however, there is a tendency to use only "positive" ones. The institutions are usually a source of income for the media (advertising); co-existenceboth sides tolerate each other. Contact is rare (when there is an important event or issue). The institution does not try to represent itself in the media, however, it does not refuse to provide information. There are no close personal relations between the representatives of both entities. The institutions sometimes use the media as a channel of promotion (public relations purposes); mutual ignorance-there is no contact between the entities. The institutions appear in the media rarely or not at all. The institutions are not the sources of information. They exist next to each other, but there are no joint interests. The entities are either not active enough to develop contact or a lack of contact is caused by subjective factors; hostility-there is an information blockade, which can be the result of previous experiences (e.g., criticism). There might also be political causes-the local newspaper might be perceived as a representative of a different, opposing political option. The institution does not advertise in the particular newspaper (it uses other local or non-local channels). posal (material or otherwise), which can be offered to journalists or editors-in-chief for their influence (i.e., concealing information, stopping/blocking information, withdrawing advertisements, choosing the competition, annulling the institutional subscription, attacking journalists [editors] directly during public speeches). M. Kurp (1994:48-52) terms the elites "key figures," whose influence Bearing in mind the different levels of possible analysis and different types of social actors present in the particular communities, the researcher has dense with local news, the online edition does not detract from the ink-on-paper product. ... Harper suspects that the online edition heightens interest in the print version" (Lauterer 2006:251-252). In fact, as the editor-in-chief of the Pilot admits, the online edition made the paper more accessible for non-residents who still want to keep in touch with the community. The website itself has a rich variety of options for the potential user. Apart from the possibility of accessing the news, the reader can buy the e-edition of the paper, manage his/her subscription, or place an advertisement. However, apart from these common options there are also more advanced alternatives: a recipient can use a live web cam, send a letter to the editor, submit news, announce his/her wedding (wedding form), engagement (engagement form), anniversary (anniversary form), or his/her close person's death (obituary). The website also includes social media plug-ins, a community calendar, and a very easy way of enlarging the font of a text the reader is interested in. 4 All these options make State Port Pilot a reader-friendly newspaper which also has a long tradition and is appreciated not only by its readers but also professional institutions (in the annual News, Editorial and Photojournalism Contest the Pilot was the most honored newspaper in its division-community newspapers between 3,500 and 10,000 circulation-with the 22 editorial awards and 24 advertising awards 5 ).
Another positive aspect of new technology is the potential of the audience to be authors of "con-4 See: http://stateportpilot.com/. 5 See: http://stateportpilot.com/news/article_05292742-a47f-11e3-8a49-001a4bcf887a.html. Retrieved April 25, 2014. tent" as citizen journalists. Citizen journalism has a long tradition, but it seems to be of marginal use in traditional Polish local weeklies.
Perhaps they are afraid of the responsibility and lack of control over such journalists who are not completely dependent on the publisher. Such journalists are sometimes considered second category journalists, 6 "semi-journalists," or "village correspondents" (Bew 2006:203). They happen to not have enough knowledge or skills (or understanding of the laws of defamation) and the pages submitted by them can be a legal minefield for a newspaper, so qualified journalists as subeditors have to constantly check what is sent in (Bew 2006:204-205).

McQuail (2013) presents a different understand-
ing of "civic" or "public" journalism in which the journalists themselves are responsible for doing more to engage with their audience and being involved in their communities in relevant ways. This approach does not expect common citizens to be journalists, but views journalists themselves as "professionals who hold citizenship in trust for us" (McQuail 2013:49). Therefore, the role of journalism is to facilitate a debate in society rather than simply providing information.
A particular combination of professional and citizen journalism worked well in the Korean completely, but rather that they should search for synergy-"to make profitable connections between printed newspapers and other forms of media" (Auletta 2005 as cited in Pilling 2006:107). A similar viewpoint is presented by P. M. Abernathy (2014) in her recent work Saving Community Journalism.
The author points out: [t]he recent experience of other industries that have faced creative destruction...leads to this conclusion: newspapers, both large and small, need to re-create themselves for the twenty-first century. If they do not develop a plan for confronting and accommodating today's very intrusive and disruptive technological innovations, they risk being lost in the "re-shuffling of the deck" and going the way of black-and-white motion pictures and other outdated media forms, consigned to the periphery with severely diminished prestige, influence, and profitability. (Abernathy 2014:54) The "creative destruction" process in print publishing is also noted by Gillian Doyle (2013). The researcher underlines that although digital convergence and the development of the Internet have been innovative factors on the one hand, on the other, "as evidenced by recent closures among newspapers, these developments have engendered difficulty and even demise for some market incumbents" (Doyle 2013:27).
The phenomenon of "changing audience" is also significant in terms of the future of local press. Young people do want to access news, but they want to access it in a different way-they want the news faster, continuously updated, more dynamic. They want space for conversation, their own input, and they expect the local news to be more in-depth, and above all, they want online access.
Consequently, with their traditional approach, Polish local newspapers attract mostly middle-aged readers (Jóźko 2006).

Local Media-Directions for Development?
One of the ways to discover future directions for development is to investigate the successful examples of transitions from a print-only format to a more advanced version that is more accessible to readers. One positive example of this is the State Port Pilot in the United States. The newspaper's first issue appeared in 1935, and from the beginning it was a family business. The weekly started with only four people in the newsroom, but as a result of a well-established relationship with the community, visionary leadership, dedicated staff, and quality journalism, it managed to grow into a very successful newspaper (Lauterer 2006). However, the technological boom of the 90's made the owners of the weekly realize that changes were needed. In 1996, State Port Pilot started a website and, though the editor-in-chief and co-owner, Ed Harper, was initially reluctant about this move, the decision turned out to be a great success. Today the weekly has a printed edition (70 pages, 10000 circulation), an e-edition ("e-Pilot," which is identical to the printed version), and an online edition, which is updated once a week and provides content that is often related to articles in the other versions. The introduction of the online edition did not cause any printed, paper subscription cancellations and circulation did not decline. "Because the 'Pilot' is so on a community and targets younger audiences, which is quite important as these younger audiences are more dissatisfied with mainstream media (Harcup 2006). In the UK, alternative press (including local press) began to emerge again in the 1960s as a challenge to the hegemony of the traditional press which tend to use official sources and give voice to those in positions of social or political power (Harcup 2003). One such newspaper was

Local Media in a Community--Complicated Relations
My interest in the relationship between local media 12 and different social actors resulted in a multiple case study 13 (Stake 2010), with the main goal of exploring the complexity of these relationships and identifying the level of involvement of local journalists and local media owners in these 12 In my study, I concentrate on the local press as it is still the most developed segment of local media. There has been much debate regarding the definition of local media. I adopt the definition suggested by Józef Mądry and his research team: "[l] ocal media/local press are for one, more or less cohesive community, living in a relatively small area, which is connected by social bonds based on joint traditions, activities, sources of living, and even press-reading habits" (Kowalczyk 2003:50; see also : Gierula 2005). 13 The multiple case study consists of several instrumental case studies (Stake 2010:628).
In the first case, a Korean journalist, Oh Yeon Ho, set up an online newspaper, OhmyNews, that actually based its content on "citizen reporters," whose contributions were edited by a handful of professional staff: around 60 professional reporters are responsible for 20% of the content and 42000 "citizen contributors" provide 80% of the content (Pilling 2006;Aldridge 2007). OhmyNews introduced a tipjar system which enables readers to pay a "tip" when they approve of an article, simply by clicking on their computer screen (Pilling 2006:108). the newspaper changed its identity and its mission. Its primary function is "to be a voice and to allow voices from within of the community to be heard" (Lauterer 2006:38). The newspaper wants to portray the "Black community" accurately, "to dignify a race of people," and its editor underlines that "the other media tend to talk about our community…We talk to our community…We say 'we,' and we say 'us' in our stories, and the reader knows who we mean" (Lauterer 2006:39).
By way of comparison, we can also observe different initiatives in Poland which are similar to "niche journalism"-newspapers are set up with the sole aim of supporting a particular issue/problem or to present matters of a certain organization (Jachimowski 2009). They will not last long, but they indicate the growth of citizens' activity and a need for "truly" local papers, which might show the way forward for traditional newspapers.
The role of "alternative media" is also worth mentioning. Their news coverage focuses more 9 See: http://newpittsburghcourieronline.com/.
10 See also: http://newpittsburghcourieronline.com/history/. Retrieved April 25, 2014. to), and at the same time these actions are against another organization's interests towards which they should also be loyal." Sandra L. Borden and Michael Pritchard (2001:74) note that "conflicts of interest in journalism arise in circumstances in which there is a reason to be concerned that the judgment and performance of journalists might be unduly influenced by inter- A hierarchy-of-influences approach (Reese 2001) was employed in order to analyze different levels of relationships between the local weekly B and its societal context. However, the individual level was omitted in the analysis, as it is more characteristic for studies which attempt to describe the individual characteristics of journalists in terms of occupational group. Therefore, this particular local situation is investigated on four levels: 1. routines level, 2. organizational level, 3. extra-media level, and 4. ideological level. 19 19 Reese (2001:174) represents a sociology-of-media view, which "considers how media power functions within a larger context." According to the author, "in the media sociology view, we are more interested in those forces which set the media's agenda" (Reese 2001:174).

Routines Level
"The routines level of analysis considers the constraining influences of work practices" (Reese The most important criteria in my study were: the fact that the newsroom was based in a particular town, the distribution range (local or micro-regional), private ownership (formally independent from political actors), and the provision of a wide range of news concerning a particular community. 14 I also applied a few additional criteria: that is, diversity of field according to competition versus lack of competition in the media market; stability versus dynamics of the local media market; being a member of the Local Newspapers' Association. Based on these features, four weeklies/towns 15 were chosen for the study (and are referred to by letters of the alphabet for ethical reasons). 16 14 Therefore, I am not interested in "habitat press"/"milieu press," parish press, or local governmental press. 15 Weekly A and B-the same private owner, members of the Local Press Association, stability of the media market, no or weak competition; weekly C-there is competition in the media market, dynamics of the local media market; weekly D-there is competition in the media market, stability of the media market. 16 As a researcher, I follow the rule "do no harm," and therefore decided to keep the names of the weeklies and towns confidential. In a small community, a person might be identified just by his/her function, so it was done only in order to protect my informants. The phenomena discussed in the study also involve ones which might be considered unethical, ethically dubious, or covert, so it was important to make my informants feel secure.
In this paper, I discuss the results of the case study conducted in town B 17 and the initial conclusions drawn from the study. 18 In a local community, informal relations are often person (or an organization) is in a conflict of interest when the actions they take are profitable to themselves or another actor (an organization they are tied 17 Town B is a small town situated in the Lodzkie Voivodeship-almost 30000 inhabitants. The community has a quite evident catholic identity and the Catholic Church is an important social actor. The mayor of the town was elected in 2010 for his second term and he is supported by the majority members of the town council. The towns' economy is based on the food industry, food processing, agriculture, horticulture, and the textile industry. The companies with a long tradition focused around local entrepreneurs are still in business, but there are also new investments (in 2012/2013 a large Polish contractor and a foreign company dealing with natural resources extraction invested in Town B). The local weekly B, which is the focus of the study, is a newspaper with a long tradition, with Solidarity roots, was established in 1990. The weekly is published fully by the Polish private owner. The newspaper consists of around 44 pages on average. The same owner also publishes another weekly in the region-the local weekly A, though the content of both newspapers is broadly similar. Weekly A differs from weekly B by approximately 10 pages. 18 My case studies have so far consisted of 66 in-depth interviews with "local leaders" and local journalists in towns A and B (from July to September 2013 I spent over two months in these towns); the first phase of content analysis was also completed; the presented material is based mainly on the in-depth interviews from town B; research in towns C and D is ongoing.
Sometimes the newspaper publishes unpaid articles, which are in fact advertisements for local businessmen (in one of the interviews one businesswoman confirms this happened in her business-interview 24b). There were also occurrences of advertorials, which are generally banned unless the editor decides otherwise (interview 1a, 2a). 25 25 'R2a: "We are not allowed to publish advertorials. But our chief can. We don't approve of this. There has been a situation recently where [the owners] needed the irrigation system for their garden, so they suddenly published an article about some irrigation systems offered by a particular shop."

Extra-Media Level
"At the extra-media level we consider those influences originating primarily from outside the media organization" (Reese 2001:182).

Figure 1 26 presents local institutions and actors iden-
tified as "key figures" or "local leaders" which are represented in the study. 26 In Figure 1, the relations between the actors are marked by different arrows: 1. an arrow that points both ways indicates a relation which is close to a "symbiotic" one described earlier in footnote no. 2; 2. a line between the clouds means a relation of co-existence; 3. an inequality sign (≠) indicates a relation of hostility; 4. an arrow that points one way means a one-sided relation. be published in the newspaper (e.g., interviews 3b and 7b). It is also necessary to note that the bonuses that the staff receive (1/3 of journalistic salary at this newspaper) are dependent on them writing a "remembrance" every month, dedicated to a person who recently died in the community (interviews 10b, 30a, and 1a).
Weekly B journalists also object to the way the quality of their articles is evaluated by the owners (subjective marks from A to F are given by the editor-in-chief). They admit the articles are sometimes changed during editorial proofreading or that subjective editorial comment is added, which is at odds with the author's intentions (interview 2a and 10b 22 ).

Organizational Level
"At the organizational level we may consider the goals and policies of a larger social structure and how power is exercised within it" (Reese 2001:181).
This level is closely connected to the previous one.
The local weekly B was established just after the political transformation in Poland and local Solidarity members were its founders (interviews 18b and 19b). It was handed over to a private owner in 1990, who is still the editor-in-chief, and has not changed ownership since. The interviewees under-22 R2a: "they [journalists from weekly B] have made a lot of remarks about their articles after proofreading, so after the chief saw them, he changed them or added something to them. The chief's comments are a tradition. And then they are signed with our names whether we agree with them or not"; R10b: "Our editor-in-chief was used to writing comments, which were not signed with his name, and which were pasted into the text. This wasn't always right." line the role of the co-owner (the editor's wife) and note that the editor married into this community and comes from a different town.
The position of the directorship seems strong and stable, and the weekly is a reflection of this. The shape of the newspaper is a result of the editor and his wife's conservative world-view and their background (graduates of a theological academy, the editor-former member of Solidarity). The local left-wing opposition representatives recognize that their initiatives are mentioned in the weekly very briefly or not at all (interviews 3b, 7b, and 12b).
The business approach of the owners is also apparent. There are many advertisements printed in the paper, 23 and some of the interviewees mentioned that a lot of recipients buy the weekly for that reason. There is little of reader input in the paper, but in spite of this, the weekly sells well. 24 One of the reasons for its successful distribution is the paper's orientation to topics like crime, accidents, and "neighbor's wealth" (financial declarations of local councilors, tax amortization, or subsidy for business activity). The journalists are obliged to cover accidents (interview 1a and 2a), and in every issue of the weekly a crime chronicle is published. The readers call the local weekly B a "rag" or a "gossiper." 23 Only an average of 10 pages per issue (36-44 paged) contain no advertisements (sport pages, obituaries, photo reports, institutions' contact information); 7-8 pages are dedicated to small adds, and on the rest of the pages we can find several or dozens of advertisements. 24 Nearly 8900 copies sold in February 2014 (10000 circulation; February 2013 sales were almost at the same level: 9000 copies). See: http://www.teleskop.org.pl/zkdp/. Retrieved April 26, 2014.

Figure 1. The network of relations between the local weekly B and different social actors in Town B
Source: Self-elaboration op's "tuba," 13b). The present bishop cooperates closely with catholic media. According to the local church spokesman (5b), the relations loosened due to the newspaper's coverage of a "church scandal."

Ideological Level
"Here we at least are concerned with how media symbolic content is connected with larger social interest, how meaning is constructed in the service of power" (Reese 2001:183).
Weekly B is an example of a newspaper which does not have a well-established relationship with the community as a whole. It represents the interests of its allies, to be precise, the owners' allies, and its columns are not available (or hardly ever available) for opponents (with a different world-view). There are occurrences of such conflicts ending in the law courts, and these cases were lost by the weekly (18b, 21b, 30b).
The business approach is also visible-the newspaper's columns are available to the opposition if they pay for the content. The owners have a lot of experience in running the local weekly and they know exactly what sells in the community. They also expect their journalists to follow their ideas almost blindly.
If they want to suggest a change or if they want to disagree with something, they have to find a new newsroom to work in, or a different professional career (10b, 30a).

Concluding Remarks
The example of local weekly B might suggest that local pacts and interest groups are much more im-portant for the local media than their recipients. This particular newspaper is still based on a traditional model of publishing and it is rather closed for its readers (e.g., poorly developed website/online communication with readers and a rather closed newsroom for local people). The local elites (particularly political/local governmental) are the ones who consistently have the most influence on media content.
Additionally, the directorship of the weekly, with strong one-sided views, controls the situation and maintains the status quo.
Such leadership means the weekly does not have the chance to become anything like State Port Pilot.
Perhaps the growing role of the local news website lead by the engaged young journalist in town B will help the weekly transform itself.
There are certain features of weekly B worth underlining. Some of these may prove beneficial for the weekly, others may be detrimental in the long term.  Weekly B's dominance in town B is also confirmed by other local or regional media representatives.
A journalist (interview 8b) who works for a local news website (started by the owner of an outdoor advertising company), which is mentioned as an alternative source of information by some of the interviewees, claims that the weekly has more impact. However, he notices a shift in the weekly's policy towards the website. In the beginning, the weekly did not pay much attention to the website, but it has recently begun to fight the competition, particularly in the advertising market (e.g., exclusivity of media patronage). The majority of the town council members support the mayor, therefore opposition councilors' (two left-wing and one right-wing independent) ideas and initiatives are covered rarely. These respondents sometimes cooperate with a local reporter from a regional weekly, although this regional weekly is not widely read in town B (3b, 7b, 12b).
There are two types of relations between the weekly and local entrepreneurs: 1. co-existence or even mutual ignorance between "B" and larger entities and 2. symbiotic relations with smaller local businesses. The larger entities are not interested in maintaining a good rapport with the weekly because they need a wider range of advertising and they prefer to choose other means of achieving this (e.g., outdoor advertising) (9b). Smaller entities are more dependent on local advertising and, as previously mentioned, local weekly B sometimes publishes advertising articles for free (there might be private relations between the owners and the businessmen, like those in the example mentioned above), which might result in paid advertisements in the future. In comparison to political relations, relations with businessmen are more neutral.
The Catholic Church is an important social actor in town B. The symbiotic relations between the weekly and the church are invoked by the owners world-view and the fact that they are religious themselves. The newspaper is perceived in the community as "pro-church," although the informants do notice that the relations were better with the previous bishop (the bishop himself admits that he had informal relations with the owners of the paper, but he did not want the weekly to be a bish-

Appendix: 39 in-depth interviews with local leaders and local journalists from town B.
List of the interviewees: 1b: a town council member, a school headmaster, member of Platforma Obywatelska (Civic Platform party) 2b: a town council president, supportive of the mayor, conservative 3b: a left-wing town council member, a social activist 4b: a regional newspaper journalist (leads a one-man editorial office) 5b: a priest, a church spokesman 6b: a town council member, young politician, conservative 7b: a left-wing town council member, a director of a social welfare institution 8b: a local journalist working for a local news website 9b: a businessman, an owner of a large food processing factory, and a president of a non-governmental organization 10b: a former journalist of weekly B 11b: a president of the regional Solidarity trade union 12b: a town council member, a doctor, conservative, but cooperates with left-wing councilors rather than the mayor 31b: a director of the Archives, cooperates with weekly B, a candidate for the honored citizen award 32b: a president of a district (powiat) council, many years of experience in local government, conservative 33b: a doctor, a loyal reader of weekly B, collects all the issues 34b: a former head of the district (starosta), a former president of a district (powiat) council and head of municipal services office 35b: a regional catholic radio journalist, head of the news department 36b: a district (powiat) council member, the head of the communication and PR department at town B council 1a: a journalist and an assistant editor at weekly A who initially worked at weekly B 2a: a journalist at weekly A who cooperates with weekly B 30a: a former journalist of weekly A who initially worked at weekly B, the head of the communication and PR department at town A council Table 1. Weekly B and its positive and negative aspects of functioning.

Benefits Drawbacks
Origins of the newspaper Solidarity movement, opposition to communist regime.
One-sided views, the owner as a declared "anti-communist."

Importance of the
weekly Long tradition, established in 1990.
Too attached to traditional way of functioning, not paying enough attention to competition or mistreating competition.

Mostly based in print
Printed version brings the sales among middle-aged readers.
Low number of on-line sales, poorly developed website, low number of younger readers.

Loyal readers
Large number of readers confirms the weekly's strategy. Rather closed approach towards the readers. Source: Self-elaboration.