Community Interaction through Journalism

This chapter describes the development of the E-News project which examined an interactive journalism approach in Rockhampton, Australia. This project provided an opportunity to examine how the introduction of this new technology into regional media and communication brings into question the traditional roles of the journalist, the editor, the graphic designer and the audience in the production and ‘consumption’ of written material. Such an approach provided the opportunity for grass-roots journalism to be examined for its capacity to provide a clearer insight into the nature of a community journalism-based approach such as the E-News system. It also allowed the examination of the resultant interaction that occurs between users and community. The experiences resulting from the E-News project provide a framework for discussion regarding the potential of approaches such as E-News for community informatics in regional areas resulting from online news environment.