Abstract

Digital platforms are transforming practices of political information production and circulation in local communities. We develop the theoretical concept of local political information infrastructure to draw attention to (1) the broadening array of actors who are producing political information in local communities, in addition to local news media, and (2) the role of network media logics in shaping everyday practices of political information production and circulation. We combine a computational analysis of Facebook posts from news and non-news community actors in a mid-sized Midwestern U.S. city with interviews with communication managers at local non-profits, libraries, local government, and city service organizations in that same case community. Our findings illustrate the ways in which local news media are increasingly displaced from the centre of local political information infrastructures, while Facebook moves to take up a central infrastructural role. We consider the consequences of these shifts for the circulation of politics and policy information in communities.

摘要

数字平台正在改变当地社区政治信息的生产和流通方式。我们发展地方政治信息基础设施的理论概念提请注意（1）除了本地新闻媒体以外，在当地社区中产生政治信息的参与者也在不断扩大，以及（2）网络媒体逻辑在塑造政治信息产生和传播的日常实践中的作用。我们将对美国中西部中型城市中新闻和非新闻社区参与者的Facebook帖子进行的计算分析与对同一案例社区中当地非营利组织，图书馆，地方政府和城市服务组织的传播经理的采访结合起来。我们的研究结果说明了当地新闻媒体越来越多地从当地政治信息基础设施中心移出的方式，而Facebook则开始担负着基础设施的核心角色。