The Importance Of Community Communication

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Over the years, academics in various disciplines have examined the political, economic and communication factors that make it easier or difficult to engage people as active members of community life and participants of civil society (Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995; Kim & Ball-Rokeach, 2006). From a communication discipline perspective, engaging people as active participants in their neighbourhoods, is a function of how news about the neighbourhood is shared by a network of residents, neigbourhood-based organizations, local media and mainstream media (Wilkin, 2005; Katz, 2007; Wilkin, Ball-Rokeach, Matsaganis & Cheong, 2012). Importantly, the coverage of neighbourhood news is crucial to achieving civic engagement in any community, because it assists individuals transcend their own personal concerns and embed themselves in the larger environment (Wilson, 2001). Implied in Wilson’s assertion is that, the outcome of any community cooperation should lead to collective …show more content…

Communication is an important factor in unifying and involving individuals in the national political system, economic and development programmes in their area. It is also a veritable tool for constructing and reconstructing discourses about community identity, issues and action strategies (Kim and Ball-Rokeach, 2006), by providing a platform for people to be involved in matters that affect them. Indeed, the view expressed by Tubbs and Moss (1991) that communication has been closely associated with physical well-being of individuals as social needs are also satisfied through interaction with others, reminds one of the role that communication plays in the building of community life. This study, therefore, examines the influence of communication conceptualized as Neighbourhood Storytelling on Neighbourhood Engagement in Osun State,

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