Abstract

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the decline of local news is problematic for rural communities and democracy. Considering this decline, this thesis focuses on the rural community of the Port au Port Peninsula, as it faces the introduction of a massive wind farm project (Project Nujio’Qonik). This thesis explores the evolution of journalism from traditional concepts such as watchdog journalism, to engaged and community-centered journalism. This thesis seeks to answer three research questions: How do community members in Port au Port feel about journalism efforts and news reporting in the context of a news shortage? How can journalism adapt to address the loss of local news in the province to better engage communities in the face of significant developments like Project Nujio’Qonik? What perspectives on the wind farm are most prominent in Newfoundland and Labrador news coverage, and to what extent are community voices represented?
Qualitative interviews with community members from Port au Port were used to answer the first two research questions, and a basic analysis of the voices quoted across the wind farm project’s news coverage from August 2023 to August 2024 was conducted to answer the third question. This thesis finds that community members are not content with reporting efforts, due to perceived bias and not enough local news. Community members shared that they want more factual, unbiased reporting, that involves the community more in the process. They also want more local journalism physically present in the community. The analysis also found that government and corporate voices were quoted significantly more than community voices. Therefore, this thesis suggests that engaged and community-centered journalism techniques, by involving the community more in the reporting process, could work to restore community members' satisfaction with reporting.