In the struggle to find sustainable business models, many local news sites have turned to engaged journalism, which draws from social exchange theory and aims to build relationships with audiences. The causal impact of these initiatives is unclear, but important given that local news sites are critical information sources and face dire economic situations. In this study, 20 news sites were randomly assigned to launch a six-month engaged journalism initiative where journalists reported on audience questions or to continue their current practices. Although not a panacea, over time traffic and subscription data and a two-wave survey of audience members across the sites (n = 3,998) show that the initiative resulted in more subscriptions and more positive audience evaluations. The results highlight the applicability of social exchange theory to questions of local news viability and illustrate that engaged journalism can improve relationships between newsrooms and the communities they serve.

中文翻译：

---

通过与观众建立关系来遏制当地新闻的衰落

在寻找可持续商业模式的过程中，许多当地新闻网站转向了参与式新闻，它借鉴了社会交换理论，旨在与受众建立关系。这些举措的因果影响尚不清楚，但鉴于当地新闻网站是重要的信息来源并面临严峻的经济形势，这些影响很重要。在这项研究中，20 个新闻网站被随机分配启动一项为期六个月的参与新闻计划，记者在其中报道受众的问题或继续他们当前的做法。虽然不是万能药，但随着时间的推移，流量和订阅数据以及对网站观众成员的两波调查（n = 3,998）表明，该举措带来了更多的订阅和更积极的观众评价。