Eiri Elvestad

• Elvestad, Eiri (2019). News, children, and young people . I Nussbaum, Jon F. (Red.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication.. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780190228613. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.851.
• Elvestad, Eiri; Phillips, Angela & Feuerstein, Mira (2017). Can Trust in Traditional News Media Explain Cross-National Differences in News Exposure of Young People Online? Digital Journalism. ISSN 2167-0811. 6(2), s. 216–235. doi: 10.1080/21670811.2017.1332484. Vis sammendrag

  Using data from a cross-national survey (N = 940) and from in-depth interviews with 37 students in Israel, Norway and the United Kingdom, we discuss how in different political and news media environments young people’s trust in traditional media can explain their news exposure online. This study shows there are some similarities, but also major cross-national differences, between young people in how they trust, are exposed to and find different news sources usable for information about their society. Students from all these countries have higher trust in traditional news media than in social media. However, young people in Norway living in high-trust environments tend to be exposed to a wider variety of news sources than the UK and Israeli students. They also tend to be more skeptical about social media as a useful source of information. Furthermore, this study suggests that in a national context of conflict and low trust in media, such as Israel, distrust in traditional news media can explain foreign news exposure online. However, the effect of trust in national media is not significant in the Norwegian and the UK sample, which highlights the importance of discussing online news exposure in different national political and media environments.

• Elvestad, Eiri & Shaker, Lee (2017). Media Choice Proliferation and Shifting Orientations Towards News in the United States and Norway, 1995-2012 . Nordicom Review. ISSN 1403-1108. 38(2), s. 33–49. doi: 10.1515/nor-2016-0390. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Around the world, rapid media choice proliferation is empowering audiences and allowing individuals to more precisely tailor personal media use. From a democratic perspective, the relationship between the changing media environment and news use is of particular interest. This article presents a comparative exploration of citizens’ changing orientations towards local, national and international news in two very different countries, Norway and the United States, between 1995 and 2012. Prior research suggests that more media choice correlates with a decrease in news consumption. Our analysis shows a pattern of increasing specialization in news orientation in both countries. We also find that the strongest Norwegian trend is one of specialization while the strongest trend in the United States is one of disconnection. Altogether, the results illustrate how local conditions shape the effects of global technological developments.

• Elvestad, Eiri & Johannessen, Marius Rohde (2017). Facebook and local newspapers’ effect on local politicians’ popularity. Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook. ISSN 1601-829X. 15, s. 34–50. doi: 10.1386/nl.15.1.33_1. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  While there has been much research on how national politicians’ popularity is related to their participation in both traditional and social media, less research has been undertaken in order to understand the role of media for local politicians. In this article, we discuss how local politicians’ appearance in local newspapers, on Facebook and how their network of Facebook ‘friends’ can be explanation factors of their popularity in Norwegian local elections. The sample consists of 605 local politicians from two municipalities who were on the list of party candidates in these two municipalities in the 2015 election. Our findings show that the local newspaper is more important for the local politicians’ popularity than Facebook, but the politicians’ use of Facebook and numbers of Facebook ‘friends’ show a significant positive correlation with the numbers of preference votes the politicians receive. The effect of Facebook ‘friends’ on local politicians’ popularity shows the importance of connections, which again stresses the need for a greater awareness of the consequences of local politicians’ social networks both offline and online in local political processes.

• Aalberg, Toril; Elvestad, Eiri & Skogerbø, Eli (2015). Demokrati og offentlighet. I Ihlen, Øyvind; Skogerbø, Eli & Allern, Sigurd (Red.), Makt, medier og politikk: Norsk politisk kommunikasjon. Universitetsforlaget. ISSN 9788215024585. s. 22–33.
• Elvestad, Eiri; Aalberg, Toril & Skogerbø, Eli (2015). Politisk kommunikasjon i norsk samfunnsvitenskap. I Ihlen, Øyvind; Skogerbø, Eli & Allern, Sigurd (Red.), Makt, medier og politikk: Norsk politisk kommunikasjon. Universitetsforlaget. ISSN 9788215024585. s. 49–63.
• Aalberg, Toril; Blekesaune, Arild & Elvestad, Eiri (2013). Media Choice and Informed Democracy: Toward Increasing News Consumption Gaps in Europe? The International Journal of Press/Politics. ISSN 1940-1612. 18(3), s. 281–303. doi: 10.1177/1940161213485990. Vis sammendrag

  It was previously perceived as a citizen’s responsibility to follow the news and to keep oneself informed about politics and current affairs. Recently, however, it appears as though a growing number of citizens ignore the information opportunities given to them. Changes in the media environment have given people cross-nationally more of a choice regarding the media diet they prefer. For the American case, Prior has demonstrated that in an era of cable TV and Internet, people more readily remove themselves from political knowledge and political action than previously. In this article, we study how the public’s consumption of news versus entertainment has developed over the last decade in countries with significantly different media systems. Is there a general increase in preference for entertainment across Europe, and has the gap between news- and entertainment-seekers increased such as documented by Prior for the U.S. case? Who are the European citizens who remove themselves from news and current affairs in the environment of increased choice? Based on data from five waves of the European Social Survey covering more than thirty European countries from 2002 to 2010, we demonstrate how national context or the media environment moderates the influence of individual-level factors in news consumption.

• Blekesaune, Arild; Elvestad, Eiri & Aalberg, Toril (2012). Tuning out the World of News and Current Affairs. An Empirical Study of Europe’s Disconnected Citizens. European Sociological Review. ISSN 0266-7215. 28(1), s. 110–126. doi: 10.1093/esr/jcq051. Vis sammendrag

  Previously it has been perceived as a citizen’s duty to follow the news and to keep oneself informed about politics and current affairs. Recently however, it appears as if a growing number of citizens ignore the information opportunities given to them. Changes in the media environment have given people cross-nationally more of a choice as to which media diet they prefer, and for the American case, Prior (2007, Post-Broadcast Democracy. How Media Choice Increases inequality in Political Involvement and Polarize Elections. New York: Cambridge University Press) have demonstrated that in an era of cable TV and Internet, people more readily remove themselves from political knowledge and political action then they did before. Thus, in this article we study those who tune out the world of news and current affairs. We ask if there is an increase of what we call disconnected citizens across Europe. We also ask who these disconnected citizens are and discuss why they have tuned out. Based on pooled data from four waves of the European Social Survey, covering 33 European countries, using several innovative multilevel analyse techniques we demonstrate how national context or the media environment moderates the influence of individual level factors in news consumption.

• Elvestad, Eiri (2009). Introverted Locals or World Citizens? : A Quantitative Study of Interest in Local and Foreign News in Traditional Media and on the Internet. Nordicom Review. ISSN 1403-1108. 30(2), s. 105–123. Vis sammendrag

  Claiming that interest in local vs. foreign news is one way of measuring orientation towards local and greater society, this paper utilizes a Norwegian survey with questions about interest in news to identify groups with different orientations. The study builds on Merton?s (1949) local/cosmopolitan dichotomy, but takes this further by claiming that rather than two, there are four different ways of orienting oneself towards local and greater society on the basis of local/foreign news interest. The author suggests that a categorizing of individuals into either ?locals?, ?cosmopolitans?, ?local cosmopolitans? or the ?disconnected? is a more fruitful way of dealing with this matter. The results show that gender, age, education and ties to one?s domicile may help explain which type of individual constitutes each of the four categories. Comparing traditional media with the Internet, the study shows that the level of interest in news on the Internet is generally lower, but that the patterns tied to the traditional media are transferred relatively unchanged to the Internet.

• Elvestad, Eiri & Blekesaune, Arild (2008). Newspaper Readers in Europe - A Multilevel Study of Individual and National Differences. European Journal of Communication. ISSN 0267-3231. 23(4), s. 425–447. doi: 10.1177/0267323108096993. Vis sammendrag

  This article discusses national and individual differences in newspaper reading in Europe. The study uses comparative data on newspaper reading from 23 European countries from the European Social Survey (ESS). By using a multilevel analysis technique, newspaper reading is analysed from the perspective of both individual and national characteristics. The authors claim the findings of this study could throw new light on Hallin and Mancini's theory of media systems. The analysis shows that individual differences explain most of the variation in newspaper reading, but some of the variance could also be explained as national variance. Age, gender, education level and household income explain differences in newspaper reading, but these variables do not have the same effect in all countries. National-level variables in newspapers' situation, other media use, demography and public opinion also improve the effectiveness of `the newspaper reading in Europe' model.

• Elvestad, Eiri (2007). Ressurs eller flukt? Unge norsk-vietnameseres bruk av "hjemlandsmedier". Norsk Medietidsskrift. ISSN 0804-8452. 14(1), s. 4–26.
• Elvestad, Eiri (2006). Lokal, kosmopolitt eller frakoblet? En analyse av stedstilknytning og bruk av lokalaviser. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning. ISSN 0040-716X. 47(4), s. 545–573. Vis sammendrag

  Mertons (1949) ide om at det er noen som er lokalt orienterte og andre som er kosmopolitter, og at dette igjen kan vises gjennom ulik mediebruk, er utgangspunktet for studien. Artikkelens teoretiske gjennomgang og en analyse av borteboende studenters lesing av lokalaviser viser imidlertid at Mertons definisjoner av begrepene krever en videreutvikling. Artikkelen peker på et fenomen som har vært lite synlig i tidligere studier av sammenhengen mellom lokal tilknytning og lokalavislesing, nemlig at folk både kan føle seg knyttet til flere steder og oppleve flere lokalaviser som ”sine”. Å være lokalt orientert er dermed ikke ensbetydende med en orientering mot bosted. Mertons definisjon av kosmopolitter blir også utfordret. Studien viser at studentenes tilknytning til, og lesing av lokalaviser, fra et lokalsamfunn ikke nødvendigvis fører til manglende interesse for andre lokalsamfunn eller storsamfunn. Det påpekes også at det er problematisk å omtale de studentene som verken leser lokalaviser fra tidligere hjemsted eller nåværende bosted som kosmopolitter. Denne gruppen antydes heller å være mindre interessert i og mer frakoblet fra samfunnet generelt.

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• Elvestad, Eiri & Phillips, Angela (2018). Misunderstanding News Audiences : Seven Myths of the Social Media Era. Routledge. ISBN 9781138215184. 180 s.
• Aalberg, Toril & Elvestad, Eiri (2012). Mediesosiologi. Det Norske Samlaget. ISBN 978-82-521-8073-2. 164 s.
• Elvestad, Eiri & Fogt, Anne (2010). Trenger vi aviser når vi har Facebook? : barn og unges forhold til avis under omstilling. IJ-forlaget. ISBN 978-82-7147-334-1. 172 s.
• Elvestad, Eiri & Aalberg, Toril (2005). Mediesosiologi. Det Norske Samlaget. ISBN 82-521-6571-0. 148 s.

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• Johannessen, Marius Rohde; Berntzen, Lasse; Godbolt, James & Elvestad, Eiri (2018). Research proposal: Activism vs parliamentary strategies for influencing political decision making -A case study of two different approaches.
• Elvestad, Eiri & Johannessen, Marius Rohde (2018). Lokalpolitiske debatter i nye medieomgivelser.
• Elvestad, Eiri & Phillips, Angela (2018). News media exposure and political engagement in high trust and low trust societies.
• Elvestad, Eiri & Phillips, Angela (2017). The role of news media in high trust and low trust Societies.
• Elvestad, Eiri; Phillips, Angela & Feuerstein, Mira (2015). Can trust in traditional news media explain differences in news exposure of young people online? A comparative study of trust in news and online news exposure in Israel, Norway and the UK .
• Elvestad, Eiri; Aalberg, Toril & Blekesaune, Arild (2015). Changing TV-Consumption, Changing Political Interest? Estimating short and long term effects using a pseudo panel approach covering 35 European countries from 2002 – 2012. Vis sammendrag

  Political interest is an important indicator for individual participation in political processes. Recently, several scholars have stressed how political interest is a quality that forms at an early stage in life and thereafter stays remarkably stable. This study challenges the argument of political interest as an unchangeable quality. We show how changes in exposure to television, and television news in particular, relates to individual change in political interest. Political interest, we argue, is therefore also reversible. We use data from the European Social Survey (ESS), covering more than 30 European countries, in the period from 2002 to 2012. To cope with the problems of misinterpretations in ordinary time-series correlation analyses, we introduce the construction of pseudo panel data, which makes it possible to isolate how individual change in television consumption relates to change in political interest.

• Feuerstein, Mira; Phillips, Angela & Elvestad, Eiri (2015). Beyond the platform: Young people's news engagement in a social networking society.
• Elvestad, Eiri & Shaker, Lee (2015). Shifting Orientations Toward Local, National and International News in the United States and Norway, 1995-2012.
• Elvestad, Eiri; Blekesaune, Arild & Aalberg, Toril (2014). The Polarized News Audience? A Longitudinal Study of News-Seekers and News-Avoiders in Europe.
• Aalberg, Toril; Blekesaune, Arild & Elvestad, Eiri (2013). Media Choice and Informed Democracy: Toward Increasing News Consumption Gaps in Europe?
• Aalberg, Toril; Blekesaune, Arild & Elvestad, Eiri (2013). Media choice and informed democracy. Towards increasing news consumption gaps in Europe.
• Danielsen, Arild & Elvestad, Eiri (2012). Arts and culture at work for inclusion.
• Aalberg, Toril; Blekesaune, Arild & Elvestad, Eiri (2012). Media choice and informed democracy : an empirical study of increasing information gaps in Europe. Vis sammendrag

  Previously it has been perceived as a citizen’s duty to follow the news and to keep oneself informed about politics and current affairs. Recently however, it appears as if a growing number of citizens ignore the information opportunities given to them. Changes in the media environment have given people cross-nationally more of a choice as to which media diet they prefer, and for the American case, Prior (2007) have demonstrated that in an era of cable TV and Internet people more readily remove themselves from political knowledge and political action then they did before. In this paper we study how the public’s consumption of news vs entertainment has developed over the last decade in countries with significantly different media systems. Is there a general increase in preference for entertainment across Europe, and has the gap between news and entertainment seekers increased like Prior documented for the US case? Who are the European citizens who remove themselves from news and current affairs in the environment of increased choice? Based on pooled data from five waves of the European Social Survey, covering more than 30 European countries from 2002 to 2010, using several innovative multilevel analyze techniques like fixed effect regression models with pseudo panel data (Verbeek 1995, Girma 2000, Jæger 2011), we demonstrate how national context or the media environment moderates the influence of individual level factors in news consumption.

• Elvestad, Eiri (2010). Har avisene blitt flinkere til å behandle ungdom?
• Fogt, Anne & Elvestad, Eiri (2010). Har avisene blitt flinkere til å behandle ungdom? En studie av avisenes valgdekning i perioden 1959-2009.
• Fogt, Anne & Elvestad, Eiri (2010). Ungdom kan gi avisene en fremtid. Bergens Tidende. ISSN 0804-8983. s. 38–38.
• Borgen, Jorunn Spord & Elvestad, Eiri (2010). Arts and cultural experiences among employees in workplaces. An empirical study of prospects, challenges and obstacles for combining welfare policy and economic efficiency of arts and cultural projects in Norwegian workplaces.
• Elvestad, Eiri & Aalberg, Toril (2007). Når metodekunnskapene svikter. Norsk Medietidsskrift. ISSN 0804-8452. 14, s. 188–191.
• Elvestad, Eiri; Blekesaune, Arild & Aalberg, Toril (2007). Reading about politics and current affairs. Newspaper use in a cross-national perspective.
• Elvestad, Eiri (2006). Stedstilknytning og mediebruk blant norske vietnamesere i Norge. Vis sammendrag

  Med bakgrunn i intervjuer med studenter med vietnamesiske bakgrunn diskuteres sammenhengen mellom stedstilknytning og mediebruk. De vietnamesiske studentene er oppvokst i Norge, men har foreldre som er oppvokst i Vietnam. Med foreldre fra Vietnam og et vietnamesisk utseende blir Vietnam et sted de må forholde seg til enten de vil eller ikke. Samtidig bor de i Norge og er fra ulike lokalsamfunn i Norge. Studier av ungdom med med minoritetsbakgrunn (bl.a. Tufte 2003) har vist at disse ungdommene forhandler lokalitet i forhold til flere steder; nabolaget de bor, landet de bor, diasporaen de er en del av og tidligere/foreldrenes ”hjemland”. En forhandling som blant annet foregår gjennom ulik mediebruk. Studentenes mediebruk antas derfor å kunne si noe om hvilken betydning disse ulike stedene har for dem i denne livsfasen. For eksempel kan bruken av nyhetsmedier fortelle noe om hvilke steder studentene ønsker informasjon om og hvilke steder de orienterer seg i forhold til. Men mediebruken kan, i følge bl.a. Fiske og Hartley (1978), også sees som noe annet enn et ønske om å holde seg oppdatert og informerte på . De peker på hvordan mediene kan bidra til å skape felles fortellinger og en felles historie. Kan dette forklare hvorfor studentene, som har bodd hele eller mesteparten av livet sitt i Norge, og som ikke ønsker å flytte vekk, ser på kinesiske filmer dubba på vietnamesisk sammen? Og hvorfor de ikke er opptatt av vietnamesiske nyheter?

• Elvestad, Eiri & Blekesaune, Arild (2006). Hva forklarer europeernes varierende tid brukt på avislesing?En komparativ studie av avislesing i Europa. Vis sammendrag

  Bruk av aviser noe som varierer mye mellom befolkningen i de ulike europeiske landene til forskjell fra bruken av radio og fjernsyn. Dette paperet diskuterer mulige forklaringer på variasjonen mellom landene når det gjelder bruk av aviser. Tidligere forskning har vist at avislesing må forstås som en konsekvens av både karakteristikker ved individer samt avissituasjonen og andre strukturelle forhold i de enkelte landene. For å kunne diskutere hvordan ulike variabler på både på individ- og nasjonalt nivå har betydning for avislesing benyttes flernivåanalyse i denne studien. Flernivåanalyse tar hensyn til at dataene er hierarkisk strukturerte, og i dette tilfellet blir det tatt hensyn til at individer er potensielle lesere av aviser innenfor ulike nasjoner. De to avhengige variablene som blir diskutert er ’tid brukt på avislesing’ generelt og ’tid brukt på lesing av politisk og nyhetsstoff’ spesielt. Dataene er hentet fra ESS (Europan Social Survey) som inkluderer data fra 23 land, World Press Trends 2005 og The CIA World Factbook. Studien viser at variasjonen i avislesing kan forklares både med kjennetegn ved individene som bor i de ulike landene, men også av kontekstuelle variabler som kjennetegn ved nasjonene og deres avisstruktur. Studien viser også hvordan ulike variabler på individnivå som, kjønn, alder, utdanning og inntek har varierende effekt i de ulike landene. Avslutningsvis diskuteres avislesingen og avisleseren i et fremtidssperspektiv. (paperet er skrevet på engelsk)

• Elvestad, Eiri (2006). The concepts of ‘Locals’ and ‘Cosmopolitans’ related to Media Use in Processes of Social Inequality. Vis sammendrag

  This paper discusses how Merton’s old concepts ‘locals’ and ‘cosmopolitans’, and the ongoing elaboration of these concepts, can convey new perspectives in discussions about the role of media use in processes of social inequality. First the paper will discuss how the concepts have been used, defined and elaborated by recent researchers. The discussion will include findings from two of my own research projects; a study of community ties and local media use among people moving inside Norway, and a study of media use among Vietnamese immigrants. Based on the objections against Merton’s dichotomy, the paper will suggest four categories. Locals (non-cosmopolitan) have strong community ties and interest in social issues concerning domicile (or one other society, ex: immigrants only interested in their homeland). Media use: Local news media (or immigrant media). Cosmopolitans (non-local) weak community ties and low interest in social issues concerning domicile (or other local community). Media use: National and international news media. Local Cosmopolitans have strong community ties and interest in social issues concerning domicile and other societies at a higher geographic level (or other societies than domicile, ex: former domicile). Media use: Local news media, national news media, international news media. Non-local and non-cosmopolitans have weak community ties and low interest in social issues in general. Media use: Not interested in news media whatsoever. The second part of the paper will discuss the relevance of these categories in discussions about media use and cultural capital (Bourdieu). Can cosmopolitanism and localism be a matter of competence? And what about the people lacking this competence?

• Elvestad, Eiri & Blekesaune, Arild (2006). Newspaper reading and reading about politics and current affairs in Europe. A comparative study. Vis sammendrag

  One evident dimension of differences in the use of media between European countries is the variation in newspaper reading in general (Kelly, Mazzoleni and McQuail 2004). Even though this difference is obvious, there have been few comparative studies which purpose is to explain why some countries are avid readers, while others are not. The lack of comparable data has been given as one cause. In this paper we use data from European Social Survey (ESS 2002) which includes data about newspaper reading in 22 European countries. Demographic data from Eurostat and data from World Press Trends 2005 are also included in this analysis. This analysis is based on multilevel techniques. Recent studies (among others, Weibull 2005) have explained some of the variance in newspaper reading as a consequence of the journalistic profile, ‘quality press’ and ‘popular press’ of the main newspapers in the countries. We find it hard to distinguish between countries based on these distinctions. It is difficult to decide whether a newspaper is a ‘quality press’ or a ‘popular press’. Therefore, we use the variable “reading about politics and current affairs” to distinguish between different newspaper readers. The main approach of this paper is to describe national differences in newspaper reading, and to explain how these differences occur.

• Elvestad, Eiri (2005). Utflytter og innflytter: Lokal tilknytning og bruk av lokalaviser.
• Elvestad, Eiri (2004). Flytteres bruk av lokale medier.
• Elvestad, Eiri (2003). Valgkampens søppelkasse. Dagbladet. ISSN 0805-3766. Vis sammendrag

  Kronikken diskuterer hvilken rolle leserbrevspaltene kan ha i medievalgkampen. Konklusjonen er at leserbrevspaltene har potensial for å kunne fungere som et alternativ til mye av medienes dekningen av valgkamp.

• Tjora, Aksel & Elvestad, Eiri (2000). 7 sosiologer forteller om sitt arbeid.
• Elvestad, Eiri; Staksrud, Elisabeth & Ólafsson, Kjartan (2021). Digitalt foreldreskap i Norge . Institutt for medier og kommunikasjon, UiO/Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge. ISSN 978-82-570-6200-2. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Tvedten, Sigrunn; Solem, Birgit Andrine Apenes; Elvestad, Eiri & Thorkildsen, Are (2015). Vestfoldbibliotekene - en merkevare i prosess: Evaluering av et synliggjøringsprosjekt for folkebibliotekene i Vestfold. Høgskolen i Buskerud og Vestfold. ISSN 978-82-7860-253-9. Vis sammendrag

  Denne rapporten markerer avslutningen på et prosjekt med formål å utvikle en modell for å evaluere og måle effekten av et synliggjøringsarbeid i Vestfoldbibliotekene. Vestfoldbibliotekene er et bindende samarbeid mellom de 13 folkebibliotekene i Vestfold og Vestfold Fylkesbibliotek, forankret i en felles Bibliotekplan Vestfold 2011-2014. For å profilere og synliggjøre Vestfoldbibliotekenes tilbud, har det vært utviklet felles visjoner, logo og designprofil, samt gjennomført en rekke aktiviteter, inkludert kampanjer med felles markedsføringsmateriell. Fra 2012 ble det igangsatt et evalueringsprosjekt, med midler fra Nasjonalbiblioteket, for å evaluere effekten av synliggjøringen av Vestfoldbibliotekene som en merkevare. En prosjektgruppe fra Høgskolen i Buskerud og Vestfold (HBV) har hatt ansvar for evalueringsprosjektet, som har vært gjennomført i samarbeid med Fylkesbiblioteket i Vestfold. Denne rapporten er sluttproduktet av evalueringsprosjektet, hvor vi i hovedsak redegjør for prosessen i evalueringsprosjektet og presenterer resultater fra ulike strategier for å undersøke virkningen av merkevarebyggingen i Vestfoldbibliotekene.

• Elvestad, Eiri (2015). Barn av informasjonsrike omgivelser. En studie av norske elever og studenter sitt forhold til nyheter i tradisjonelle og sosiale medier. Skriftserien fra Høgskolen i Buskerud og Vestfold. ISSN 978-82-7860-278-2.
• Elvestad, Eiri (2009). Lokalmedier, lokaldemokrati og kjønnslikestilling i en ny tid : en kunnskapsstatus om lokale mediers rolle for lokaldemokrati i et kjønnsperspektiv. Høgskolen i Vestfold. ISSN 9788247113288.
• Elvestad, Eiri (2001). Leserbrevskribenter - en studie av dem som skriver leserbrev i lokalaviser. Institutt for sosiologi og statsvitenskap, NTNU. ISSN 82-471-5056-5. Vis sammendrag

  Rapporten bygger på en postal spørreundersøkelse blant folk som har skrevet og fått leserbrev på trykk i norske lokalaviser samt dybdeintervjuer med 8 av disse. Problemstillingene som blir belyst er å si noe om hvem det er som skriver leserbrev i lokalaviser, hvorfor de gjør det og hvilke erfaringer de har gjort seg som følge av slik aktivitet.

• Elvestad, Eiri (1999). Kommunikasjon mellom mennesker i media - en analyse av lokalavisenes leserbrevspalter. privat.
• Elvestad, Eiri (1999). Aviskonkurransens betydning for leserbrevspalter. Norske Avisers Landsforening. Vis sammendrag

  Rapporten bygger på en analyse av leserbrevspalter i lokalaviser i og utenfor valgkamp i 1995 og 1999. Avisene er hentet fra Trondheim og Lillehammer som hadde aviskonkurranse i 1995 men ikke i 1999 og Bodø som hadde aviskonkurranse i begge årene. Til sammen er 3063 leserbrev kodet. Analysen tyder ikke på at ytringsfriheten nødvendigvis trues ved bortfall av nummer 2-avisene. Aviskonkurranse eller mangel på sådan har derimot betydning for leserbrevspaltene og folks muligheter for å uttrykke seg i presse i den forstand at en mister sikkerhetsventilen, oppsamlingsheatet og muligheten for et alternativt debattorgan.

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