The research purposes of the present study are two-fold. First of all, we hope to investigate the effects of Taipei residents ’ media use patterns on the sense of community and participation of\\ local affairs. Second, we hope to differentiate various community publics proposed by James Grunig ’s "Situational Theory" byobserving their differences in demographic characters, media use patterns, sense of community and participation of local affairs. Our research findings suggest that watching television news makes a positive contribution to an increase in sense of community and participation in local affairs,whereas various community publicshave distinct characters in terms of educational level, age, sense of community and community participation, which in turnconfirms Grunig ’s theory.
Although there is a substantial portion of fatalistic publicin the present study, we nevertheless are optimistic aboutyoungsters ’ participation in local affairs. We hope there wouldbe more media providing local forums for community residents andtherefore, activating people ’s participation in communityaffairs.