So Ball-Rokeach launched a massive investigation of the communication behaviors and patterns of 1,800 people living in seven historically significant Los Angeles neighborhoods. Angelenos, the research shows, feel they belong to a community in direct proportion to the amount of time they spend talking to their neighbors. In most cases, exposure to mainstream TV programming hurts people's sense of community. News stories that typify certain neighborhoods as crime-ridden or unsafe work against efforts to improve an area. Those who take pride in Los Angeles are more likely to have a sense of belonging to their own resi-dential neighborhoods.
Neighborhoods remain central in people's everyday lives.
Moreover, we conclude that communication infrastructures play a greater role in community building than economic or physical infrastructures. The project is largely funded by the USC Annenberg Center for Communication.