Creating community and gaining readers through newspaper blogs, a thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by Robin Roger in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

From the abstract: "Findings suggest that the effects of high levels of community are cumulative; therefore, creating a blogging community can draw new readers–great news for newspaper marketers. Results from the study also suggest a virtuous cycle: frequent blog reading seems to lead to a sense of community, and vice versa."

Notes here from John Robinson.