A content analytical study of newspaper reporting on topics with public policy implications

Thesis (M.A., Communication Studies) -- California State University, Sacramento, 2009.From time to time, an issue comes along with significant enough implications for\ud future public policy development that the media begins to cover the topic in depth and at\ud length. Often when such issues emerge, many and varied interest groups advocating one\ud side or the other of the possibly future policy. With this wide influence on subsequent\ud policy, many more interest groups with a "dog in the fight," may strive to become part of\ud the policy discussion. Over time, the media may begin to adopt the point of view of one\ud coalition of interest groups and, before long, any other point of view may not be reported\ud as prevalently. This "dog in the fight" argument is the basis of the hypothesis of this\ud thesis: The greater the implications for public policy, the greater the potential for\ud imbalance in reportage. Using a content analysis approach, 89 newspaper articles from the Chicago\ud Tribune and the New York Times newspapers were coded for point of views reported on\ud two issues: one with significant public policy implications and one issue without. Results\ud from 3 independent coders showed that there is a trend toward imbalance and issues with\ud significant public policy implications are reported differently. Conclusions include the\ud possibility of a changing role of the United States press and the implications of a changing democratic model if the press no longer functions as watchdog or arena for\ud public debate.Communication Studie