Impacts of Information Subsidies and Community Structure on Local Press Coverage of Environmental Contamination

Authors

Robert Griffin, Marquette UniversityFollow
Sharon Dunwoody, University of Wisconsin - MadisonFollow

Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Format of Original

14 p.

Publication Date

6-1995

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Source Publication

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

Source ISSN

1077-6990

Original Item ID

doi: 10.1177/107769909507200202

Abstract

An analysis of 373 daily newspapers in the Midwest found that community structure and an information subsidy from an environmental group affected press coverage of a story about pollution from industrial toxins. A press kit the group sent to some newspapers appears to have influenced the papers to run a story on industrial toxic releases, but it primarily prompted editors to delegate local staff to cover the story. Results indicate that the press' function to report or raise issues concerning industrial toxic releases and related health risks is tempered by community structure and particularly by community reliance on manufacturing.

Comments

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Vol. 72, No. 2 (June 1995): 271-284. DOI.

Recommended Citation

Griffin, Robert and Dunwoody, Sharon, "Impacts of Information Subsidies and Community Structure on Local Press Coverage of Environmental Contamination" (1995). College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications. 243.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/comm_fac/243