Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

1994

Publisher

International Communication Association

Source Publication

ICA Annual Conference

Abstract

Based on the conflict/consensus model of Tichenor, Donohue and Olien, we expected that community pluralism would affect press use of science frames in stories about local polluters of the community's environment. We further expected that science framing would affect reporters' inclusion of information linking contamination to health threats (a "risk linkage"). A content analysis of nine months of coverage by 19 newspapers in 16 communities, mostly in Wisconsin, indicates that journalists do not employ science frames to give meaning to contamination stories as much as they use governmental frames. When reporting on local, institutional (e.g., business, governmental)sources of pollution, news media in more homogeneous communities are not as likely to employ science frames as are news media in more pluralistic communities. When news items are about institutional polluters, science framing relates positively to use of risk linkages (1) when media in more homogeneous communities report on polluters that are not local to the community, and (2)when more pluralistic media report on polluters that are local to the community. These results are consistent with the model.

Comments

Community Structure and Science Framing on News about Local Environmental Risks. A paper presented at the ICA Annual Conference. Sydney AU, May 1994. Publisher link. ©1994 The Author. Used with permission.

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