Commentary about Government Both Broad, Diverse
| Autor: | Daniel E. Bergan, Paul Zube, Steven S. Wildman, Thomas F. Baldwin, Stephen Lacy, Frederick Fico |
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| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Newspaper Research Journal. 33:100-114 |
| ISSN: | 2376-4791 0739-5329 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/073953291203300208 |
| Popis: | Most scholars concentrate on the news found in newspapers, but newspapers cover a range of topics presented in a variety of forms.1 An important part of that coverage is commentary. Indeed, the Hutchins Commission emphasized in its 1947 landmark report that one of the requirements of a free and responsible press is that news organizations should serve as "a forum for the exchange of comment and criticism."2Normative democratic theory assumes that an open forum for ideas is necessary for rational self-governance and the discovery of truth.3 Empirical research on the role newspapers play in democratic decision-making supports this assumption. Commentary is frequently stimulated by newspaper coverage of the local government institutions. Research has established a relationship between newspaper readership and civil involvement,4 as well as between newspaper city government coverage and readership.5 Moreover, commentary in the form of newspaper guest editorials and letters permits ordinary citizens to directly participate in a community opinion forum.Despite the importance of local government coverage and of commentary in newspapers, few studies have examined the relationship between the two. To add to the understanding of newspaper commentary about city, county and regional government activities, this study uses a randomly selected sample of daily and weekly newspaper content from early 2009. The content analysis concentrates on the local government topics covered and the types, number and diversity of sources in these opinion pieces. In addition, differences are explored between coverage in weeklies and dailies and coverage for metropolitan central cities and suburban cities.Valid information on press performance is necessary if it is to be evaluated and improved. Given the important role that newspapers play in both the coverage of local government and in the marketplace of ideas, this national sample of newspaper commentary about local government will facilitate that evaluation. In addition, the performance baseline established by this study will be useful in the future as scholars analyze news media changes occurring because of the Internet.BackgroundNewspaper readers tend to participate more in civic activities and are more interested in city government processes than are nonreaders of newspapers.6 However, studies have mostly examined newspaper use in general and have not concentrated on particular types of newspaper content, such as government coverage and its relationship to commentary.The dominant geographic emphasis of content in the vast majority of U.S. newspapers is community-centered. Bogart's survey found that local community news was the most frequently read content. Local government news ranked fifth among the 30 local news topics.7 A secondary analysis of Pew survey data from 1998 through 2008 found that community and local government news best predicted readership of the print version of a newspaper.8The importance of local government news was confirmed in a case study that found people missed local government news more than other types of news when a newspaper closed.9 In a national survey of journalists, respondents ranked state and local government third of 20 story types when referring to their best work.10Research about newspaper commentary tends to address the general use and extent of commentary (editorials, letters and columns) and the degree to which specific types of topics are covered. Bogart reported a 1977 survey of readers that found that 70 percent would allocate a lot or some space to editorials and 54 percent would give more space to letters. These two categories ranked sixth and 11th of 34 topics.11Commentary also was found to be important in two case studies. Berelson studied readers' reactions to a 1940s newspaper strike and reported they missed the newspaper's editorials and opinion columns as much as the front page.12 A survey of 123 people in a Kansas town after their weekly newspaper closed found letters to the editor averaged an "importance" score of 4. … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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