А.Оюунгэрэл
International news in local media
Part one: Introduction
Frank Luther Mott (1958) pointed out that “the significant importance of foreign news to the American people has increased tremendously in this generation, and it continues to increase” (p.30). However, as Hoge (1997) concluded the coverage of international news of political and economic events in the American media has steadily declined since the late seventies (p.48). In a survey, Moisy found a drop in time devoted to foreign news on network television from 45 percent in the 1970s to 13.5 percent by 1995. According to a National Advertising Bureau study foreign news in newspapers dropped from 10.2 percent of the newshole in 1971 to 6 percent by 1982 (Hoge, p.48).
But several studies emphasize that the American media as a main gatherer and disseminator of international news. International issues are still one of the main topics not only on television networks but also in the American print media. As John Lent (1977) concluded, the
Hatchen (1999) emphasized that the best and most responsible news media, especially a handful of great daily newspapers have always given high priority to foreign news (p.10).
Scholars Park (1929) and Janowitz (1959) have theorized that as an interpersonal channel, local media, such as newspapers, are essential to a community. With the development of broadcasting and with the increasing number of one-newspaper towns, newspapers are no longer the first messengers of spot news (Rubin, p.41). Newspapers’ roles have changed. As Reston wrote in 1967, the modern newspaper’s new role is in the field of thoughtful explanation and newspapers are no longer in the business of transmitting news, but in the business of education (p.194). Rubin pointed out (1977) that, “The rules of the media in foreign news are rational within the context of intentions to make money and to please the maximum number of readers, but such considerations must constantly be challenged by the media’s duty to inform. (p.41)”.
To inform and to educate their audiences, local newspapers select news about foreign countries from international wire services and
Part two: Literature Review
Content of international news in the
· International news depends on foreign policy.
· Geographic emphasis is important in international news.
· The structure and economy of the media institution influence international news.
· Audiences do not want to change their perception about nations.
· News on
· Journalists lack dealings with
This review focuses on these six questions.
International news depends on foreign policy
As Cohen (1963) noted,
Gaunt (1990) emphasized that the selection of foreign news in any country is affected by the special ties that exist between that country and its allies, trading partners or former colonial possessions. Recarding to the United States, it has no colonies, but it has a particular interest in certain countries for strategic (Central America), ideological (Southeast Asia), commercial (Japan and Taiwan) and ethnic reasons (Europe and Israel), and this interest is certainly reflected in the selection of foreign news (p.126,127).
The press rarely covered issues unrelated to the nation’s foreign policy. Further, Hopkinson (1993) mentioned that in this post-Cold War period, international news is searching for a new definitional framework. This framework does not nesessarily have to coincide with foreign policy priorities. In other words, media now have a chance to set their own agenda in international news by writing good stories that are interesting and important to the public. But news in this multi-polar world is more complex than during the Cold War because the passions of policymakers are not always the same as public attitudes and opinions. Hopkinson gave the following example:
US political and foreign policy leaders favour a programme of generous loans and grants to Russia while the public, citing the need to invest at home, is against sending resourses abroad. When leaders and public opinion conflict on what foreign policy is important or even interesting, the media must determine which interest is pre-eminent (p. 3)
Everette Dennis (1993), the executive director of the Freedom Forum Media studies center wrote that today topicality is the new dimension for the media (p. 11). Rather than simply covering international affairs by country or region, there is an emphasis on economics, the environment, health, nuclear arms and scores of unifying themes that make sense of the world. Here interrelationships and broader perspectives are more important than individual countries. In this sense, foreign policy recognizes these overarching themes as well, whether organized through international organizations or on a regional and country-by-country perspective (p. 11).
Marvi Kalb, the director of the
Chang and Lee (1992) concluded that most newspaper editors focus more on factors having significant impact or consequences, especially when American security and national interest are involved. For example, they considered
Geographic emphasis is important in international news
Tsang, Tsai and Liu (1988) studied international news flow within particular geographic areas. Before this study, many researchers already concluded that certain countries or regions (e.g. Third World nations) were not covered thoroughly by media in other countries or regions (e.g. the U.S.), and that international news coverage is essentially Eurocentric and pro-North and tends to create negative pictures about the Third World (p.191). Such kind of study tried to determine the comparative content of news in two or more geographical or political entities.
But in this study, Tsang, Tsai and Liu categorized six types of geographical approach to international news. The categories are: 1) Country-world, including sample studies which investigate news flowing into a specific country, or the coverage of generel international news by the media system in a specific country; 2) region-world, represented by studies examining news flow or coverage in an specific geographic region; 3) cross-country, including studies which compare news flowing between or among countries; 4) country-region, including research studying news exchanges between a country (e.g. the United States) and region (e.g. Latin America); 5)cross-region, including studies on news transmissions between two or more regions (e.g. between East and West Europe); 6) international organizations, involving studies on the on activities of international news organizations, such as the International Press Institute (IPI), UNESCO, the Inter Press Service, or organizations with world status such as the United Nations.
Tsang, Tsai and Liu also categorized two types of areas and compared them: 1) Host country, defined as the country (or region) whose media are examined, and 2) guest country, defined as the country (or region) being covered by the media in the host country (p. 193). In regard to geographic orientation, the researchers did comparative review of the 152 articles of international news studies from 11 journals and yearbooks between 1970 and 1986. The result showed that almost half of the research (46%) dealt with general world news in a single country (particularly the
Unlike those highly-studied host countries, the “guest” countries most commonly selected for analyses were Third World nations, often associated with crisis and conflicts such as Egypt, Israel, and Iran in the Middle East; Vietnam, Afghanistan and Korea in Asia; and Nicaragua in Latin America. It implies that international news studies are still deeply characterized by the “event agenda” and scholars in this domain are often interested in studying only contemporary happenings, particularly those occurring in underdeveloped societies (p. 194). This study suggests that researchers redirect their future interests and extend the scope of their work by studying more diversified geographic areas and subjects.
Since there is a geographical extension in international coverage concerning countries and regions in the post-Cold War period, more and more countries began to be news themselves. According to Rumer (1996), Central Asia has elicited enormous attention in the world’s mass media: nineteen out of the fifty-two issues of the Economist in 1994 contained articles on
However, Gaunt (1990) wrote “with regard to foreign news, proximity may have more to do with cultural or ethnic affinity than with actual distance (p.126)”
Structure and economy of the media institution influence international news
Referring to Hatchen again, there is a basis to some complaints about this Western-dominated system. But the West does not enjoy a closed monopoly of world news; any news organization is free to report world news, few, however, have the capability and credibility for so doing (p.42). Moreover, far ranging and technically sophisticated as it is, the world’s present news system is not as pervasive and efficient as it might be, considering the world’s diversity and its need for information. Western journalists do an imperfect job, and most operate under a variety of constraints. But it is the only operational system news system the world has. As Martin Woolcott (1976), the Guardian’s chief correspondent in
For all its defects, the Western foreign press corps is all that the world has got in the way of an efficient international news gathering organization. Even in Western terms, it is curiously unrepresentative affair, dominated as it is by the big American and British news agencies, newspapers, magazines, and broadcasting organizations. The French are in it, but are a poor second. After the trail the other Western European countries, with Japanese foreign press, in spite of the manpower it deploys, on the periphery. This organization, whose oddities are a product of history, is, however, the only existing means of maintaining a flow of reasonably reliable information between countries (Hatchen, p.41)
In general, it is largely true even today. But the emergence of Cable News Network (CNN) has dramatically changed international news flow. Its 24-hour non-stop news is simultaneously transmitted from many countries. Gate (1999) writes, “Dubbed the CNN Effect, many scholars and journalists argued that the power of the media, and especially of images from far-away locations, had exceeded that of the government to define and motivate support for foreign policy. Nowhere did this seem more true than in the area of humanitarian relief” (p. 5).
There are some critics of CNN. Critics say it is not “international news” when CNN allows any television news service to contribute free by cutting stories to three minutes. They say this contribution is a kind of permission to foreign nations TV news service to give their own often narrow and biased view of a topic (Hatchen, p.47). It can be argued that CNN’s primary technological innovation in international news is its ability to interconnect so many television sets in so many remote places in the world. In this regard, CNN has undoubthfully had a major impact on diplomacy. But as journalism, it leaves much to be desired. Rosenstiel said, “In certain respects, it has had a pernicious effect on the rest of journalism: it accelerated the loss of control news organizations have over content, which in turn has bred a rush to sensationalism and an emphasis on punditry and interpretation at the expense of old fashioned reporting” (Hatchen, p.47). It means the stereotypes are reinforcing in international news.
Gaunt (1990) identified three factors bringing uniformity to foreign news coverage that are management, professionalization and the agenda setting role of the news agencies Influences such as deadlines, space, newshole and staffing are considered to be heavy constraints on news selection and journalists tend to select the easiest to find and edit. Increasing professionalization tends to smooth the personal convictions and other idiosyncrasies that result in diversity and individualism. The foreign news reported in a newspaper is taken exclusively from the wire service to which it subscribes. Therefore the wire service plays major role in determining that newspaper’s foreign news agenda (p.136).
Although the world news agencies have been accused of neocolonial domination of news flow to and from developing nations, those highly competitive services must sell news reports that foreign editors are interested in using. According to Boyed-Barret (1980) the important membership connection of the U.S dailies with the Associated Press agency works well in their favor so far as available resources for non-routine servicing of client requests are concerned (p.68) Another facet of internationalization is foreign syndication of news by major daily papers. The New York Times News Service sends over 50,000 words daily to 550 clients. (Hatchen, p.99).
Rampel (1995) pointed out that only the great international news agencies have the financial and technical resources to establish the necessary infrastructure for gathering and transmitting all the essential news of the world in the shortest possible time. News agencies, therefore, have become indispensable for any news organization wanting to inform its consumers of all the key developments at home and abroad (Merrill, p.37).
According to Merrill (1995), the news media are involved largely in creating and destroying images. In recent years, they sent inflammatory and slanted messages concerning explosive situations in the Balkans, the Middle East, the states of the former Soviet Union, the struggling nations of Africa, and parts of Asia and
Audience does not want to change their perception about the World
Perry’s (1981) study of Time and Newsweek coverage of international industrial disputes suggests that international coverage responds to the same standards of newsworthiness embedded in domestic coverage. According to him, certain factors, however, could moderate human tendencies to make inaccurate judgements from unrepresentative news stories. (p.417). The media dependency hypothesis predicts that mass media influence on people’s conception of social reality will decrease when people have a personal experience with the phenomena. Psychologists have made the same prediction concerning the role of mass media in influencing group stereotypes (p.417). U.S.residents normally may have little direct experience with individual foreign nations. Education may result in more knowledge about First World than
This research has some strength. It indicates what is likely to happen. The researchers explore the role of knowledge and the perceived importance of a judgment in moderating inferences. However, the researchers do not indicate why it is likely to happen. Given that First World citizens know little about the
In the study focused on borrowing news, Riffe (1984) concluded that the network of correspondents and wire services indirectly and potentially serving the American newspaper reader is awesome in size, and the flow of information is voluminous. The potential exists for readership well-informed on international events (p.148).
Another study done by McNelly and Izcaray (1986) also concerns knowledge. However, it does not deal with transitory bits of information about leaders or policies but about relatively enduring characteristics of nations such as size, population, and development. It is assumed that awareness of such attributes may build up not only through memory storage of discrete facts from the media, school or other sources, but also through inferences, judgements or estimates based on available information, as cognition theories would suggest (p.547).
As McNelly and Izcaray conclude, “This study of national images among urban adults in a rapidly developing nation has yielded two main findings. First, when respondents’ background characteristics are controlled, exposure to international news turns out to be unrelated to knowledge of basic geographic and socioeconomic attributes of countries. Second, such news exposure is significantly related to liking for the countries and to perceptions of them as successful” (p. 552).
Hatchen (1999) explained the lack of world news in local media and ignorance shown by most Americans about the outside world in different way. According to him, Americans, like Russians and Chinese, have a continental outlook, living as they do in the midst of a vast landmass. That outlook encourages a self-centered, isolationist view of the world. Having two friendly neighbors and protected by two oceans, Americans are slow to recognize their interdependence with others. Ups and downs of Americans’ interest in foreign news depend on the perceived impact of any crisis on their lives (p.133).
A 1996 survey of the American public by the
According to
News on
According to Shoemaker and Reese, Larson (1983) conducted extensive analyses of network coverage from 1972 to 1981 and found that the
Stevenson and Gaddy (1984) considered in their survey whether the Third World was treated differently in the news than advanced industrial nations of the
Also, they found that the proportion of
At the same time in 1984, Giffard found the same thing: the news
Berrah (1996) wrote that regular coverage of the developing world as menaced by overpopulation, underdevelopment, disease and intolerance end up by creating a cliché and this cliché becomes accepted as the truth. In his opinion, this image of the South (developing countries) simply flows from a system that favors shock-value because it attracts big audience (p. 10).
In 1998, Chang emphasized the same notion that coups, earthquakes, civil unrest, and other social disturbances are often the stable of news in the West about the rest of the world. Nevertheless, he found in his survey that developing or less developed countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and
Journalists lack experience with Third World countries
Because international news is explanatory journalism, it very much depends on people to interpret events. Therefore, creation and confirmation of stereotypes are undoubtedly related to work of journalists. Shoemaker, Danielan, and Brendlinger (1991) support idea that world events that are somehow “deviant” are more likely to be covered by the
During the post-Cold War, in contrast to declining of international news in the American media, the number of reporters overseas for all U.S media is up. According to Hoge, a survey by the Newspaper Research Journal identified 820 full-time
Foreign reporters lack skills to strip away the external distractions of an issue to discover its essence and to accurately communicate probable future developments. What do they do in this case? They will use frames to make difficult or complex concepts easy and understandable for their audience. As Entman (1993) identified the frames “ [They] are manifested by the presence or absence of certain key words, stock phrases, stereotyped images, sources of information, and sentences that provide thematically reinforcing clusters of facts or judgements” (p.52). It is difficult to define frames, but it is easy to recognize them. According to
Frames in international journalism have a long tradition. Rubin (1977) wrote about the declining of the prestige of the foreign journalists in the 1970-s. He emphasized that historically those correspondents were highly opinionated, idiosyncratic, and superficial (p.11). Even by that time he noticed the extension of international news in terms of territory. He wrote, “Up to decades ago, it was necessary only to watch Europe and parts of
The fate of Indo-China hinges upon decisions in the French Chamber of Deputes as well as upon military solutions in Saigon: Malaysia’s news depends upon Whitehall as much as it does upon the guerrilla activity in the jungle. (Kruglak, 1974:9)
Journalists thought they could concentrate on
The business editor of Time magazine, Richard Hornik, observed two types of international reporting. One is a reporting from the place where events occurred. Broadcaster Edward Murrow started this tradition during World War II. Today Christiane Amanpour is his descendent. “Her vivid descriptions-aided by the modern advantage of immediate video images-helped Americans grasp the horrors of the former
Journalist’s practitioners focus more on future of foreign reporting if they have some experience in this field. A freelance journalist Stacy Sullivan called for reformation of the system by which the American news media covers the world. She sees the future of American foreign news in unstable places such as
According to Hatchen (1996), the domination of international news by AP and other Western news organizations is often resented in other nations (p.133). The poorer nations are dependent on the Western agencies and media to find out about themselves and their neighbors, and they criticize what they consider a one-way news flow from North to South, from the rich to the poor. They resent the fact that Western journalists with Western values set the agenda for the world’s news.
Stereotypes in international news apply to agenda setting theory because out of the many issues examined; only a few became dominant in the media. According to
Later in 1963, Cohen wrote, “The press is significantly more than a purveyor of information and opinion. It may not be successful in telling its readers what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about. And it follows from this that the world looks different to different people, depending not only on their personal interests, but also on the map that is drawn for them by the writers, editors, and publishers of the papers they read” (p.13). The question to what extent media content fosters support for the status quo is not answered even today.
Summary of literature review
Thus, several factors explained above sharpen the content of international news: foreign policy, geography, and structure of news organization, audience, news values, and journalists. The most fundamental studies concerning international news were done in the 1970s and 1980s. Global changes have occurred in the international arena in the early 1990s. In accordance with that, there should have been changes in gathering and presenting international news, which could finally influence its content. Many practical journalists (Richard, Sullivan) started to write about the changes in international news writing. As an American journalist and media critic, Richard Byrne (1999) says in his interview with Columbia Journalism Review, “Western media were actually more critical than I’ve seen our media be in the past” (p. 10).
Besides the increasing number of foreign journalists and stringers, Hatchen mentioned another change related to international news. He wrote that increasingly the line between news and entertainment on television as well as in print media has become blurred-hence, the current buzzword “infotainment” to characterize the new soft, gossipy, and essentially trivial news American viewers and readers are getting (p.136)
Studies on international news in the nineties, mostly based on media use (Okidjo) or foreign students perception (Viswanath). There are some content related studies such as international news in New York Times (Riffe, Aust, Gibson, Viall, & Yi), news reading and knowledge (Perry), and national images in the news of news agencies (Giffard & Rivenburg). But those studies are based again on the examples from big national media institutions not from local media.
No single study has been done regarding to international news in local daily newspapers which are main distributors of news to local audiences. Local media outlets can do international news more relevant to the local community. However, there is content analysis of some local newspapers in general to find how much space is dedicated to news hole and advertisement or to domestic and international news. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis of
Merrill (1995) emphasized that as messages flow more rapidly and in greater quantity than ever before, questions of quality, impact, significance, balance, truth, and motive come to the forefront (p.xvi).
It will be interesting to study what different local newspapers choose to present the world for their audiences. Estimates of the amount of space
There comes a question how much does international news varies in different newspapers by theme, origin, type, amount, placement, length, and headline size.
Research questions
Selection of foreign news for a community from the huge amount of international news provided by news agencies has always been difficult task for an editor of a local newspaper. Because each newspaper has a different audience, international news in different local newspapers varies by amount, placement or length if not topics. It will be interesting to see what international news newspaper chooses for its audience and how it does so.
Local newspapers play at least three major roles in presenting international news to their readers. First, even though local newspapers use “second-hand” or borrowed news on international issues, they still play the role of agenda setter. That is because local newspapers are geared toward a specific audience, and the stories they run are indicative of the issues that audience finds most important. Agenda setting is the idea that media don’t tell people what to think but what to think about (Baran & Davis, p. 299). The basis for this theory came from Cohen’s writing in 1963. Later McCombs and Shaw (1972) provided understanding of this concept, “In choosing and displaying news, editors, newsroom staff, and broadcasters play an important part in shaping political reality. Readers learn not only about a given issue, but how much importance to attach to that issue from the amount of information in a news story and its position… The mass media may well determine the important issues--that is the media may set the ‘agenda’ of the campaign (p.176)”. Agenda setting as it pertains to international news in local newspapers has two key elements. Only editors (not reporters) decide what to select. In addition, international news is dedicated to a small population with very specific political, economical and social characteristics.
The second role of local newspapers is as agenda builders. By priming and repeating international news, local newspapers contribute to “a collective process in which media, government, and the citizenry reciprocally influence one another” (Kurt & Gladys Lang, 1983). While agenda setting is a micro-level perspective, agenda building is a macro level theory (Baran & Davis, p. 302).
International news in local newspapers is selected through the careful thought process of a few editors. Therefore, editors behave as both gatekeepers and opinion leaders while selecting international news from wire services and national media. According to Lazarsfeld, gatekeepers are people who screen media messages and pass on those messages to help others share views in a two-step flow of information. He labeled opinion leaders as people who pass on information to opinion followers. Editors on foreign news desks first become heavy users of national media, and then gatekeepers by screening the process and opinion leaders by pass on information.
Womack (1981) concluded that localization affects international content as well. The world as perceived in the news is a record not only of the world, but also of a located community interests. Available information was selected according to the location of the newspaper and the scope of its interest (p.265). In this sense, it would be important and interesting to study what certain local newspapers with different readerships select as international news and how they present it. For this study, three small-town daily newspapers among 49 dailies in
These are not newspapers-competitors because of geographic distance. According to Rosse’s “umbrella” model of newspaper competition, “there is typically competition between newspapers on the same level of hierarchy in areas where their markets overlap” (Kaniss, p.44). This model divides newspapers into four levels: 1. Newspapers in large metropolitan centers 2. Newspapers in satellite cities 3. Local dailies, and 4. Weeklies and other specialized newspapers. All three newspapers to be examined in this study are in level three. There is typically little competition between media on the other levels. Competition with newspapers of other levels could be one factor that influences news selection.
Specific concerns of the study will be on the quality of information control (selection of news). The study of the above-mentioned three local newspapers will seek answers to the following questions:
· How many news stories on international issues did each newspaper publish in six-month period?
· What are main themes of international news in the three newspapers?
· To which countries or regions did they pay the most attention while presenting international news?
· How many column inches did they dedicate to international news in general and specifically by country and topic?
· Where did they place international news? How many stories appeared on the front page?
· Are those stories directly or indirectly related to local areas?
· How many photos did they publish? Are those photos are supplements to stories or independent reporting (standing alone)?
· How many graphics did they use in presenting international news?
Thus this study will answer the question: what are quantitative differences in international news in three local newspapers of Missouri
Part three: Methodology
Content analysis is an efficient way to investigate what American local newspapers have done in presenting the world to their readers. Content analysis is a tool of communication research that collects and analyzes messages in communication procedures. This study will examine messages, which were considered the most important step in the communication model developed by Lasswell (1958)—that is, source-message-channel-receiver-effect. He described the communication process as Who says What to Whom through what Medium with What effect (Baran & Davis, p.199).
Most research in the social sciences and humanities depends on careful reading of written materials in one way or another. Content analysis in research has been a basic tool for social and behavioral scientists to analyze the content of communication systematically. There are several definitions of content analysis, and the definitions changed over time. Berelson (1952) defines it as a research technique for the objective, systematic and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication.” (p.13) Walizer and Wienir (1978) defined it as any systematic procedure devised to examine the content of recorded information (Wimmer & Dominick, p.135). Krippendorf defined (1980) it as a research technique for making replicable and valid references from data to their context (p.21). As Kerlinger (1986) defined, content analysis is a method of studying and analyzing communication in a systematic, objective and quantitative manner for the purpose of measuring variables (Wimmer & Dominick, p.135). In general, content analysis is the application of scientific methods to documentary evidence.
Stempel summarized key factors of content analysis as follow (p.120):
· Objective: Objectivity is achieved by having the categories of analysis defined so precisely that different persons can apply them to the same content and get the same results.
· Systematic: A set of procedures is applied in the same way to all the content being analyzed and categories are set up so that all relevant content is analyzed.
· Quantitative: Recording of numerical values or the frequencies with which the various defined types of content occur.
· Manifest content: Content must be coded as it appears rather than as the content analyst feels it is intended.
According to Berelson, there are a variety of aspects of “the manifest content of communication” to be analyzed. Two classifications are named: What is said, and how it is said. The content is comprised of subject matter, direction, values, methods, traits, actor, authority or source, origin and target. The how is comprised of categories such as the form of communication, the form of the statements, the intensity of the statements, and the devices used in presenting the context. (p.13) In this study will focus on quantitative side of foreign news reported in three local daily newspapers in
Krippendorf pointed out that institutional approaches, at which content analysis aims, in mass communication research have focused on legal, economic, sociopolitical, and technical structural conditions that shape media content and may in turn be inferred from available communications (pp.22-23). According to Stempel, content analysis is a kind of formal system in which human beings are involved in an informal way. Human beings, as the media audience, form opinions and draw conclusions by observing the content of the media. Within this context, content analysis is widely used in a multitude of research investigations (p.120)
As Wimmer and Dominick (2000) noted, one of the advantages of content analysis is its potential to identify trends over long periods of time (p. 136). But the focus of this study is not trends. Therefore, not long period of time will be picked up, but six months.
Defining the Universe
This study considers international news in three daily newspapers in
The three newspapers differ in their ownerships.
The Columbia Daily Tribune is the oldest Columbia business continually operated by one family. The current owner is Hank Waters, the generation of the family.
The St. Joseph News-Press belongs to The News Press/ Gazette corporation. Since 1988, when two papers (The Gazette and the News-Press) joined, the third generation of the Bradley family has served as publishers. The Bradleys are majority owners of the company and the company purchased six cable television networks in other cities.
The Southeast Missourian is owned by the Rust Communications, a family owned newspaper company. Rust Communications based in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, owns 11 daily newspapers, 15 weekly operations and several printing companies in seven states. The South East Missourian is published seven days a week.
The Columbia Daily Tribune is an afternoon (p.m.) newspaper distributed in the evening. The Southeast Missourian and St. Joseph News-Press are morning (a.m.) newspapers. The Columbia Daily Tribune and St. Joseph News-Press are published in towns of almost the same size.
Sampling
Theoretically, the systematic random sampling will be more appropriate for any kind of study giving equal chance of being selected. As Wimmer and Dominick (2000) pointed out that in systematic random sampling “every nth subject or unit is selected from a population” (p.87). However, if every Wednesday’s (or any other day’s of the week) issue of each of the three newspapers will be examined for six months, there will be a problem with typicality. It is because of news content distribution that is not randomly disseminated over the years, months and days. The achieved representative results of the study can not be generalized to population.
In this case, a specific subsample of the population is necessary. A stratified sample is the approach to get adequate representation of subsample. According to Wimmer and Dominick, stratified sampling ensures that a sample is drawn from a homogeneous subset of the population-that is, from a population that has similar characteristics (p.88).
A stratified sample is multistage sampling which were used in most content analysis in mass media. The first stage is usually to take a sampling of content sources. At this stage, three town city daily newspapers are purposively selected. The second stage is to select the dates. Both, days and weeks should be considered in this study. Therefore, a composite week for each month will be used as a sample. It means, the study will use a sample of one Monday (drawn at random from the four or five possible Mondays in the month), one Tuesday (drawn the available Tuesdays), and so on, until all weekdays have been included. The number of edition dates will depend on the number of artificially constructed weeks during six months.
Riffe, Aust, and Lacy (1993) demonstrated that a composite week sampling technique was superior to both a random sample when dealing with newspaper content (Wimmer & Dominick, 2000, p. 142). Long before that, Budd, Thorp, and Donohew (1967) emphasized that the constructed time period has been tested for validity (p. 25).
Edition sampling
July 2000
M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |
1 | 2 | ||||||
3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
10 | X | 12 | 13 | X | 15 | 16 | First week |
18 | X | X | 21 | 23 | |||
X | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | X | 30 | |
31 |
August
M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||
7 | 8 | X | X | 11 | 12 | 13 | |
XX | 16 | 17 | 18 | XX | 20 | Second week | |
21 | XX | 23 | 24 | XX | 26 | 27 | |
28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
September
M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |
1 | 2 | 3 | |||||
X | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | X | 10 | |
11 | X | 13 | 14 | X | 16 | 17 | Third week |
18 | 19 | X | X | 22 | 23 | 24 | |
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
October
M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |
1 | |||||||
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
9 | X | 11 | 12 | X | 14 | 15 | Fourth week |
16 | 17 | X | X | 20 | 21 | 22 | |
X | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | X | 29 | |
30 | 31 |
November
M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |
X | X | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||
XX | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | XX | 12 | |
13 | XX | 15 | 16 | XX | 18 | 19 | Fifth week |
20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | |
27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | ||||
December
M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |
1 | 2 | 3 | |||||
XX | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | XX | 10 | |
11 | XX | 13 | 14 | XX | 16 | 17 | Sixth week |
18 | 19 | X | X | 22 | 23 | 24 | |
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
*Sundays are excluded when weeks are composed.
**6 constructive weeks x 6 edition from each week = 36 editions from each newspapers
36 editions from each newspaper x 3 newspapers = 108 editions
In total, 108 sampling editions/issues will be analyzed in this study. This will encourage having large enough samples/stories to get results. As Wimmer and Dominick pointed out that a general rule for sampling is “the larger the sample, the better-within reason (p. 143)”. Larger samples usually run less risk of being atypical.
Unit of analysis
Almost all content analysis studies have used one of five units--such as the single word or symbol, the theme, the character, the sentence or paragraph and the item.
Item is recording unit used when the entire article, film book, or radio program is characterized. A single story on an international issue from three Missouri newspapers will be the unit of analysis for this study.
Statistical tools
Percentage analysis, Chi-square tests and correlation coefficients will be employed as statistical tools. The percentage analysis will be used for the comparison of the quantity of page placement, headline size, type, and origin of story, etc. To interpret interrelationships or correlations among subject-matter categories, correlation coefficients will be used, as will percentage analysis in cross-tabulations. For directional tests, the Chi-square will be employed.
Coding
Placing a unit of analysis into a content category is called coding. According to Berelson (1952), “ Particular studies have been productive to the extent that the categories were clearly formulated and well-adapted to the problem and the content (p.147)”.
As Wimmer and Dominick (2000) emphasize, all category systems should be mutually exclusive, exhaustive, and reliable. A category system is mutually exclusive if the unit of analysis can be placed in one only one category. In addition, all categories must have the property of exhaustivity: There must be an existing slot into which every unit of analysis can be placed. Finally, the categorization system should also be reliable. Different coders should agree in the great majority of instances about the proper category for each unit of analysis (p.145).
In this crucial stage of the study, two independent coders will be involved.
Coding directory
Variable | Name | Code | Explanation |
1. | Newspaper | The Columbia Daily Tribune The Southeast Missourian The St.Joseph News-Press | |
2. | Period | Second half year of 2000 | |
3. | Page | Front National International Editorial Economics/business Sports Culture/art Other | |
4. | Direction | Direct/News related to local area Indirect | |
5 | Type of item | Straight news Analysis/Feature Editorial Letter to editor Syndicated column Other | |
6. | Origin of item | Staff writer/correspondent Wire services Mainstream newspaper Contributor Other | |
8. | Headline size | Large Medium Small | |
9. | Theme | Politics Diplomacy/Foreign relation Economics Crime/Accident Natural disaster War Science/Invention Health General Human interest Other | |
10. | Theme character | Issue-oriented Event-oriented · Natural disaster-oriented · Conflict-oriented · Other | |
11. | Picture | With Without | |
12. | Picture tone | Positive Negative Neutral | |
13. | Graphics | With Without | |
14. | Cartoon | With Without | |
15. | Countries/Region | First World Second World/Countries in former Soviet block Third World International organization Multiple countries Other | |
Summary of the method section
This study aims to identify what exists in three Missouri newspapers as international news. Content analysis is selected as a tool for this study because it deals with actual behavour what and how people have done. It can measure human behavour. Verbal behavour (written stories) is a form of human behavor. Consructed weeks sample will give results based on systematic analysis.
One of the advantages of content analysis is to identify trends over long periods of time. This study will focus on six months period due to time pressure for the researcher. However, picking up large enough samples for this study will allow the researcher to do descriptive content analysis on international news of three local newspapers. Once again, the purpose of this study is to identify what exists.
As any other content analysis, this study can not answer the question why. This study will not reveal why editors selected particular international news, why they concerned certain countries and regions, why they used pictures or graphics. According to Wimmer and Dominick, content analysis can not make statements about the effects of content on audience (p.138).
Pool (1959) wrote that the objective content analysis was in itself partly subjective (p.181). It is not avoidable when the researcher codes positive, negative, and neautral pictures.
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