An Analysis of the Influence of Ohio's Six Major Metropolitan Newspapers on Citizen Perception of Environment

AN ANALYSIS OF THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL COVERAGE

IN OHIO’S SIX MAJOR METROPOLITAN NEWSPAPERS TO CITIZEN

PERCEPTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

A thesis presented to

the faculty of

the College of Communication of Ohio University

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree

Master of Science

John Frederick Mueller

March 2006 This thesis entitled

AN ANALYSIS OF THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL COVERAGE

IN OHIO’S SIX MAJOR METROPOLITAN NEWSPAPERS TO CITIZEN

PERCEPTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

JOHN FREDERICK MUELLER

has been approved for

the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism

and the College of Communication by

Daniel Riffe

Professor of Journalism

Gregory J. Shepherd

Dean, College of Communication MUELLER, JOHN FREDERICK. M.S. March 2006. Journalism

An Analysis of the Correspondence of Environmental Coverage in Ohio’s Six Major

Metropolitan Newspapers to Citizen Perception of Environmental Problems (128 pp.)

Director of Thesis: Daniel Riffe

Grounded in the theory of agenda-setting, this thesis examines how environmental

coverage of Ohio’s six major metropolitan newspapers corresponds with Ohio citizens’ perceptions of selected environmental problems. Consequently, this thesis assesses the

role that environmental journalism can play in the formation of the public’s perception of

environmental problems.

Data representing newspaper environmental agendas were collected using

NewsBank and LexisNexis electronic search engines. Data representing citizen

environmental agendas were drawn from a public opinion survey. Evidence of actual,

obtrusive environmental problems within the newspaper readership market areas was

obtained from Federal and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency data.

This thesis shows little positive correlation between the environmental coverage

of Ohio’s six major metropolitan newspapers and Ohio citizens’ perceptions of selected

environmental problems. A media agenda-setting function is not supported.

Subsequently, this thesis found that actual, obtrusive environmental problems do not

influence the media agenda-setting effect. This thesis suggests that a significant

disconnect exists between Ohio’s major metropolitan newspapers and Ohio citizens

within newspaper readership market areas regarding the importance each affords selected

environmental problems. Approved:

Daniel Riffe

Professor of Journalism Acknowledgements

I dedicate this thesis to my mother and father, whose love and support for me has not wavered in 32 years. Completion of this thesis is a fruitful testament to their commitment as parents, as it represents the accomplishments that a man can achieve when unconditionally encouraged and supported throughout childhood and life. This thesis is also dedicated to my Grandmother and Grandfather Baker, who valued the importance of education and pushed the minds of young people to excel, and to my

Grandmother Brown, who was proud of me regardless of achievement.

I acknowledge my dear friend, Luther, who accompanied me throughout completion of this project. His sense of strength and loyalty were incomparable. He selflessly gave of his gentleness and kindness and demonstrated that owning and living these qualities are a unique and powerful gift.

A heartfelt “thank you” is extended to Professor Daniel Riffe who assisted me in this learning process with enthusiasm, energy, and passion. I thank Dr. Riffe for his consistent willingness and availability to guide me throughout this effort. Dr. Riffe’s professionalism and patience are among the most impressionable qualities that I have witnessed in another individual.

I also thank Professors Cary Frith and Bill Reader for their willingness to assist my efforts in completing this thesis. I thank them for their expertise and the knowledge they gave me as instructors and thesis committee members. Finally, I thank Diana

Nichols for her diligence and assistance in enabling me to conduct the research necessary to complete this thesis. 6 Table of Contents

Page Abstract...... 3

Acknowledgements...... 5

List of Tables ...... 8

Chapter 1. Purpose...... 10

Chapter 2. Introduction ...... 12 Environmental Problems in Ohio...... 14

Chapter 3. Review of Literature and Hypotheses ...... 18 Media Influence on Public Perception...... 20 Agenda-Setting ...... 22 The Obtrusion Factor ...... 27 Hypotheses...... 30

Chapter 4. Method ...... 32 Environmental Problems...... 33 Content Analysis...... 34 Reliability of Keyword/Key-phrase Search...... 35 Test of Search Engine Accuracy...... 43 Analysis Strategies...... 45 Survey ...... 45 Newspaper Readership Markets ...... 46 Objective Measures of Obtrusiveness...... 50

Chapter 5. Results ...... 51 Newspaper Data...... 60 Akron Beacon Journal...... 60 Cincinnati Enquirer ...... 61 Cleveland Plain Dealer...... 62 Columbus Dispatch...... 63 Dayton Daily News ...... 64 Toledo Blade...... 64 Comparisons and Contrasts...... 65 Newspapers...... 65 Survey respondents ...... 72 Obtrusiveness Data ...... 77 Air pollution...... 81 Water pollution ...... 82 Solid waste...... 84 7 Analysis of Hypotheses...... 85

Chapter 6. Discussion ...... 88 Limitations and Need for Further Study ...... 94

References...... 101

Appendix A...... 106

Appendix B ...... 125 8 List of Tables

Table Page

Table 1. Keywords/key-phrases used in NewsBank and LexisNexis article searches of environmental problems and number of hits retrieved for each paper ...... 36

Table 2. Reliability of environmental problem keywords/key-phrases within each paper...... 41

Table 3(a). Reliability of individual environmental problem keywords/key-phrases across the six papers...... 42

Table 3(b). Number of relevant articles retrieved using keywords/key-phrases against the total number of articles retrieved to determine percent reliability of keywords/key-phrases across the six papers...... 42

Table 4. Plain Dealer hits and environmental problem rankings using NewsBank and LexisNexis search engines...... 44

Table 5. Newspaper readership market area counties...... 47

Table 6. Akron Beacon Journal environmental coverage and respondent opinion data, by respondent classification...... 53

Table 7. Cincinnati Enquirer and readership market data environmental coverage and respondent opinion data, by respondent classification ...... 54

Table 8. Cleveland Plain Dealer and readership market data environmental coverage and respondent opinion data, by respondent classification ...... 55

Table 9. Columbus Dispatch and readership market data environmental coverage and respondent opinion data, by respondent classification ...... 56

Table 10. Dayton Daily News and readership market data environmental coverage and respondent opinion data, by respondent classification ...... 57

Table 11. Toledo Blade and readership market data environmental coverage and respondent opinion data, by respondent classification ...... 58

Table 12. Summary of Tables 6 – 11 hits and correlations ...... 66

Table 13. Rankings of environmental problems for each newspaper...... 68

Table 14. Correlations between newspaper environmental agendas ...... 71 9

Table 15. Rankings of environmental problems for readership market aggregates, readers, and non-readers ...... 73

Table 16. Correlations between readership market aggregate environmental agendas....75

Table 17. Correlations between readership market reader environmental agendas...... 75

Table 18. Correlations between readership market non-reader environmental agendas ..76

Table 19. Correlations between the three readership market classifications of each newspaper ...... 77

Table 20(a). USEPA 2003 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data, in pounds...... 79

Table 20(b). Number of Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) units per county ...... 80

Table 20(c). OEPA Division of Surface Water “Do Not Eat” Advisory...... 80

Table 20(d). OEPA Division of Surface Water “Do Not Wade or Swim” Advisory...... 81

Table 20(e). Average annual solid waste disposed in landfills: 2000 – 2002, in pounds...... 81

Table 21. Correlations between environmental coverage and three readership market classifications, by home county ...... 85 10

Chapter 1. Purpose

The agenda-setting function of the media was first introduced by McCombs and

Shaw in 1972 and remains an often-studied, foundational theory of mass communication research. The phenomenon of media agenda-setting, in which the media, by emphasizing or frequently mentioning particular issues, increase the salience of those issues among the public, has played a role in heightening the level of environmental awareness in the

American public for generations (Sei-Hill Kim, Scheufele, and Shanahan, 2002).

Grounded in the theory of agenda-setting, this study examines how environmental coverage of Ohio’s six major metropolitan newspapers corresponds with Ohio citizens’ perceptions of selected environmental problems. This study assesses the role that environmental journalism can play in the formation of the public’s perception of environmental problems. This study involves secondary analysis of survey data, content analysis, and objective measures of environmental problems in metropolitan communities.

Chapter 2 defines the types of environmental problems across Ohio and the nation, as well as the degree to which those problems exist. Chapter 3 reviews media and environmental-based literature and research studies and provides a theoretical foundation upon which this study was based. Literature reviewed in Chapter 3 is organized by and touches on the following concepts: media ability to set the political and environmental agendas, the role of newspapers in the agenda-setting effect, and the influence that media coverage has on shaping public perception, specifically of policy and environmental 11 problems. Chapter 3 concludes with hypotheses derived from the literature reviewed.

Chapter 4 details the method necessary to carry out this study. Chapter 5 provides the results of data analysis, and Chapter 6 consists of discussion of findings, study limitations, and needs for further study. 12

Chapter 2. Introduction

The following is an analysis of national and local environmental problems and the value Americans place on the environment in general. Considering the consistently high level of concern Americans hold for the environment and the tendencies of Americans to use local newspapers to learn about local issues, the analysis gives further support to the goal of this study in determining whether a media agenda-setting effect has taken place

(Stempel, 1991).

Public opinion surveys have consistently shown that Americans support environmental legislation and value the environment in general, despite the fact that the environment as an issue fades in and out of the American media spotlight and remains a consistently low-salience issue in the press. A March 2005 Gallup Poll showed that 58 percent of 510 adults surveyed nationwide think the U.S. government is doing too little in terms of protecting the environment; 34 percent of respondents felt the government was doing about the right amount in terms of protecting the environment, and 5 percent said it was doing too much. In 2000, respondents answered 58 percent, 30 percent, and 10 percent, respectively (The Polling Report, Inc., 2005).

A general social survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center found that 75 percent of respondents in 1990 felt the U.S. government was spending too little money on improving and protecting the environment, a major increase from the 59 percent in 1985 and 51 percent in 1980. More citizen concern for the state of the environment was seen in a 1996 Roper Organization study. The Roper study asked 1,200 13 adults what they felt were among the most serious problems facing the U.S. Seventy- seven percent thought pollution of lakes, rivers, streams, and coastal waters was among the most serious problems facing the U.S., while 72 percent thought pollution from toxic waste sites was most serious, and 64 percent thought air pollution, or smog, was among the most serious problems (Belden & Russonello, 1996).

Leaders on both sides of the political spectrum have illustrated an awareness of the value of a healthy environment. President George H. W. Bush said in 1989, "Every

American expects and deserves clean air…and if we act on that belief, then we will set an example for the rest of the world to follow." Bush’s successor, Bill Clinton, expressed his feelings on the environment in 1996 this way: “Creating thriving companies and new jobs doesn’t have to come at the expense of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, or the natural landscape in which we live. We can, and indeed must, have both” (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2005).

A growing number of events across the United States legitimize the public’s interest in and high level of concern for the environment. A burning Cuyahoga River in

Cleveland, Ohio, and unexposed environmental time-bombs like the Love Canal at

Niagara Falls, New York, sparked public outcry from the late 1960s through the 1970s.

Even though Neuzil and Kovarik (1993) point out that environmental problems, and subsequent concern for the environment, have existed throughout much of the United

States’ history, the above-mentioned events and subsequent public demand resulted in the most extensive legislation passed on any single issue in one time-period in U.S. history.

Since then, timely and controversial environmental issues, such as lessening America’s 14 dependence on foreign oil and drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, have appeared in the media.

Environmental Problems in Ohio

A review of the state of the environment in Ohio and the types of environmental

problems that exist in the state, as determined by professional environmental groups and

government agencies, is necessary to establish a benchmark by which Ohio citizens’

perceptions of environmental problems can be validated. Environmental problems and

concerns in the state of Ohio are consistent with those of the rest of the country. Three of

the most prominent problems are urban sprawl, air pollution, and water pollution.

An issue of concern in Ohio is “sprawl,” or the commercial and residential

development of rural landscapes, adjacent to Ohio’s major metropolitan areas of Akron,

Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Toledo. The Vermont Forum on Sprawl

defined urban sprawl as, “Dispersed, auto-dependent development outside of compact

urban and village centers, along highways, and in rural countryside” (Frumkin, Frank and

Jackson, 2004). Sprawl can create a complexity of problems. It is a highly visible

phenomenon that can introduce environmental degradation to an area where it had been

minimal previously.

Because environmental problems are perceived differently by differing interests,

proponents of land use changes associated with sprawl can argue that changes to the

physical use and composition of the land merely trade one form of environmental

problem for another. That is seen when considering the potentially detrimental

environmental and human health impacts of both residential and commercial land use, as 15 well as agricultural land use. For example, the relocation of individuals farther from urban areas creates more vehicular commuter travel, which results in more widespread atmospheric pollution and other public health threats. Subsequently, it has been suggested that obesity has emerged in tandem with urban sprawl, as sprawl discourages physical activity (Jager, 2005). Parking lots and other paved surfaces carry runoff water containing oil and anti-freeze from leaking cars to storm drains, which empty directly into rivers and streams. That water once was naturally filtered by wetlands and soil.

Actively farmed agricultural lands can cause environmental problems when proper farming practices are not implemented. Phosphorus and nitrogen from herbicides and fertilizers can significantly affect water quality when they enter lakes and streams as runoff pollution. When present in excess, those nutrients can create algal blooms, which rob aquatic organisms of oxygen. Ramifications of that effect are seen in the oxygen- depleted, Gulf of Mexico “Dead Zone,” an area the size of El Salvador containing zero aquatic life and appearing annually at the peak of fertilizer runoff from the Corn Belt

(United Nations Environment Programme, 1999).

Additional problems from sprawl arise from the increase in population in once rural areas. Population increases can overwhelm wastewater treatment plants not designed to handle the increased capacity of people. Water quality impairments result in the form of sewer backups and overflows, and economic strain can result from the necessity to update wastewater treatment facilities.

Although building necessary wastewater treatment infrastructure is extremely costly, it allows for the proper management of sewage and addresses subsequent water quality and human health issues. Updating infrastructure is not an option for many of 16 Ohio’s approximate one million rural residents who must manage their sewage using onsite septic systems, however (Mancel and Slater, 2001). Failing onsite septic systems in turn are a common problem contributing to high nitrogen levels in Ohio streams. High nitrogen levels can ultimately result in eutrophication, the environmental consequence of over-fertilization, which consists of high concentrations of algal bloom growth that robs water of oxygen and suffocates aquatic life (Smol, 2002).

Outdated metropolitan centralized sewer systems pose a significant threat to water quality given the volume of wastewater generated by a major Ohio city. A June 2003

Sierra Club fact sheet stated that the city of Columbus has one of the worst operating sewer systems in the United States. The city had between four and five times more raw sewage discharges per mile of pipe than the average American city, and Columbus citizens reported more than 10,000 sewage backups into basements in the previous five years. “Over three-billion gallons of raw sewage per year, on average, was bypassed from Columbus’ two sewage treatment plants from 1994-2000,” making Columbus the biggest polluter of the Scioto River, the fact sheet stated (Sierra Club, 2005).

Air pollution is Ohio’s most significant environmental problem. Emissions from coal power plants, particularly in Cleveland and along the Ohio River in southeastern

Ohio, are a significant contributor to the state’s degraded air quality.

Emissions affect both air and water quality as reported by the Ohio Valley

Environmental Coalition and the National Wildlife Federation. The National Wildlife

Federation (2004) reported that “rain falling in Cleveland contains mercury levels up to

31 times higher than the mercury levels EPA considers safe in the waters of the Great

Lakes.” The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (2001) reported that “air pollution 17 along the Ohio River is worse than on the East Coast, not in terms of peak exposures but through sustained exposure.” Emissions from Ohio River Valley coal-burning facilities have been blamed by some as a contributing cause of increased asthma and other respiratory conditions throughout the Appalachian region of the eastern U.S. The Ohio

Environmental Protection Agency, March 2005, Toxics Release Inventory report supports those arguments. The report shows Ohio to be the number one emitter of toxic air pollutants in the nation in 2000, 2001, and 2002, releasing more than 30.5 million pounds more annually than second-ranked Georgia and more than 37 million pounds more than third-ranked Tennessee. Ohio released more combined air emissions in 2003 than any other state, as well, releasing more than 32 million pounds more than second- ranked Georgia and third-ranked North Carolina (Ohio Environmental Protection

Agency, 2005).

Poll data show that American citizens have consistently valued the environment for years, despite fluctuations in the amount of environmental coverage by the press.

Environmental hazards and events have helped the environment remain an issue at the forefront of Americans’ minds. Ohio citizens, particularly, live in a state in which environmental and health effects from urban sprawl, loss of green space and agriculture land, antiquated wastewater treatment plants and sewer overflows, and poor air quality are a reality. That fact sets the stage for this study, in which the amount of environmental coverage by Ohio newspapers will be compared to responses of Ohio citizens on a survey dealing with environmental problems similar to those mentioned in this chapter. 18

Chapter 3. Review of Literature and Hypotheses

Because newspapers serve as a respected medium of discourse on public problems and historically have played a significant role in setting the public agenda, this study examined the correspondence of environmental agendas of local newspapers and

Ohio citizens. Historically, both newspaper and television media have served as the most common means through which people learn about major news stories and events. As such, media coverage of environmental problems plays a significant role in the actual and perceived health of the natural environment in the United States.

This chapter briefly reviews media coverage of significant environmental events in U.S. history and newspaper and other media influence on public perception. A thorough review of the theory of media agenda-setting is provided in order to create a framework of possible media influence on public perception of environmental problems.

The chapter provides an introduction to the phenomenon of issue obtrusiveness and how obtrusive measures can conflict with a media agenda-setting effect, and it concludes with hypotheses developed from this collective review.

Kunst and Witlox (1993) suggest that media have a moral responsibility to accurately cover environmental problems. They suggest this responsibility stems from the level of importance the American public associates with the environment and the significance to which environmental problems and events can affect the health and well- being of the public. Mass media dubbed the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill an environmental crisis. Media attention to the event convinced the U.S. public that the 19 environment was once again an important issue facing the nation. The 11-million-gallon spill in Alaska’s pristine Prince William Sound covered an area the size of Rhode Island, killed 580,000 birds, 22 whales, 5,500 sea otters, and left 1,200 miles of Alaska coastline coated with crude oil for years after the spill. The spill was referred to as the “trigger event” that put the environmental issue on the media, public, and policy agendas

(Dearing and Rogers, 1992).

Newspapers in particular played an integral role in the level of awareness that

Americans formed about storied environmental problems and disasters. A front-page news story in The New York Times was the catalyst that activated state and federal health and environmental agencies to assist Love Canal residents and perpetuate cleanup of tons of buried hazardous chemicals comprising that toxicological disaster, which forced hundreds of families from their homes in 1978 (Dearing and Rogers, 1992). Similarly, coverage by the New York World focused on worker and public health issues and exposed the hazardous working and subsequent health conditions of U.S. Radium Corporation employees. This coverage expedited litigation against the company in 1927 by the

“Radium Girls.” The Radium Girls, five of many women who ultimately died of radium poisoning, were encouraged to sharpen paintbrush bristles with their mouths as they painted clock faces with radium-laden paint (Neuzil and Kovarik, 1996).

The previous literature provided a glimpse of influential media coverage of significant environmental events in U.S. history. The following review of literature consists of media agenda-setting research studies and related environmental studies.

Those studies establish a theoretical framework and foundation of respected research against which hypotheses of this study were formed and findings analyzed. The literature 20 touches on the dynamics of media influence on public perception, the media agenda- setting effect, the importance of newspapers in information dissemination, and the influence of obtrusive factors on individuals’ perceptions of environmental problems.

Media Influence on Public Perception

The media’s ability to influence public perception of issues is integral to the

agenda-setting effect. The following literature illustrates instances in which the media

have affected public perception of issues, as well as the media’s ability to affect

established foundations, such as policy.

Media effects on public perception and policy issues were suggested by

Leiserowitz (2004) in his study of the movie The Day After Tomorrow. The science

fiction film depicted the destruction of New York City after global warming triggered an

abrupt and catastrophic shift in the planet’s climate. Using survey data collected one

week before and three weeks after the movie’s first screening, Leiserowitz determined

that the dramatic presentation of subject material led moviegoers to have higher levels of

concern and worry about global warming. Leiserowitz also found the film influenced

moviegoers’ behavioral intentions, policy priorities, and voting intentions.

Brailovskaya (1998) also assessed media presentation in finding that the media’s

manner of presentation of an environmental issue can affect individuals’ perceptions of

that issue. In New England, coverage by regional and national media strengthened the

image of the fisherman as one of contemporary society’s “last rugged individuals.”

Perpetuation of that image resulted in a fisherman-versus-scientist stereotype in which 21 fishing-industry spokesperson opinions of the condition of groundfish populations were viewed as more credible than scientific data.

Neuzil and Kovarik (1996) found media influence on public perception to be substantial enough to influence policy creation and change. Nuezil and Kovarik suggested that the original Audubon Club magazine, Forest and Stream, hastened the demise of market hunting, the taking of wild game for economic reasons, by painting the phenomenon as one conducted by non-elites. Subsequently, game laws and bag limits were established and were foundational elements of a new type of hunting ethic in the

U.S. (Neuzil and Kovarik, 1996).

More evidence of media’s involvement in environmental policy comes from

Bengston, Xu, and Fan (2001) and their quantitative analysis of 1,500 online newspaper articles. Bengston, Xu, and Fan found that 78 percent of the articles reflected positive attitudes towards ecosystem management from the public and scientific communities over the study’s seven-year period. The researchers also noted that newspaper coverage of ecosystem management shifted from discussion of what the phenomenon is to how it could best be put into practice in specific geographic areas. Bengston, Xu, and Fan concluded that the media have a powerful role in natural resources policy, stating that the manner in which ecosystem management is characterized in the media depends largely on how it is perceived by the public. Schoenfeld (1979), on the other hand, found that the press’ influence on the process by which the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was formulated and made law, in 1969, was non-existent.

The previous studies introduced the ability of the media to influence public perception and policy. The ability to influence public perception of issues is integral to 22 the establishment of a media agenda-setting effect, a resultant factor of media influence and high media coverage. The following studies introduce the theory of media agenda- setting and the agenda-setting effect, within which this study is grounded.

Agenda-Setting

In adopting the logic of Cohen (1963), namely that the media tell people what to

think about, the theory of agenda-setting is a good framework for thinking about the way

in which the media can increase the frequency that citizens hear, and thus think, about

environmental problems. Numerous studies have followed the McCombs and Shaw

(1972) landmark study, which showed that the media’s emphasis on 1968 campaign

issues corresponded highly with the degrees to which the voting public felt the issues

were important. McCombs and Shaw discovered the effect of media agenda-setting

through repeated news coverage as the increase in importance of an issue in the public’s

mind.

Weaver, McCombs, and Spellman (1975) again showed the media agenda-setting

effect in an election study by conducting content analysis of a local newspaper and

personal and telephone interviews of randomly selected voters from economically and

racially differing metropolitan precincts. Weaver, McCombs, and Spellman suggest that,

by keeping the Watergate affair high on the agenda for so many months, the media told

voters that it was an important criterion for judging political parties and candidates.

Consequently, the media had a hand in causing the dramatic Democratic victories in the

1974 midterm election following Watergate. The Watergate scandal ultimately caused

the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon following a break-in to the 23 Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington,

D.C.

Bare (1990) again showed the strength of the media agenda-setting effect in his study of President Bush’s war against drugs in the late 1980s. Using analysis of number of related newspaper stories and data from a public opinion poll asking for the number- one problem in America, Bare found that Bush’s declaration of the war on drugs

“triggered a flood of newspaper stories and helped galvanize public concern” that drugs were the biggest problem facing the nation. That concern came in spite of a steady trend of declining drug use.

Years earlier, Funkhouser (1973) reached conclusions similar to Bare’s.

Funkhouser used Gallup Poll data of respondent opinions of the “most important problem facing America” and number of stories in three weekly news magazines to show that the media can set the public opinion agenda even when an issue does not directly affect all respondents. His findings also showed that, although media coverage and public opinion were strongly related, the news media do not always accurately portray what is going on in the world through their coverage. That finding suggests that a disconnect between the media news agenda and the public’s agenda is possible if the public holds a different view of an issue or event than that portrayed by the media in its coverage.

A television news study conducted by Wanta, Golan, and Lee (2004) using national poll data found that the more television news coverage a nation received, the more likely respondents were to think the nation was of vital importance to U.S. interests.

In addition to supporting the agenda-setting hypothesis, the Wanta, Golan, and Lee study also supported the “second level” agenda-setting effect, as it showed how the media 24 succeeded in influencing how positively or negatively the public viewed the foreign nations. Also referred to as “attribute agenda-setting,” the second-level effect of agenda- setting is an increase in the salience of an issue in the public mind as a result of media emphasis on specific attributes of that issue (Sei-Hill Kim, Scheufele, and Shanahan,

2002).

Kwansah-Aidoo (2001) assessed whether issues covered heavily by Ghana’s mass

media were the same or different from those nominated by educated citizens of Accra,

Ghana, as the important environmental issues in the country. Kwansah-Aidoo conducted

a qualitative analysis of media agenda-setting, looking at the correlation between the

1997 PACIPE Media Report, which lists environmental issues most reported on by mass

media, and responses of interviewees to the most prevalent environmental problems in

Ghana. Findings showed an almost exact match between the five most reported

environmental issues covered by mass media and those reported by interviewees as the

biggest environmental problems in Ghana. The single difference between the PACIPE

report data and interviewee rankings was a switch among deforestation and

brushfires/bush burning as the third and fourth most pressing environmental problem in

the country. The flow of influence was determined to go from media to public, as many

interviewees said they rely on the media to “know” what environmental problems are

important.

Finally, Trumbo (1995) showed the development process of the agenda-setting

effect over time. Trumbo studied the roles of newspapers and public opinion polls in the

creation of the agenda-setting effect in his longitudinal modeling analysis focusing on

global warming. Trumbo suggested that polls conducted in the wake of newspaper 25 attention often resulted in more newspaper attention. That phenomenon works towards the establishment of an agenda-setting effect, as the newspapers perpetuate the salience of poll issues through subsequent coverage. Trumbo recognized that the level of issue salience would not be maintained if the post-poll newspaper attention did not in turn result in additional polling, however.

The previous studies showed that media clearly have influenced the formation of public perception on prominent national issues ranging from political elections and administrative initiatives to environmental problems. This study attempts to determine whether a similar media agenda-setting effect will be replicated by analyzing the correspondence between regional newspaper media coverage and public perception of regional environmental problems. Subsequently, the roles that local and regional newspapers play in informing citizens, influencing the public agenda, and catalyzing discussion and recall of issues are particularly relevant to this study and are introduced next.

Stempel (1991) used national telephone survey data to study the frequency with which newspapers, television, and radio were used to obtain news on local, state, and national issues. Stempel discovered that newspapers were the most used news source in obtaining news about four selected local issues - city mayor, county commissioners, school systems, and businesses. Newspapers were used more than twice as often as television and radio for three of the local issues, and one and a half times as often for the fourth. Stempel found that television was used more often than newspapers and radio to learn about state and national issues, however. Stempel’s findings were similar to those of Palmgreen and Clark (1977), who studied the tendencies to which local newspapers 26 and network television set the local and national agenda. Palmgreen and Clark found that the agenda-setting effect on local issues was more likely with content from newspapers than with local television news, whereas on national issues, network television was more effective than a local newspaper in setting the agenda.

Regional newspapers were the focus of an environmental risk communication study conducted by McCallum, Hammond, and Covello (1991). The researchers surveyed citizens from six major metropolitan areas in the U.S. that were known to possess various environmental problems and whose newspapers actively ran environmental news stories. The researchers asked survey respondents open- and close- ended questions about which specific environmental problems posed a health risk to them and where they had recently heard or read about them. Seventy-six percent of the respondents who had heard or read something about the environment in the previous week indicated the newspaper as the source of the information. Using that data,

McCallum, Hammond, and Covello found a strong correlation between the level of respondent recall of recent environmental problems or events and the content of actual news stories printed about those problems and events in the respondents’ respective newspapers during the survey period.

Therefore, not only did McCallum, Hammond, and Covello conclude that local media as a whole are the most pervasive source of environmental information, they also found regional newspapers to be among the most significant media in establishing a media agenda-setting effect. Similarly, Gooch (1996) concluded that regional newspapers play an important role as disseminators of environmental information in his 27 media agenda-setting study involving public citizen survey data and content analysis of regional newspapers.

Donohue, Olien, and Tichenor (1997) invoked a theory of structural pluralism in their study of structure and constraints on community newspaper editors as the editors cover local conflicts including environmental ones. Structural pluralism describes a major difference between large, urban newspapers and small, rural papers. Donohue,

Olien, and Tichenor suggest that diversity of readership, which in-part defines structural pluralism, affords urban newspapers the ability and need to cover controversial news issues and events that may breed conflict among community members. In contrast, the researchers suggest that smaller newspapers do not have that ability or need. That theory supports this study’s use of the six major metropolitan newspapers in Ohio, as it can be predicted that the six major metropolitan newspapers cover environmental problems without significant concern of inciting conflict.

The Obtrusion Factor

This study tests the correlation between newspaper and public agendas based on

nine specific environmental problems. The degree to which environmental problems

intrude on individuals’ daily lives affects how individuals perceive the problems. The degree of intrusion also affects the degree to which individuals rely on the news media to inform them of environmental problems (Zucker, 1978). This study compiled objective

(extra-media data) measures of environmental problems in the six Ohio urban areas and assessed through statistical analysis the influence that such obtrusive problems had on the media-public relationship. As such, literature reviewed in this section provides a 28 valuable introduction to the influence that obtrusive factors can have on public perception.

Using survey data analysis, Drori and Yuchtman-Yaar (2002) found the level to

which a problem obtrudes on an individual’s daily life can significantly influence how an

individual views subsequent conditions of the surrounding physical environment.

Specifically, Drori and Yuchtman-Yarr found that actual hazard levels, or objective

conditions, of the local environment in the Israeli communities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv,

and Haifa more greatly influenced individual attitudes toward environmental problems

than did socioeconomic attributes, such as education and income, which are typically

associated with subjective environmental values. Survey respondent concerns with

hazards were most pronounced in the city characterized by the highest actual hazard

levels and least pronounced in the city of the lowest hazard levels.

Similarly, the level to which a problem obtrudes on an individual’s daily life can

significantly influence how an individual gains information about conditions of the

surrounding physical environment, as is seen in the studies of Harold Zucker. Zucker

studied the role of obtrusiveness in news media influence on public perception of environmental problems. He suggested that pollution builds up gradually in most areas,

so most people either do not realize it is there, or do not consider it as anything but natural or routine, unless it is talked about as a problem in the media. From these findings Zucker proposed a theory stating that “the less obtrusive an issue is, and the less time the issue has been prominent in the media, the greater is the news media’s influence on public opinion about that issue” (Zucker, 1978, page 225). 29 Another study exemplifying the role that obtrusiveness can play in public perception was conducted by Gooch (1996), who used content analysis of regional newspapers and a survey of public environmental beliefs and attitudes as empirical data to study waste, water, air pollution, and society. Gooch found the degree of obtrusiveness of physically noticeable air pollution so influenced survey respondents that they considered air pollution the most important environmental problem in their area.

That influence occurred in spite of newspapers writing significantly more articles about water and waste problems than air pollution during the study period. Gooch’s findings support the notion that personal observation and experience greatly shape environmental concern among the general public, and they exemplify the ability of obtrusive factors to weaken or nullify the media agenda-setting effect in instances where the factors are present.

Similarly, although claiming mass media played an important role in informing the public of the enormity of Ghana’s most pressing environmental problem, Kwansah-

Aidoo (2001) acknowledged the importance of obtrusiveness of environmental problems as a contingent variable in his qualitative study of the most important environmental problems in Ghana. Many of that study’s interviewees lived daily with and within close proximity to the environmental condition, urban waste and sanitation, listed by both the mass media and interviewees as the most pressing environmental problem in Ghana.

Wanta, Golan, and Lee (2004) showed that obtrusiveness can extend beyond the physical sense of visible or odorous air pollution for example, and that obtrusive factors existing in other forms, such as individual knowledge levels, serve to negate the effect of media information dissemination. In their agenda-setting study, which found that the 30 more television news coverage a nation received the more likely respondents were to think the nation was of vital importance to the U.S., Wanta, Golan, and Lee also found that individual knowledge levels of other countries served as obtrusive factors affecting individuals’ need for the media:

Coverage patterns for certain nations did not appear to match public

perceptions. Notably, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait received relatively little

media coverage, but both were relatively high on the public’s vital interest

agenda…One reason for the high public ranking of Saudi Arabia and

Kuwait could be that since oil is vitally important to the United States,

members of the public may view these nations as vitally important as well.

The news media, therefore, did not have to show the importance of oil-

providing nations to the public for the public to understand their

significance (Wanta, Golan, and Lee, 2004, page 372).

Hypotheses

The literature reviewed above illustrates the ability of the media to influence

public perception and create an agenda-setting effect. It also illustrates the notable role

that newspapers play in those phenomena. The role of local newspapers in disseminating

information on local topics, as illustrated by Stempel (1991), and the presence of a

number of environmental problems in the state of Ohio suggest importance of this study and its attempt to assess whether Ohio citizens’ perceptions of regional environmental problems are influenced by news coverage of Ohio’s six major metropolitan newspapers. 31 Based upon the findings of Weaver, McCombs, and Spellman (1975); McCallum,

Hammond, and Covello (1991); Kwansah-Aidoo (2001); and Wanta, Golan, and Lee

(2004), which suggest that media agendas influence the formation of public perception and public agenda, Hypothesis 1 (H1) states that:

H1: Environmental problems covered in Ohio’s six major metropolitan newspapers will be of high salience to and perceived to be problems by surveyed residents of those newspapers’ readership markets.

Hypothesis 2 (H2) states that:

H2: The effect in H1 will be greater for readers than for non-readers.

On the other hand, the findings of Drori and Yuchtman-Yaar (2002); Gooch

(1996); and Wanta, Golan, and Lee (2004) also suggest that: in the metropolitan areas

where perceived environmental problems are actually most serious and, therefore, obtrusive, it is possible that neither H1 nor H2 will be supported.

Because the study involves Ohio’s six major metropolitan papers, the following

research questions (RQ) were proposed:

RQ1: What similarities are there among the newspaper agendas?

RQ2: What similarities are there among the newspaper readership agendas? 32

Chapter 4. Method

This study compared responses to a public opinion survey to newspaper coverage of environmental problems in the twelve-month period leading up to the survey.

Analysis looked at how newspaper media coverage of the individual environmental problems corresponded to public perception of those problems.

Rankings of nine environmental problems by degree of importance for survey respondents were recorded. The problems then were used as content analysis variables to assess the newspapers’ environmental coverage. Respondents were aggregated using ZIP codes into six major newspaper markets. Coverage data were collected for each of the six newspapers. Newspaper and respective market respondent data were then compared to assess whether any correlation existed between newspaper coverage of the nine problems, as determined by the number of articles written about each problem, and respondent perception of environmental problems based on respondent rankings of the nine environmental problems.

Determining the amount of newspaper coverage of the environmental problems using the NewsBank and LexisNexis search engines differs from “traditional” content analysis, an approach that might not have been feasible on the scale needed for this study.

Therefore, in addition to examining the media agenda-setting effect by providing an assessment of the correlations between Ohio newspaper and citizen agendas on specific environmental problems, this study serves as a methodological exploration that may benefit future researchers. 33 Environmental Problems

Environmental reporters at the six major metropolitan newspapers in Ohio – the

Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Columbus

Dispatch, Dayton Daily News, and Toledo Blade - were asked to disclose the most significant environmental problem in their coverage area by two researchers who planned

a public opinion survey. The nine most significant environmental problems reported by

the reporters were: 1) emissions from coal-powered plants; 2) pollution of lakes, rivers,

and streams; 3) urban sprawl; 4) clean-up of nuclear power plants; 5) sewer overflows

into streams and rivers; 6) the need to expand wastewater treatment plants; 7) air

pollution; 8) out-of-state waste being dumped in the area; and 9) dumping of industrial or

factory chemicals.

Obviously, there may be limitations in considering the problems mentioned by the

environmental reporters of the major metropolitan newspapers as the nine most

significant environmental problems in the state of Ohio. For example, the open-ended

manner in which the question was asked carries potential for a broad definition of a

problem resulting from terminological vagueness. Also, an individual reporter’s

coverage area might affect his or her reasoning for considering an environmental problem

most important. Factors within different coverage areas, such as what environmental

problem resonates strongest with readers or elected officials, could vary widely and

influence what’s considered the most significant problem by two different reporters.

Finally, a cited environmental problem may simply be the most significant problem to the

reporter, himself or herself. 34 Content Analysis

This study used content analysis to determine the environmental news coverage of

the six major Ohio metropolitan newspapers based on the selected nine environmental

problems. Stone and McCombs (1981) found that a period ranging from two to six

months is necessary for the agenda-setting effect to take place. Because heavy amounts

of environmental coverage tend to be sporadic and dependent upon significant events

(Dearing and Rogers, 1992), and in order for the agenda-setting effect to be maximized,

content analysis of each paper’s environmental coverage was conducted for the twelve-

month period prior to the survey, February 1, 2004 – January 31, 2005.

In order to manage the large volume of articles involved in completion of this

study, the study’s content analysis did not involve close reading of every environmental

article in each newspaper in the twelve months prior to the survey. Specifically, this

study used as a measure of newspaper coverage the number of “hits” or results garnered

using keywords or key-phrases associated with each of the nine environmental problems searched through the NewsBank and LexisNexis search engines.

Newsbank is an online database of local, regional, and national newspapers.

LexisNexis is a web-based archive of content from newspapers, magazines, legal

documents, and other printed sources.

Search protocol using NewsBank included: Searching: Ohio NewspapersÆ For:

(environmental problem keyword)Æ Return: Oldest Matches FirstÆ Custom Date: Feb

1, 2004 – Jan 31, 2005. Search protocol using LexisNexis included: Guided News

SearchÆ News Category: General NewsÆ News Source: Major PapersÆ Enter: 35 (environmental problem keyword) In: Full TextÆ Date Range: From: Feb 1, 2004 To:

Jan 31, 2005Æ Publication Title: "Columbus Dispatch, The."

This process was completed for each newspaper and keyword or key-phrase.

Coverage for each newspaper was searched using NewsBank, except for the Dispatch, which was searched using LexisNexis, as the Dispatch was the only newspaper not available through NewsBank.

Reliability of Keyword/Key-phrase Search

The reliability of the keyword/key-phrase search process obviously represented a

linchpin for this study and others making future use of this approach. In order to determine whether keywords/key-phrases returned an acceptable number of relevant articles about each environmental problem, a reliability calculation, or “litmus test” as it

came to be called, was conducted. The litmus test consisted of identifying the total aggregate hits for each paper for the year, and then reading 20 percent of the aggregate articles selected at random. If 70 percent of those articles (in the 20 percent constituting the test) were relevant, then the keyword/key-phrase was considered acceptable. In instances where a small aggregate of articles were returned (i.e, when it was not necessary to examine a 20 percent subset), each article of the total aggregate was read and tested against the 70 percent relevancy limit.

Whenever possible, the exact language used to describe the environmental problems in the survey was used in the keyword search. In instances where insufficient hits were garnered using exact language, other keyword/key-phrase variants were tested.

An attempt was made to keep those keyword/key-phrase variants as close to the same 36 language as possible, as well (see Table 1). Further, a “... near10 problem” feature was used in association with keywords/key-phrases in both the NewsBank and LexisNexis engines in order to ensure that each hit on an environmental problem was in fact associated with or considered to be a “problem.” That provided greater confidence that newspaper hits could be comparable to survey responses, as it precluded hits that might have used keywords but not identified them as problematic. Therefore, the search method was designed so that each relevant article in this study either mentioned one of the nine environmental problems or mentioned how each of the nine problems created a subsequent problem or served as a catalyst for an additional problem.

Table 1. Keywords/key-phrases used in NewsBank and LexisNexis article searches of environmental problems and number of hits retrieved for each paper

Keywords/key-phrases: coal power plant emissions near10 problem * “coal” and “power plant” and “problem”

Beacon Journal 25 hits Enquirer 8 hits Plain Dealer 10 hits Dispatch 19 hits Daily News 7 hits Blade 15 hits 37 Table 1: continued.

Keywords/key-phrases: pollution in waterways near10 problem * “pollution” and “waterways” and “problem”

Beacon Journal 14 hits Enquirer 7 hits Plain Dealer 6 hits Dispatch 18 hits Daily News 0 hits Blade 3 hits

Keywords/key-phrases: urban sprawl or sprawl near10 problem * “urban sprawl” or “sprawl” and “problem”

Beacon Journal 6 hits Enquirer 17 hits Plain Dealer 15 hits Dispatch 14 hits Daily News 16 hits Blade 17 hits

Keywords/key-phrases: nuclear power plant near10 problem * “nuclear” and “power plant” and “problem”

Beacon Journal 47 hits Enquirer 2 hits Plain Dealer 52 hits Dispatch 13 hits Daily News 5 hits Blade 52 hits

Keywords/key-phrases: sewer overflows and waterways near10 problem * “sewer overflows” and “waterways” or “rivers” and “problem”

Beacon Journal 7 hits Enquirer 4 hits Plain Dealer 2 hits Dispatch 5 hits Daily News 0 hits Blade 3 hits 38 Table 1: continued.

Keywords/key-phrases: expand wastewater treatment or sewer plants near10 problem * “expand” and “wastewater treatment plant” and “problem”

Beacon Journal 17 hits Enquirer 15 hits Plain Dealer 13 hits Dispatch 2 hits Daily News 18 hits Blade 18 hits

Keywords/key-phrases: air pollution near10 problem * “air pollution” and “problem”

Beacon Journal 60 hits Enquirer 37 hits Plain Dealer 32 hits Dispatch 31 hits Daily News 32 hits Blade 48 hits

Keywords/key-phrases: “solid waste” or landfill near10 problem * “solid waste” or “landfill” and “problem”

Beacon Journal 28 hits Enquirer 23 hits Plain Dealer 9 hits Dispatch 30 hits Daily News 21 hits Blade 38 hits

Keywords/key-phrases: pollution of industrial or factory chemicals near10 problem * “industry” and “pollution” and “problem”

Beacon Journal 10 hits Enquirer 5 hits Plain Dealer 11 hits Dispatch 47 hits Daily News 2 hits Blade 3 hits

*LexisNexis keyword/key-phrase search for Dispatch articles

39 Because environmental problems are commonly framed within the context of affecting human health, convenience, or quality of life, these qualities served as unavoidable qualifiers or criteria in determining an article’s relevance for inclusion in the reliability test. Specifically, the level or severity to which an environmental problem affects these qualities, as well as mention of resultant repercussions from an environmental problem, played roles in determining relevancy of articles.

These qualifiers required a qualitative analysis of articles in which the qualifiers were present. For example, one or all terms such as “human health,” “obesity,”

“pollution,” or “emissions of mercury” within an article that explains why citizens do not want a coal-powered plant built in their community qualified the article as relevant.

Other qualifiers of relevance included uncertain safety elements of nuclear power plant operations; negative effects of sprawl relating to traffic congestion, loss of green space, reduction of property value, and loss of city residents, character, or aesthetics; and problems of negative economic strains resulting from losing businesses and urban population to sprawl.

Some environmental problems, such as air pollution and pollution of lakes, rivers, and streams, were directly mentioned as important in articles. Other problems required associations between elements within stories. For example, in reviewing articles on expanding wastewater treatment plants, a relevant article mentioned building a holding pond to assist a sewer system that currently overflows into the Cuyahoga River during heavy rains. The article does not specifically say that the sewer system itself will be expanded; however, it is assumed that the reader can determine from the article that the 40 size of the current facility is not adequate because of the resulting overflows and need to build a holding pond.

In reviewing articles on dumping of out-of-state waste, relevant articles included mention of landfills receiving materials that have been, or are, an environmental hazard.

This particular search terminology was broadened to capture coverage. “Out-of-state waste dumping” was too narrow a topic and resulted in few relevant newspaper stories, despite Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) report data stating that Ohio has imported from other states between 1 million and 3.7 million tons of garbage each year for disposal in its landfills between 1987 and 2002 (OEPA, 2003). This search required recognition of environmental problems or potential hazards associated with solid waste and landfills. Articles within that search speak of dumping of out-of-state waste, as well as a number of potentially negative problems that can result at any time relative to a landfill. Examples of these problems include unsafe materials contained within a landfill, leachate leaking from landfills, methane gas, and landfills filling to capacity and the subsequent need for more landfill space.

Appendix A includes a sample of actual articles retrieved from the keyword/key- phrase search. That sample shows the types of articles, and elements within articles, found in the search that were determined to define newspaper coverage of the nine environmental problems.

The results of the keyword/key-phrase reliability (litmus) tests were examined in two ways to assess the overall reliability of the keyword/key-phrase searches. The first reliability test was conducted for all nine environmental problem keywords/key-phrases within each paper, which resulted in a 74 percent between-paper average overall 41 agreement across the nine problem keywords (see Table 2). The second test was a within keyword test that tested each individual keyword/key-phrase across the six papers, resulting in a 75 percent average overall agreement of the nine problems across the six papers (see Table 3(a); Table 3(b) shows the frequencies used to yield the percentages in

Table 3[a]).

Table 2. Reliability of environmental problem keywords/key-phrases within each paper

Environmental Problem 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total

Beacon Journal 80 67 33 89 100 67 83 67 70 73 Enquirer 100 71 100 0 100 33 71 60 60 66 Plain Dealer 90 100 100 100 100 67 50 44 36 76 Dispatch 75 100 100 0 100 100 50 67 78 74 Daily News 86 - 81 80 - 33 67 25 100 67 Blade 100 100 71 100 100 75 90 75 67 86

Overall % relevancy 74

Environmental Problems

1) emissions from coal-powered plants 2) pollution of lakes, rivers, and streams 3) urban sprawl 4) clean-up of nuclear power plants 5) sewer overflows into streams and rivers 6) the need to expand wastewater treatment plants 7) air pollution 8) out-of-state waste being dumped in the area 9) dumping of industrial or factory chemicals 42 Table 3(a). Reliability of individual environmental problem keywords/key-phrases across the six papers

Environmental Problem 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total

Beacon Journal 80 67 33 89 100 67 83 67 70 Enquirer 100 71 100 0 100 33 71 60 60 Plain Dealer 90 100 100 100 100 67 50 44 36 Dispatch 75 100 100 0 100 100 50 67 78 Daily News 86 - 81 80 - 33 67 25 100 Blade 100 100 71 100 100 75 90 75 67

Total 89 88 81 62 100 63 69 56 69 75

Environmental Problems

Environmental Problem 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Beacon Journal 4/5 2/3 2/6 8/9 4/4 2/3 10/12 4/6 7/10 Enquirer 2/2 5/7 3/3 0/2 4/4 5/15 5/7 3/5 3/5 Plain Dealer 9/10 6/6 3/3 10/10 2/2 2/3 3/6 4/9 4/11 Dispatch 3/4 4/4 3/3 0/3 5/5 2/2 3/6 4/6 7/9 Daily News 6/7 - 13/16 4/5 - 6/18 4/6 1/4 2/2 Blade 3/3 3/3 12/17 10/10 3/3 3/4 9/10 6/8 2/3

Total 531/6 438/5 485/6 369/6 500/5 375/6 411/6 338/6 411/6

43 Those levels of reliability demonstrate the importance of keyword selection and the risks of having those terms guided, as in this case, by the response of interviewees like environmental reporters. Nonetheless, both litmus tests were judged to give acceptable though imperfect reliability to the keyword/key-phrase method of using search engines to determine newspaper agendas. Table 1 showed the keywords/key-phrases used for each environmental problem and the number of hits retrieved for each paper.

Test of Search Engine Accuracy

The Columbus Dispatch was the one newspaper of the six whose archived articles

were not available through NewsBank. Dispatch articles were available through

LexisNexis. Therefore, the question became whether Dispatch articles obtained via

LexisNexis were comparable to what might be obtained if Dispatch articles were

available through NewsBank. The question was addressed through an indirect process.

In order to assess whether the two search engines operate comparably and return similar

news articles from the same newspaper when consistent keywords/key-phrases were

used, a second “litmus test” was conducted using the Plain Dealer, as Plain Dealer

articles were available through both search engines. Therefore, if the Plain Dealer

articles located via both search engines matched, then it was assumed that LexisNexis

was a suitable search engine to use to locate Dispatch articles.

Table 4 shows the Plain Dealer’s hits and the rankings of the nine environmental problems using NewsBank and LexisNexis search engines. The Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient is .62, which is significant at the .05 level, meaning the between-

engine rankings are significantly alike. For the environmental problem “urban sprawl,” 44 the 15 articles retrieved by LexisNexis for the Plain Dealer were the same 15 retrieved by NewsBank. Therefore, the two search engines were determined to be acceptably comparable; and the results obtained from the Dispatch via LexisNexis were comparable to results obtained from other papers via NewsBank.

Table 4. Plain Dealer hits and environmental problem rankings using NewsBank and LexisNexis search engines

Problem NewsBank Rank LexisNexis Rank hits hits 1 21 4 10 6 2 8 7 6 8 3 15 5 15 3 4 64 1 52 1 5 1 8 2 9 6 0 9 13 4 7 24 3 32 2 8 10 6 9 7 9 36 2 11 5 Correlation coefficient (rho): .62 Level of significance: .05

Environmental Problems

Analysis Strategies

Spearman’s rho was used to measure the associations between the nine

environmental problem rankings for each newspaper and the rankings of those problems

for the aggregate of survey respondents in each paper’s readership market. Because

Hypothesis 2 involves the distinction between the reading respondents and non-readers,

Spearman’s rho was used to measure the associations between the rankings for each

newspaper and the rankings for each paper’s readers and non-readers. Spearman’s rho

measures association between two sets of rankings using a scale of -1 to +1, where -1

represents a perfect negative correlation between two sets of data, and +1 represents a

perfect positive correlation. Zero (0) represents no correlation.

Survey

Data for this study were drawn from a survey consisting of 47 questions dealing

primarily with environmental problems and media coverage of those environmental

problems (see Appendix B). The survey was administered to a probability sample of 998

Ohio residents over a five-day period in February 2005 by trained interviewers.

Sampling error was +/- 3 percent at the 95 percent confidence interval. Phone numbers

were chosen by computer at random, and individuals were telephoned and asked if they

would participate in the survey. Nine survey questions corresponding to the nine environmental problems identified by environmental reporters were extracted and used

for this study. Survey respondents were asked whether the nine environmental problems

were problems in the communities in which they live. Response options were “Yes/No.” 46 Respondents who responded “I don’t know” were assigned a “No” response.

Respondents were also asked how many minutes each day they spent on average reading the newspaper, as well as their postal ZIP code.

Newspaper Readership Markets

Newspaper readership markets were defined by Ohio counties having a total paid

actual gross distribution of 1,000 or more Sunday newspapers, as determined by the most current Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) audit report from each paper. ABC audit report maps of counties and corresponding ZIP codes were used. ZIP codes within qualifying counties were recorded and entered into Statistical Package for the Social

Sciences (SPSS) software. SPSS matched the county ZIP codes with survey respondent

ZIP codes in order to place respondents into the appropriate newspaper readership

market.

In instances where an ABC audit report map did not include a county (further referenced as “missing” counties) that receives 1,000 or more Sunday newspapers, an

Ohio road map was used to select cities and larger towns in missing counties and match them to corresponding respondent ZIP codes. This measure was taken to assign as many respondents from missing counties as possible to a particular newspaper. Because survey respondents were randomly selected for interviews, some respondents lived outside the cities and larger towns in missing counties. In a second attempt to assign as many survey respondents to a newspaper market county as possible, ZIP codes called more than twice in the survey were referenced against their corresponding city using Google.com and the following Web sites: www.mongabay.com/igapo/zip_codes/OH.htm and 47 www.mongabay.com/ igapo/ zip_codes_Ohio.htm. Because some respondents reside in areas of missing counties that were not telephoned more than one time during the survey period, a total of 257 of the total probability sample of 998 were lost for data analysis.

These efforts to assign as many respondents to markets undoubtedly contain some error, but they were deemed the best, and particularly instructive, method available.

The county in which a newspaper’s associated city is located was considered that paper’s “home” county. Counties receiving a total paid actual gross distribution of 1,000 or more Sunday copies from a single newspaper were considered “main” counties of that newspaper. Counties receiving a total paid actual gross distribution of 1,000 or more

Sunday newspapers from more than one newspaper were referred to as “overlap” counties. In instances in which newspaper markets overlap, an overlap county is determined to belong to the newspaper market of the paper that distributes the greatest number of Sunday issues to the county. Table 5 shows newspaper readership market counties.

Table 5. Newspaper readership market area counties

Newspaper County # of Other papers # of Sunday distributing Sunday other issues issue in readership Sunday market area issues Beacon Journal Portage 16,420 Plain Dealer* 11,077 Stark 18,103 Dispatch* 1,015 Summit 129,848 Plain Dealer* 25,195 48 Table 5: continued.

Wayne 9,848 Plain Dealer 459 Dispatch 55

Enquirer Adams 1,962 Brown 2,517 Butler 35,244 Daily News* 1,102 Clermont 30,133 Clinton 2,239 Daily News* 1,527 Dispatch 266 Hamilton 166,749 Dispatch 120 Plain Dealer 49 Highland 1,827 Dispatch 932 Warren 18,230 Daily News* 9,137

Plain Dealer Ashtabula 4,722 Cuyahoga 327,033 Beacon Journal 942 Erie 4,238 Blade 485 Geauga 14,813 Lake 32,221 Lorain 29,039 Medina 23,929 Beacon Journal* 13,237 Trumbull 2,406 Beacon Journal 228

Dispatch Athens 1,765 Delaware 27,708 Plain Dealer 49 Fairfield 20,257 Plain Dealer 40 Fayette 2,450 Enquirer 602 Daily News 205 Franklin 250,856 Beacon Journal 57 Plain Dealer 804 Daily News 116 Blade 69 Hocking 2,487 Jackson 1,853 Enquirer 125 Knox 6,141 Plain Dealer 30 Licking 20,524 Plain Dealer 42 Logan 2,081 Daily News 600 Madison 7,822 Marion 3,918 Plain Dealer 48 Morrow 1,768 Muskingum 3,326 Perry 2,594 49 Table 5: continued.

Pickaway 6,933 Pike 1,079 Richland 1,015 Beacon Journal 77 Plain Dealer 698 Ross 3,684 Scioto 1,071 Union 5,415

Daily News Auglaize 1,790 Dispatch 312 Clark 3,472 Dispatch 646 Darke 5,753 Greene 27,945 Dispatch 112 Mercer 2,362 Miami 14,703 Dispatch 41 Montgomery 120,228 Enquirer 718 Plain Dealer 123 Dispatch 347 Preble 3,972 Shelby 3,364

Blade Defiance 1,358 Fulton 7,996 Hancock 5,389 Henry 3,413 Lucas 117,574 Plain Dealer 89 Dispatch 94 Ottawa 6,069 Plain Dealer 994 Sandusky 4,231 Plain Dealer 403 Seneca 2,846 Plain Dealer 251 Dispatch 101 Williams 2,711 Wood 24,716 Plain Dealer 84 *denotes newspapers distributing over 1,000 issues to newspaper market area 50

Objective Measures of Obtrusiveness

The final analysis in this study involved recording actual obtrusive measures in the readership market areas and assessing the influence that these measures have on respondent perception of environmental problems. This study assumed that the actual level of an environmental problem in an area may be an indicator of its obtrusiveness, as people who breathe smog daily do not need a newspaper to tell them air pollution is a problem where they live.

In order to address the level of influence that obtrusive factors may have on public perception of environmental problems, consultation with various government regulatory agencies, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and

OEPA, was necessary. Data from these agencies provided an objective measure of environmental problems in the six metropolitan communities.

These data permitted an environmental rank ordering of various environmental problems within the six metropolitan areas similar to that done by Drori and Yuchtman-

Yaar (2002), whose environmental rankings of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa found the overall environmental quality of each city was based strongly on objective factors, supported by data collected by the Air Quality Monitoring Station of the Ministry of

Environmental Quality. Rank order of these obtrusiveness data was compared to correlations of newspaper coverage and survey respondent responses to environmental

problems in order to assess whether level of obtrusiveness is influential in shaping

respondent perceptions of environmental problems. 51

Chapter 5. Results

This chapter presents the descriptive results that were found in data collection and analysis and which address the hypotheses of this study. The chapter begins with a brief summary of overall findings. Next, it explains statistical analysis data of each newspaper and corresponding readership markets. Relationships between newspaper data and data on the obtrusiveness of environmental problems in the six newspaper readership markets follow. The chapter concludes with an explanation of overall findings as they relate to the study’s hypotheses.

Overall, the most “Yes” responses from survey respondents were garnered for water pollution. Yet, in the examination of newspaper coverage, air pollution drew the most “hits” of the nine environmental problems. This represented an early indication of a possible disconnect between the newspapers’ environmental agendas and readership markets’ environmental agendas. The Beacon Journal had the most hits on the nine environmental problems (214), and the Daily News had the fewest hits (101).

Ultimately, this study found little correspondence between the environmental agendas of newspapers in Ohio and the environmental agendas of individuals within respective readership market areas within the 12-month study period. Tables 6 - 11 are comprehensive tables containing numbers of newspaper hits and resulting environmental agenda rankings; rankings for readership markets (that is, numbers of survey respondents who said the environmental problems were in fact present and problems in the area in 52 which they lived); and the correlations between each newspaper’s environmental agenda and the agenda of each newspaper’s readers and non-readers. 53

Table 6. Akron Beacon Journal environmental coverage and respondent opinion data, by respondent classification