w• ....,. ..,,.umm~ or aeam of plants, Weidensaul explains. lr pollution, especially air polh Tbere appears to be a trend in usinr~ is suspected in injuring a plant i1 digested sewage siudgt- as a soil cr ~ ...... rlf-~11. Weidensau1 sugg<~sts ditioner in hom~> ctoPil...... ~ ,.. • • ") ... J,mt species in ~hf~ r CONTENTS *** * *** Introduction ___________________ -- --------------------_------------ Historical Aspects _________ :: ______ ·- ___________________________ _ Ohio Agriculture at a Glance------------------------------------ 1 The Extension News Packet and Ohio Newspapers_________________ _ _ _ 2 Utility of the Study_____________________________________________ 2 Problem Statement__ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 Operational Definitions _________________________ - _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 Hypotheses-----------------·--------------------------------- 3 N\ethods--------------------------------------------------------- 3 The Questionnaire _____________________________________ --_- __ -_ 3 Clipping Survey _____________________________ - -- _-- _ - _ - _ - - -- - - _ 4 Resul~------------------------- --------------------------------- 4 Agricultural News SurveY--------------------------------------- 4 OARDC Clipping Survey ______________________________________ -_ 12 Conclusions and Recommendations _____ -- ____ -- ______ -- __ -- _______ -_- _21 Conclusions _____________________ ·- ______ . ___________________ - _21 Recommendations. ________________________ . _- _______ . - __ -- __ - _22 Literature Cited ___________________________________________________ 24 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author expresses appreciation to Dr. Sharon Dunwoody, Dr. Erik L. Collins, and Dr. Paul V. Peterson, The Ohio State University School of Journalism, and Dr. David E. Hahn, OSU College of Agriculture and Home Economics, for their help in completing this manuscript. Thanks to Keith H. Remy, OARDC science editor, for reviewing the manuscript and giving constructive criticism. Thanks also go to those who helped with their suggestions on the construction of the questionnaire which was sent to the 345 Ohio newspaper editors: H. Carlisle Besuden, Ill, farm editor, Lexington (Ky.) Herald; Herb Karner, farm editor, Tulsa (Okla.) Daily World; Don Muhm, farm editor, Des Moines (Iowa) Register & Tribune; Alan Swegle, farm editor, Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette; Joe McKnight, Associated Press, Columbus (Ohio) Bureau; Ellen Strang, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Colum­ bus; H. Roudell Byrd, news editor, Ohio Cooperative Extension Service; Gary Nu­ gent, head, Office of Information and Applied Communications, Ohio Cooperative Extension Service; Gay Cook, Denver (Colo.) Post; Wilda Moran, Daily Iberian (New Iberia, La); Richard Orr, rural affairs editor, Chicago Tribune; and N\ary Roesner, farm editor, the Daily Dispatch (N\oline, Ill.). Appreciation is expressed to James R. Holman, head of the OARDC Statistics Laboratory, for help with the computer programming. Funding provided by the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center for mailing costs and cost of the clipping service is also greatly appreciated. OARDC and OSU Merged The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, established as a state agricultural experiment station in 1882, merged with The Ohio State Univer­ sity on March 16, 1982. N\ain campus of the OARDC is in Wooster, Ohio. 3·82·2.5M Agricultural News in Ohio Newspapers1 GENE P. HETTEL2 INTRODUCTION plants, heating greenhouses with solar ponds, increas­ Historical Aspects ing the hatchability of chicken eggs with different Agricultural news has been reported in U. S. wavelengths of light, and making bread out of tomato newpapers for more than two centuries. As early as seed flour. 1776, a daily in New Jersey printed agricultural news However, even with no apparent lack of things to consistently. ( 5) Most papers offered agricultural write about in agriculture, the farm editor who hand­ information by 1879. For example, Horace Greeley led the farm page news (timely information on weath­ of the New York Tribune showed a continuing inter­ er, markets, and events) has practically disappeared. est in such news. Larger dailies sometimes prepared When the farm editor retired, the newspaper manage­ weekly editions for rural readers. ment decided not to replace him. ( 7) After all, the After studying agricultural coverage in Illinois paper had only a handful of farm subscribers left. newspapers prior to 1870, Richard Bardolph ( 1) con­ There was no reason to publish tips about when and cluded that perhaps three-fourths of the papers in that how to plow, plant, or harvest. The late Bill Zip£, state presented at least some such offerings occasionally, former farm editor of the Columbus Dispatch, said, although it was not known how much agricultural "There are specialized publications for almost every news was made available at that time. He added, aspect of agriculture. There is no longer a need however, that with a few exceptions the farm news to print this type of farming information in news­ "was the country cousin in the journalistics family, or papers." ( 4) perhaps the meddlesome maiden aunt in the house­ The decreasing number of farms and farmers hold, tolerated only because she might have something certainly is a major factor in the dwindling number to bequeath." of farm editors on newspapers, but there are other If the attitude that Bardolph illustrates has been factors involved such as skyrocketing paper costs and true through the years, then the added effect of a de­ staff salaries. When budgets had to be trimmed, the clining farm audience for newspapers may add to the farm editor position was among the first to go. An temptation of many editors to place less and less im­ example of farm editor decline on daily newspapers is portance on agricultural news. Today, U. S. news­ illustrated in a 1978 Ohio study. In 1957, the Editor papers reach a farm audience that comprises only 5% and Publisher Yearbook listed farm editors on the staffs of their total readership. ( 2) In contrast, just 50 of 48 of Ohio's 82 dailies. By 1978, only 28 of 98 years ago the total audience for U.S. newspapers in­ dailies listed a farm editor on their staffs-a drastic cluded 25% farm readers. In Ohio, the state's farm drop in just 21 years. ( 4) population is a mere 3.5% of its total population of As more and more city newspapers eliminate their 11 million. (6) farm editor positions, it becomes increa:singly impor­ With so much happening in an industry that is tant to tailor agricultural news to a new breed of still America's No. 1 industry in terms of dollars gen­ gatekeepers who see things differently from the farm erated, agricultural journalists have never had a lack editors of old. What do these persons expect and of important, interesting, and timely subjects to write want from those who provide them with agricultural about. In 1941, agricultural news researcher Wil­ news? liam B. Ward (8) stated "the fast succession of new Ohio Agriculture at a Glance and exciting facts in agriculture, the ever-expanding This study specifically deals with the attitudes exploration and discovery make science fiction seem and actions of Ohio editors regarding agricultural almost old-fashioned." This statement is as true as news. Agriculture is the foundation of Ohio's largest ever today. For example, just a sampling of topics industry. ( 3) The state's giant agribusiness complex in recent mailings of the Ohio Cooperative Extension includes farming, manufacturing, distributing pro­ Service's weekly news packet include: fingerprinting cessing, servicing, financing, and transporting. It 1Based on o thesis submitted In portio( fulfillment of the re· provides jobs for about 750,000 Ohio workers and qutrements for an M.A. degree In the School of Joumolism, The Ohio has a yearly dollar value of more than $7.3 billion, Stote University. 'Formerly research news editor, Dept. of Public Information, Ohio based on value added across the entire food system. Agrlculturol Research ond Development Center; currently communico· About two-thirds of Ohio's 26 million acres are tion speclollst, Cooperative Extension Service, lowo Stote University, Ames. in farmland. Although Ohio ranks 35th among states in size, it ranks 11th in cropland harvested and Utility of the Study in cash receipts from the sale of farm products. Research information in this study should be valu­ Ohio ranks first among the states in the produc­ able to people who write agricultural news. With tion of soft red winter wheat and greenhouse tomatoes; fewer newspaper staffers seeking their own agricultural second in the production of sweet corn; third in the stories, the burden falls on agricultural writers on ex­ production of greenhouse and nursery products, all tension, college, and experiment station staffs. With tomatoes, and maple syrup; fourth in the production many editors warning that releases from these sources of soybeans, vegetables for processing, mushrooms, must have an appeal to their urban audiences, agri­ and popcorn; and fifth in the production of corn and cultural writers need to know if they are on the same wholesale florist products. wavelength as these gatekeepers. Farm production in the state could provide each This study shows whether or not agricultural of Ohio's 11 million residents with 21 bu of corn, 48lb writers need to change their way of writing, or at of pork, 60 lb of beef, 28lb of potatoes, 450 loaves of least what they are emphasizing.