Let the sun shine in : an analysis of newspaper coverage of the opening of the Tennessee Valley Authority board meetings in 1975

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal agency headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., opened its doors for public meetings of its board of directors in January l975. TVA was the only federal agency to open meetings voluntarily prior to the signing of the federal open meetings law.

All news stories and editorials appearing on the subject of TVA open board meetings in seven newspaper elites from the period June 1, 1974 through January 30, 1975, are examined. The amount and timing of the stories and editorials, and issues cited, are examined in an historical time frame and by the geographical location of each newspaper.

The greatest volume of coverage appeared in newspapers located in Nashville and Chattanooga, Tenn., and residents in those two areas were the most vocal in their support for the open meetings concept, and in their attendance of the first open meeting, indicating the validity of the concept of agenda-setting on the part of newspapers for the public.

The issue of public confidence was the one cited most frequently by all seven newspapers studied.

The smaller newspapers tended to follow the lead of their larger counterparts in coverage, and the newspapers located in Knoxville carried less editorial comments than the others.