Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1986

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Communication

Major Professor

Michael W. Singletary

Abstract

A review of research on media coverage of education news indicated that over time education has received scant attention when compared to other news topics and that education news content tended to focus on traditional topics, such as school board meetings. Assuming that newspapers that had been recognized for award-winning education news coverage could provide insights into how education news may be covered more effectively, a content analysis of education news stories was designed to examine the difference in education news coverage in award-winning and non-award-winning newspapers.

Ten newspapers were selected for study on the criterion of their award-winning records based on annual awards given by the Education Writers Association (EWA). Five newspapers were frequent award-winners. These newspapers were compared to five non-award-winning newspapers which were similar in location and circulation. Initial data collection included all education news stories appear ing in randomly selected issues over a five-year period. Two of the five years were later deleted from the analysis because these years did not represent award-winning years for the EWA-designated newspapers. Using only award-winning years for comparisons served to further delineate any education news content differences which existed in those years recognized for outstanding news coverage.

Fourteen hypotheses were developed to study both quantitative and qualitative aspects of education news content. Quantitative aspects included average length of news stories and accompanying graphics; comparison of newshole devoted to education news; page treatment and placement of education news; educational level and geographic region covered by education news; use of locally-bylined and wire service-bylined news stories; and use of 21 content categories, including 12 designated by the EWA as important and nine representing traditional education topics. Qualitative aspects were measured by use of the news direction scale and by use of interpretative news reporting. A total of 3,116 news stories was analyzed.

Data analysis indicated that there were no differences between the award-winning and non-award-winning newspapers, except in a few areas. It should be noted that the few, existing differences often disappeared when re-examined using a more conservative significance level to counter the effect of large sample. The major conclusions are summarized as follows:

1. Award-winning newspapers do not publish more education news stories nor do they give the news stories they do publish more attention relative to accompanying graphics, headlines and page placement. They do not devote a greater proportion of their newshole to education news and did not have significantly more news stories in most of the 21 content categories studied. Lastly, award-winning newspapers did not appear to emphasize any one level of education. Non-award-winning newspapers, on the other hand, published significantly more news stories overall and gave greater emphasis to stories dealing with secondary and middle school topics than did award-winning newspapers.

2. Award-winning newspapers published slightly longer education news stories. Award-winners did publish more stories with either a local byline or a wire service byline and tended to emphasize state and national coverage rather than local. It should be noted that significance for use of national news disappeared when the p<.01 was applied. Evidence of more frequent use in seven of the twelve categories of interpretative reporting was present. However, when a more conservative significance level was used, four of the seven categories showed no significant differences. The non-awardwinning newspapers continued to show a significant use in the category of Exposition. Moreover, non-award-winning newspapers published a larger number of news stories in three of the categories, although this larger number was not statistically significant.

The few differences between the two types of newspapers lead to diverse interpretation of the data. On the one hand, award-winning newspapers may differ from their counterparts in matters of style and approach, rather than more readily quantifiable aspects. Conversely, the differences (or lack of differences) may be explained by the prize-seeking behaviors of the award-winning newspapers, a factor not directly addressed by this study. Follow-up interviews with editors and education reporters did reveal that personnel from award-winning newspapers said their organizations had a high degree of commitment to education reporting signified by allocation of time and resources. Interview information corroborated the major findings of this study, particularly relating to the use of bylines, geographic region covered and approach to interpretative reporting.

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