Online U.S. edition of the Guardian newspaper. 4 pages., "Local journalism is doing great work across the country while fighting cutbacks and tight budgets. But we need people to stop expecting news to be free.
Napoli, Philip M. (author), Weber, Matthew (author), McCollough, Katie (author), and Wang, Qun (author)
Format:
Research report
Publication Date:
2018
Published:
USA: DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, Stanford School of Public Policy, Duke University.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11221
Notes:
26 pages., Findings based on an analysis of more than 16,000 news stories gathered over seven days, across 100 randomly sampled U.S. communities with populations of 20,000 to 300,000. Among the findings: 20 communities contained no local news stories, only about 17% of the news stories provided to a community were truly local; less than half (43%) of the news stories to a community by local media outlets were produced by the local media outlet; and just over half (56% of the news stories provided to a community by local media outlets addressed what was defined as a "critical information need." Findings provided evidence of the "news deserts" problem confronting local communities.
6 pages., Online via publication website., Author examines the approaches taken by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in reporting on climate change.
9 pages, This article represents the first systematic examination of BBC coverage of one of the most controversial rural issues in a generation, namely the culling of badgers (a protected species) to stop the spread of bovine TB in England. While the BBC has certain regulatory responsibilities set out in its guidelines to provide duly impartial coverage it has been regularly criticised for being biased. Little is known about the BBC's performance other than what is suggested by critics, previous research having focused on press coverage. Based on an original content analysis of news, current affairs and factual output this article assesses the BBC's coverage. It shows that while competing voices and perspectives were balanced its coverage was not that distinct from its commercial rivals, with both framing the issue as a conflict over badgers rather than about the spread of a disease affecting livestock and livelihoods, and both focusing on a narrow set of voices involved in the conflict.
