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Abstract After the attempted assassination of President Reagan,
a modern debate surfaced on whether there was a need for further gun
control laws. While many bills bogged down in Congress, the debate was
losing steam until school shootings at places such as Columbine, Jonesboro,
and the shooting of six-year-old Kayla Rolland. While the topic of gun
control is so heated as to spark the Million Mom March on Washington,
database searches reveal little research attempting to examine gun control
as a communication issue. While most studies analyze the impact of media
on society, this study does the exact opposite. This investigation explores
the effect of society on the media by linking city characteristics to
content analysis of newspaper coverage of gun control. This study illustrates the way newspapers from cities
across the Unites State vary in their coverage of gun control legislation.
The community structure approach, initiated in Minnesota by Tichenor,
Donohue, and Olien (1973, 1980), and developed into multi-variate nationwide
studies by Pollock and others (1977, 1978, 1994-2001), proposes that
certain demographic characteristics of communities (such as cities)
are linked to the newspaper reporting on critical issues, in this case,
gun control. A nationwide sample of 21 newspapers was selected from
the DIALOG newspaper database. All articles over 300 words printed on
gun control legislation were chosen from January 1999-November 2000.
The search yielded 420 articles that were analyzed using a special method
of content analysis combining both "attention scores" and
the "direction" of each article. The attention score was based
upon the placement, headline size, article length, and the presence
of graphics. Article direction was coded as favorable, unfavorable,
or balanced/neutral toward the issue of gun control. These two scores
were combined mathematically to yield a Janis-Fadner Coefficient of
Imbalance. The coefficients of imbalance ranged from .500 - -.058, demonstrating
substantial differences in coverage across the nation. Pearson Correlations were calculated to measure any links
between city characteristics and coverage of gun control legislation,
yielding nine significant findings in three different categories. The
"stakeholder" cluster yielded one significant finding with
percent hunting or shooting frequently linked to negative coverage of
gun control (r= -.374; p= .047). Three such findings can be clustered
into the "violated buffer" hypotheses, linked to favorable
coverage of gun control: percent college four or more years (r= .399;
p= .037), percent professional technical workers (r= .388; p= .041),
and percent with income over $100,000 (r= .519; p= .008). The most significant
finding came from the "life cycle position" cluster, liked
to unfavorable coverage of gun control: percent of single parents (r=
-.538; p= .006), households with children ages 8-10 (r= -.505; p= .010),
11-12 (r= -.512; p= .009), 13-15 (r= -.552; p= .005), and finally, the
most significant finding for the entire paper: households with children
ages 16-18 (r= -.681; p= .000). Since family size and single parenthood
correlate strongly with poverty levels, a "vigilante" hypothesis
is forwarded, suggesting that those who are by several definitions most
vulnerable and lacking in resources or protection may regard gun ownership
as an essential component of self reliance. |