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Abstract City Characteristics and Nationwide Newspaper Coverage Of The Magic
Johnson HIV Announcement: Although many articles have appeared in the past few years on the connection between mass media outputs and perceptions of HIV/AIDS, only recently has attention been drawn to the relation between reporting on HIV/AIDS and the structural characteristics of local communities. A recent "white paper" drafted by distinguished health communication scholars for the NIMH Office of AIDS asks that researchers begin to explore links between national or community-specific norms and reporting patterns. This research is one of the first systematic efforts to test that linkage by examining a cross-sectional national sample of newspapers. Over 450 articles were studied using a content analysis technique that ultimately assigns a single "score" to each of twenty one papers in distinct U.S. geographic regions. Comparing the rankings of those scores with city rankings on a variety of selected aggregate data indicators, several findings emerge. Four clusters of hypotheses were tested, regarding: size (city population and media saturation); belief system differences; athletic and fitness involvement; and status and achievement -- privileged lifestyles. Correlation and regression analysis reveal that indicators of status and achievement -- measured by completing a college education (r =-.659; p=.0012) or attaining professional occupational status (r=-.65; p=.0014) -- along with athletic and fitness participation (r=-.58; p=.0058) are closely and strongly linked to variations in coverage of Mr. Johnson. (College education accounts for .44 of regression variance.) Specifically, the higher the percentages of those with college degrees, in professional occupations or enrolled in health and fitness clubs in a city (all of which are highly inter-correlated), the less likely a city's newspaper is to give favorable coverage to Magic Johnson. Curiously, there is little relation between variations in coverage of Johnson and such city characteristics as: ethnic identity (percent Black or Hispanic); fan enthusiasm (percent television sports fans); or belief system variations (percent Catholic; percent engaged in devotional reading). Income matters relatively little. In sum, a community structure analysis of newspaper coverage suggests that the Magic Johnson HIV announcement reflects achievement, success and fitness issues more than ethnic or moral issues, or even sports fan involvement. Prior research reveals that cities with higher proportions
of socially "buffered" residents -- with high education or
professional status or income -- are typically linked to reporting sympathetic
to the circumstances of political refugees (Cubans) or professional
women (Anita Hill). But reporting on Magic Johnson (similar to that
on Dr. Kevorkian) suggests the reverse, a "violated buffer"
hypothesis: successful, healthy groups may be linked to the view that
Mr. Johnson's circumstances represent a "universalization"
of a lethal disease: a threat to lifestyles or life chances of the privileged.
Historical material on social reactions to plagues confirms that reactions
to cholera, smallpox and the Black Death were similar. The apparent
Johnson message: hard work and success carry no immunity from a deadly
virus that is voraciously democratic. |