The media environment for local political news: Differences in media content and implications for political participation research.

摘要

The mass media are important sources of political information in the United States, and most Americans get their news from the local media. I analyze differences in the media environment, or the quality and quantity of political information offered in the media of a location, and across locations. These relationships are examined through case studies of Duluth, MN and Green Bay, WI, including quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the media environments of those cities, demographic comparisons, and examination of media ownership in each city. I find that the news offerings about local politics differ in significant ways across outlets and across these two very similar cities. This project is important because it explores the local news media, investigating the differences in quality of news in different locations and the methodological and theoretical importance of those differences for the study of the role of media in political behavior.