IMPACTS OF INFORMATION SUBSIDIES AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE ON LOCAL-PRESS COVERAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION

An analysis of 373 daily newspapers in the Midwest found that community structure and an information subsidy from an environmental group affected press coverage of a story about pollution from industrial toxins. A press kit the group sent to some newspapers appears to have influenced the papers to run a story on industrial toxic releases, but it primarily prompted editors to delegate local staff to cover the story. Results indicate that the press' function to report or raise issues concerning industrial toxic releases and related health risks is tempered by community structure and particularly by community reliance on manufacturing.