Nationwide Newspaper Coverage of Same-Sex Marriage: A Community Structure Approach

Authors:

• Jessica Haake (College of New Jersey)
• Kristen Campbell (College of New Jersey)
• Lauren Musacchia (College of New Jersey)
• Amanda Roggenburg (College of New Jersey)
• John C. Pollock (College of New Jersey)

Abstract:

A study of Same-Sex marriage compared hypotheses linking different city characteristics and nationwide newspaper coverage, using the "community structure" approach to research, as developed in nationwide studies by Pollock and others (1977, 1978, 1994-2002, 2007). A national cross-section sample of 28 newspapers was selected from NewsBank. Six hundred and twenty-one articles with 250 words or more were drawn from May 17th, 2004 to August 31st, 2007 and were analyzed using content and statistical analyses. A "prominence" score, including the article's placement, length, headline size, presence of photographs or graphics, and the article's "direction" (favorable, unfavorable, or balanced/neutral) were combined to yield a "Media Vector." Pearson correlations and regressions explored links between city characteristics and coverage. The cities' media vectors ranged from 0.534 to -0.160. Pearson correlations revealed two clusters of characteristics had significant relationships to newspaper coverage of Same-Sex Marriage: Privilege (percent income over $100,000: r = 0.332, p = 0.042) and Stakeholders (Gay Market Index: r = 0.531, p = 0.002; Gay Legal Index: r = 0.385, p = 0.021; percent Catholic: r = 0.356, p = 0.034; percent Republican: r = -0.338, p = 0.039; percent Democratic: r = 0.335, p = 0.041). "Gay Market Index" yielded the most significant results; regression analysis found "Gay Market Index," "municipal spending on healthcare," and "professionals" accounted for 60% of the variance.