Trends in Media Coverage of the Issues of the '60s

• Published in: Journalism Quarterly 1973-10, Vol.50 (3), p.533-538
• Main Author: Funkhouser, G Ray
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: News; Politics
• ISSN: 1077-6990; 0196-3031; 2161-430X
• DOI: 10.1177/107769907305000317

A content analysis was performed by counting the numbers of articles dealing with selected nat'l issues for each yr from 1960 through 1970, appearing in 3 weekly news magazines--Time, Newsweek, & US News & World Report. 2 general findings are: (1) the 1st few yrs of the decade were considerably less "newsy" than the last few yrs; (2) for none of the issues was coverage uniform throughout the decades; there were peaks, valleys & plains for every issue. 3 of 4 "event-based" issues as covered in the news show definite build-ups & declines: the Vietnam War climbed from virtually no article in 1962 to a peak of 206 in 1966, & then trailed off; student unrest received a peak number of articles in 1969, & Ur riots, which are acknowledged to have begun with the Watts riots in 1965, received peak coverage in 1967. Crime coverage reached 2 peak levels: 35 articles in 1965 & in 1968. Peaks in coverage of non-event based issues can be explained as being related "manufactured news" rather than "spontaneous news." But issues of this kind are difficult to summarize statistically, as is demonstrated. In general, the data suggest that bias in the news is not necessarily a matter of slanting the information, either intentionally or unintentionally, to conform to someone's personal viewpoint or ideology. A "sampling bias" can affect news coverage depending on what issues are chosen by the media (reporters, Ed's, columnists, "newsmakers") for major attention. 3 Tables. M. Maxfield.