Accidental News: The Great Oil Spill as Local Occurrence and National Event

Abstract

Beginning with the assumption that news is constituted through purpopse at hand, we examine the coverage given the Santa Barbara oil spill by a national sample of newspapers, determining the types of news subjects and news activities which become national events. It is found that federal officials and business spokesmen have greater access to news media than conservationists and local officials. It is found that symbolic topics and not topics with implications for distribution of wealth receive preponderant coverage. Implications of current methods of news gathering for the maintenance of ideological domination are discussed.

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