Overlooked in America: a framing analysis of U.S. newspapers' coverage of rural poverty, 2000-2010

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Scholars have found that news organizations tend to frame American poverty as an urban problem, largely ignoring the plight of the rural poor. To gauge the coverage of rural American poverty, a content analysis was conducted on 184 articles from the New York Times, the Washington Post and 17 Southeastern regional newspapers from 2000 to 2010. The objective was to identify frames selected by journalists in covering rural poverty. The study revealed five dominant frames, including the gridlock and failure of state and federal programs and the unhealthy lifestyles and lack of medical care facing the rural poor. The most comprehensive coverage was found in the Times and the Post, while the smaller regional newspapers relied heavily on the Associated Press for content on rural poverty.