Journalism Studies Commons^™

Conservation In The News: Comparing News Coverage Of Nutrient Reduction In Agricultural And Non-Agricultural News Outlets In Iowa, Laura Witzling, Dara M. Wald, Eric Williams

Journal of Applied Communications

Twelve U.S. states were tasked with developing nutrient reduction strategies to help address hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. To better understand the kinds of messages different stakeholders in these states are likely to encounter about such strategies, we conducted a content analysis focused on the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy (INRS). We examined 483 articles in two agricultural and two non-agricultural news outlets. We found that agricultural news outlets more often led with agricultural themes and more often used agricultural representatives as sources. The non-agricultural news outlets more often quoted representatives of environmental groups. News articles infrequently led with science …