Date of Award
7-1994
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Communication
Abstract
This study sought to examine the differences in coverage of earthquakes as a class of international news, by The New York Times and The TImes of India. The purpose was to determine if there was a correlation between the cultures of the United States and India, and their press treatment of the earthquakes at Los Angeles, U.S.A, (January, 1994), Maharashtra, India (September, 1993) and Erzincan, Turkey (March, 1992) by the two papers. The impact of certain other variables : the position of the U.S., India and of Turkey on the development continuum, the GDP, and the world trade figures for the three countries, on the press treatment of the three earthquakes by the two papers was also analyzed. A total of 265 news items were obtained, which were each coded for such categories as name of the newspaper, country of the earthquake, length, size, priority, type, source, and treatment of news item. The results showed that the culture of the United States and of India played a role in their press treatment of the earthquakes. It was observed that the discrepancies in coverage may also be attributed to the differences in casualties among the three earthquakes, and the differences in the amount of coverage provided by the two newspapers. The limitations of employing culture as an independent variable are discussed, and recommendations for further research are suggested.
Recommended Citation
Punitha, Carolyn Divya, "The Effect of a Nation's Culture on its Press Coverage of Earthquakes" (1994). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 52.
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/etd/52
Comments
Bibliography: leaves [80]-[86].