The American press no longer reports events but explains them, inadvertently enhancing the cultural authority of journalists. To discover how a prominent news provider exercises influence over political discussion, this case study analyzes National Public Radio (NPR) political coverage of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) communities. Reports increased in length and number during elections and the tone of LGBT reporting grew more positive than other coverage. As NPR manufactured news content more routinely and professionally, attention shifted from ordinary citizens to officialdom. Increased coverage was a mixed blessing, becoming more polarized as journalists balanced LGBT concerns against extreme right-wing attacks.
Alwood, E.
(1996) Straight News: Gays, Lesbians, and the News Media. New York: Columbia University Press.
2.
Barnhurst, K. G.
(2003) ‘The Makers of Meaning: National Public Radio and The New Long Journalism, 1980-2000’, Political Communication, 20: 1 (in press).
3.
Barnhurst, K. G.
and D. C. Mutz (1997) ‘American Journalism and the Decline of Event-centered Reporting’, Journal of Communication47(4): 27-53.
4.
D’Emilio, J.
(1983) Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
5.
Doyle, P. K. (1990) ‘National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered”: Origins and Early History’, PhD thesis, University of Tennessee.
6.
Fejes, F.
and K. Petrich (1993) ‘Invisibility, Homophobia, and Heterosexism: Lesbians, Gays, and the Media’, Critical Studies in Mass Communication10(4): 396-422.
7.
Greenberg, B. S.
and J. E. Brand (1994) ‘Minorities and the Mass Media, 1970s to 1990s’, in J. Bryant and D. Zillman (eds) Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research, pp. 273-314. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
8.
Greenberg, B.
and J. Dominick (1969) ‘Race and Social Class Differences in Teenagers’ Use of Television Violence’, Journal of Broadcasting3(4): 331-343.
9.
Gross, L.
(1998) ‘Minorities, Majorities, and the Media’, in T. Liebes and J. Curran (eds) Media, Ritual and Identity, pp. 87-102. New York: Routledge.
10.
Gross, L.
and J. D. Woods (eds) (1999) The Columbia Reader on Lesbians and Gay Men in Media, Society and Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.
11.
Hallin, D. C.
(1992) ‘Sound-bite News: Television Coverage of Elections, 1968-1988’Journal of Communication42(2): 5-24.
12.
Iyengar, S.
(1991) Is Anyone Responsible? How Television Frames Political Issues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
13.
Johnson, P. A.
and M. C. Keith (2001) Queer Airwaves: The Story of Gay & Lesbian Broadcasting. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
14.
Lambda
(2000) ‘Lesbian and Gay Issues in the News: How NPR Coverage Compares with USA Today and The New York Times’, Report of the Public Education Department. New York: Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.
15.
Larson, M. S.
(1989) ‘Presidential News Coverage and “All Things Considered”: National Public Radio and News Bias’, Presidential Studies Quarterly19(2-3): 347-353.
16.
McCauley, M. P. (1997) ‘ From the Margins to the Mainstream: The History of National Public Radio’, PhD thesis, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
17.
McCourt, T.
(1999) Conflicting Communication Interests in America: The Case of National Public Radio. Westport, CT: Praeger.
18.
Nardi, P. M.
(1997) ‘Changing Gay and Lesbian Images in the Media’, in J. T. Sears and W. L. Williams (eds) Overcoming Heterosexism and Homophobia: Strategies that Work, pp. 427-442. New York: Columbia University Press.
19.
Patterson, T. E.
(1993) Out of Order. New York: Knopf.
20.
Pearce, F.
(1981) ‘The British Press and the “Placing” of Male Homosexuality’, in S. Cohen and J. Young (eds) The Manufacture of News: Social Problems, Deviance, and the Mass Media, pp. 303-316. London: Constable.
21.
Schudson, M.
(1978) Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers. New York: Basic Books.
22.
Schudson, M.
(1982) ‘The Politics of Narrative Form: The Emergence of News Conventions in Print and Television’, Daedalus3(4): 97-112.
23.
Sender, K.
(2001) ‘Gay Readers, Consumers, and a Dominant Gay Habitus: 25 Years of the Advocate Magazine’, Journal of Communication51(1): 73-99.
24.
Stavitsky, A. G.
and T. W. Gleason (1994) ‘Alternative Things Considered: A Comparison of National Public Radio and Pacifica Radio News Coverage’, Journalism Quarterly71(4): 775-786.
25.
Steele, C. A.
and K. G. Barnhurst (1996) ‘The Journalism of Opinion: Network Coverage in U.S. Presidential Campaigns, 1968-1988’, Critical Studies in Mass Communication13(3): 187-209.
26.
Witherspoon, J.
and R. Kovitz (1987) The History of Public Broadcasting, eds J. J. Yore and R. Barbieri. Washington, DC: Current.
