Community structure theory

Community structure theory provides a powerful framework for analyzing society's influence on media coverage. It has been identified by Funk and McCombs (2015) as the “conceptual inverse” of agenda-setting,[1] focusing on demographic characteristics of communities shaping news instead of news as a driver of public perception. For example, community structure theory has found repeated links between indicators of vulnerability (such as unemployment levels, poverty levels, crime rate, etc.) and favorable coverage of critical US national issues such as immigration reform or universal health care.[2][3] Further, in cross-national studies comparing national characteristics and reporting on human trafficking, HIV/AIDS treatment access, water handling/contamination, and child labor, media coverage varied significantly with levels of "female empowerment"— female literacy rate, female child life expectancy, and female school life expectancy.[3]

  1. ^ Funk, Marcus J.; McCombs, Maxwell (2017-07-03). "Strangers on a Theoretical Train". Journalism Studies. 18 (7): 845–865. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2015.1099460. ISSN 1461-670X.
  2. ^ Pollock, J.C. (2007). Tilted mirrors: Media alignment with political and social change: A community structure approach. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.
  3. ^ a b Pollock, J.C. (2015). Journalism and human rights: How demographics drive media coverage. London and New York: Routledge.