Date of Award

2003

Degree Name

Sociology

College

College of Liberal Arts

Type of Degree

M.A.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Julia Fox

Second Advisor

Kenneth Ambrose

Third Advisor

Lynda Ann Ewen

Abstract

This research used the method of content analysis to examine how the issue of mountaintop removal mining was presented in four print media sources: the Logan Banner, the Charleston Gazette, the Herald Dispatch, and Graffiti. The propaganda model put forth in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, was used as the model upon which the research was based.

The purpose of the research was to determine whether or not the coal industry exerts a form of censorship over print media sources in West Virginia. It also sought to determine if there was a difference in the way information was presented in the mainstream media as opposed to the alternative media. The tentative finding of the exploratory research was that industry bias was reflected in varying degrees in the three mainstream media sources, but not in Graffiti, the alternative media source.

Subject(s)

Mountaintop removal mining.

Press and propaganda.

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