Newspaper and wire service coverage of tobacco farmers

This study examined print media coverage of tobacco farmers from the perspe ctive of agenda setting, or the extent to which information is available to the public and perceived as important. A content analysis of 743 articles published between January 1, 1995 and June 30, 1997 was completed. The numb er of articles increased from 1995 to 1997, Of the topics analyzed, article s on tobacco settlement (7.1% of total) and diversification (15.6% of total ) were the least prevalent. Because the settlement discussions did not occu r until 1997 (when it comprised 26.4% of the total in the first 6 months), diversification was consistently the least covered topic. The two most freq uent topics covered were tobacco companies (36.2%) and the tobacco price su pport program (32.3%), Except for one 6 month interval, there were substant ially more articles in local/regional publications than in national publica tions. Public health professionals have called for tobacco farmers to diver sify to non-tobacco enterprises. Yet, there is little discussion of diversi fication in print media. Without more attention to diversification, the pub lic and policy makers will be ill-informed about opportunities and obstacle s in this regard.