The press and state policy making for higher education

The mass media's role in shaping public policy remains the focus of intensi ve research among political science and communication scholars. Yet virtual ly nothing is known about media coverage of state higher education policy m aking. Using mass communication theory, this study analyzes press coverage of an appropriations conflict between two nationally prominent universities . Its purpose was to determine whether newspapers give preferential treatme nt to their local universities, ultimately producing bias in their coverage of higher education.