Media and Detainee Rights
2
Abstract
Nationwide Newspaper Coverage of Detainee Rights:
A Community Structure Approach
The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the subsequent war in Afghanistan has
created some unique problems for the United States government. One of the issues to be
dealt with is what to do with the former Taliban fighters who have been captured in
Afghanistan. The most dangerous have been transported to the detainee camp in
Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba where they are being held under heavy guard indefinitely. A
controversy has arisen over how to treat the detainees. The issue has not only created a
partisan spit, it has polarized parts of the Bush administration and put the U.S. at odds
with the rest of the world. This study uses a “community structure approach” to explore
the connection between city characteristics and nationwide newspaper coverage of
extending Prisoner of War status to the Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees imprisoned at
Guantanamo, Cuba. A sample of 302 articles, chosen from 22 newspapers across the
nation, was coded for “prominence” and article “direction” (favorable, unfavorable, or
neutral). The results were combined to calculate a single-score “Media Vector” for each
newspaper. A Pearson Correlation revealed significant, favorable relationships between
Republicans and detainee rights coverage. Catholics, Democrats, and Hispanics were
found to be significantly related to negative coverage of detainee rights. A regression
analysis revealed that five variables accounted for 95% of the variance: “stakeholders”
(% Republican); “media access” (% cable-subscribers); “Buffer” (% Income over
100,000); “Position in Lifecycle” (children 8-18); and “violated buffer” (% Crime).
Convention