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Newspaper Treatment of the Viking Mission to Mars, 1975-76

The study's problem was whether five major newspapers that covered Viking produced informative, educational, interpretive, and credible stories. Indexed, microfilmed articles from January, 1975, to November, 1976, were analyzed. Conclusions: no newspaper gave the landings the greatest percentage of coverage; every newspaper devoted the largest percentage of coverage to interpretation; science writers used analogy most often; adequate explanations of Viking's implications were not found; four of five newspapers had more references to named than unnamed sources; only two newspapers utilized their staffs more than outside sources. Recommendations: covering a science event should be planned to include preliminary coverage, follow-up, and analysis; writers must interpret the facts, use educational writing techniques, explain implications, and have specific attribution; newspapers should assess their capabilities for science coverage.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc663569
Date08 1900
CreatorsHardaway, Bonnelle B.
ContributorsKim, Tae Guk, Wright, Eugene Patrick, 1936-
PublisherNorth Texas State University
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatvii, 99 leaves, Text
Coverage1975-1976
RightsPublic, Hardaway, Bonnelle B., Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights

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