The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is one of the last remaining pristine wilderness areas in the United States; however, it is also sitting on top of perhaps the largest untapped oil reserve in North America. With the election of George W. Bush in January of 2001, drilling for oil in the ANWR has become a possibility. The refuge has been protected for decades, however oil exploration could be allowed if approved by Congress. Currently the nation is split on the issue; those with economic interests in oil companies and oil production are clearly in favor of drilling. On the opposite side of the issue, people who prefer conservation and preservation of our country's last open spaces oppose drilling. The future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will be a point of contention until a national energy plan is developed that either allows or forbids drilling.

This study explores the connection between city demographics and nationwide news coverage of this event, specifically using a "community structure approach" initiated in Minnesota by Tichenor, Donohue & Olien (1973, 1980) and elaborated in nationwide studies by Pollock and colleagues (1977,1978, 1994-2001). This approach suggests that particular demographic structures of a community are systematically linked to newspaper reporting perspectives on critical issues.

A sample of 241 newspaper articles, published between 09/01/00 and 09/10/01 in a cross-section of 13 cities nationwide, was obtained through Lexis Nexis and the DIALOG Classroom Information Program newspaper database. Articles were coded for: placement, headline size, story length and presence of photos. Article "direction" was also coded as favorable, unfavorable or balanced/neutral regarding drilling in the ANWR. Borrowing the Janis Fadner Coefficient of Imbalance from psychology, a single "Media Vector" was calculated for each newspaper. These scores, along with city demographics, were compared using Pearson correlations and regression analysis.

Significant correlations with coverage of drilling in the ANWR were found for the measures of "political partisanship": percent voting democratic in the 1996 elections (r= -.709, p= .003); and percent voting republican in the 1996 elections (r= .705, p= .004). Significant correlations were also found for measures of "privilege": percent family income over $100,000 (r= -. 677, p=.006); percent with at least a 4 year college education (r= -.583, .018). This finding illustrates Pollock's "violated buffer" hypothesis: the greater the proportion of "privilege" in a city, the more negative the coverage of an environmental threat (in this case, drilling). A measure of "vulnerability" also proved significant: percent unemployed (r= .495, p= .043). Using regression analysis, two variables accounted for 74 percent of the variance: partisanship (percent voting Democratic) and "vulnerability" (percent unemployed). These findings show a strong link between a city's characteristics and newspaper coverage of news events; demonstrating the value of the community structure approach.