No Cure for what Ails US: The Media-Constructed Disconnect between Societal Problems and Possible Solutions

Abstract

This research examined attributes of three social problems—pollution, poverty, and incarceration—in 300 news articles from 1995 to 2000. Coverage overwhelmingly indicated no specific cause, effect, or responsible agent for each problem, and rarely mentioned nonprofit citizen organizations or the individual-level terms “environmentalist,” “activist,” and “advocate” in content. Media coverage also did not discuss any likelihood that these problems could be solved and did not report any calls for reader action. Media content may have promoted political apathy due to a lack of connection between the social problem, nonprofit citizen organization activities, and individual behavior.