LGBT Portrayal in College Newspapers: Content Analysis and Comparison of The George-Anne and The Emory Wheel Coverage of LGBT Issues (2002-2010) Open Access

Abstract

From Oliver Sipple, to Matthew Shepard, to same-sex marriage, the media and the LGBT
community have had quite a relationship, first starting rocky to ending up as unspoken allies. A
large part of the struggle for LGBT rights has involved becoming more visible to the general
public and making sure that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals are portrayed in
the media as deserving of civil rights and sexual freedom, rather than being seen as societal
outcasts. And college campuses have played huge roles in social protests especially the LGBT
rights movement. But what about college newspapers that these universities house? They are
mostly student-run and are considered to be the voice of the student body and a representation of
the campus mindset. They are also often considered more independent and more irresponsible
than the mainstream media. I explore and analyze how two Georgia college newspapers, the
George-Anne from Georgia Southern University and the Emory Wheel from Emory University
cover LGBT issues on and off campus between 2002 and 2010. Both universities differ in terms
of location and type and are somewhat extremes of each other. So I conduct a quantitative and
qualitative analysis of articles, which are categorized into topics like religion and homosexuality
and violence, to see if their coverage are dissimilar as well. I also analyze and to conclude from
my results as to which coverage is more positive, neutral or negative towards LGBT issues.
Through the data collected and the analysis, I reason out which newspaper seems to abide by the
rules of journalism and which one acts as an advocate for the LGBT community.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Section...Page Numbers

Introduction...1 - 6
- The Observer...1
- The Cornell Daily Sun...2
- College Newspapers and the LGBT Community...3- 6

Literature Review...7 - 29
- Defining Homosexuality...7 - 9
- Stonewall and the Ensuing LGBT Rights Movement...9 - 17
- Mainstream Media...17 - 25
- An Understanding of College Newspapers...26 - 28

Methodology...29 - 39

Results and Content Analysis...40 - 74
- Quantitative Analysis...40 - 48
- Qualitative Analysis...49 - 74

Conclusion...74 - 79

Appendices...80

Bibliography...81 - 86

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Sociology
Degree	BA
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Journalism Sociology, General Women's Studies
Keyword	LGBT sociology Georgia Southern homosexuality news media Emory journalism content analysis college newspaper
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Dowd, Timothy J, Emory University
Committee Members	Lee, Tong-Soon, Emory University Tefft, Sheila, Emory University

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