Attitude toward Homosexuality and Attention to News about AIDS
In: Journalism & mass communication quarterly: JMCQ, Band 72, Heft 2, S. 322-335
ISSN: 2161-430X
Using data from random sample telephone interviews of adults in the Richmond, Virginia, metropolitan area, we tested a path analytic model predicting attention to news about AIDS. We hypothesized that negative attitudes toward homosexuality would act as a barrier to attention to news about AIDS. We found that lower attention to news about AIDS was predicted by negative attitudes toward homosexuality, conservative AIDS policy attitudes, lower perceived risk of getting AIDS, in addition to being male, older, white, and better educated (adjusted R2 = .17). The model predicted media attention better for men (adjusted R2 = .18) than for women (adjusted R2 = .07).