4.2 Number of articles
We identified all articles in the period February to July 2011 that dealt with climate change policy, and compared the number of articles and the space allotted in terms of words, across the ten newspapers. The Australian had by far the most coverage of the ten newspapers with 28% of all articles. The Age and the SMH had very similar amounts (approx. 13%) followed by The Courier Mail, The Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun. The Advertiser and The West Australian, The Mercury and the NT News had considerably less coverage than other newspapers, (See Figures 4.2.1 & 4.2.2).
This shows that outside the large population centres of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, readers whose main source of news remains metropolitan newspapers received far less news and discussion about the carbon policy than readers elsewhere in Australia.
| Newspaper | Total no. of articles | % of total number of articles |
|---|---|---|
| The Australian | 1108 | 28% |
| The Age | 511 | 13% |
| The Sydney Morning Herald | 501 | 13% |
| The Courier Mail | 378 | 10% |
| The Daily Telegraph | 372 | 9% |
| Herald Sun | 365 | 9% |
| The Advertiser | 261 | 7% |
| The West Australian | 189 | 5% |
| The Mercury | 149 | 4% |
| The Northern Territory News | 137 | 3% |
| Total | 3971 | 100% |
| Newspaper | Word count of total articles | % of word count of total articles |
|---|---|---|
| The Australian | 761682 | 34% |
| The Age | 333542 | 15% |
| The Sydney Morning Herald | 311295 | 14% |
| The Daily Telegraph | 187524 | 8% |
| The Courier Mail | 184151 | 8% |
| Herald Sun | 177108 | 8% |
| The Advertiser | 109048 | 5% |
| The West Australian | 85714 | 4% |
| The Mercury | 67052 | 3% |
| The Northern Territory News | 37383 | 2% |
| Total | 2254499 | 100% |