Urban Policy, Press, and Place: City-Making in Florida’s Miami-Dade County

• In Event: Local and Regional Journalism

Abstract

This paper enhances the notion of city-making by explicating its communicative processes and functions within the press. Through an analysis of Miami Herald news coverage related to incorporation and annexation policies and practices over a period of three years, we make the case for a stronger implication of the press in coverage of local policy- and place-making. Using a quantitative content analysis of 437 articles from the Miami Herald about communities affected by incorporation and annexation and a qualitative textual analysis of 51 articles related to general coverage of geographic policy-making in Miami-Dade County over a three year period, we argue that this coverage reveals the press as being a central feature and function of policy-making when viewed through the lens of city-making.

Authors

• Moses A Shumow, Florida International University

• Robert Gutsche Jr, Florida International U