| Since the 1920s urban populations have out-grown rural populations. Studies exploring the shift in rural residents have noted items such as job market, economy, and conveniences as factors of this change, but few studies have been completed to examine media's role in this trend. The purpose of this study was to explore college students' perceptions about rural America, based on images selected from newspapers. This study consisted of five focus groups. Two focus groups were conducted during the 2009 Agricultural Communicator's of Tomorrow's (ACT) Professional Development Conference in Stillwater, Oklahoma, (agricultural student focus) and three were conducted at Texas A&M University (primarily urban student focus). The focus groups followed Krueger's (1998a, 1998b) method of questioning. The focus groups were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Results indicated that students studying agriculture had several ties to rural America. Participant's responses from the agricultural and non-agricultural groups lead to common themes as well as differing themes, culture/values, efficiency/conservation, experience from rural, experience through observation, lack of technology, lack of accurate information, media framing/impact, occupation, proximity, relationship/ties, and stereotypes. Some of the major differences in the two groups were the agricultural group stereotyped what the urban group would say, while the urban group had stereotypes about the images. Another large difference in the groups was the relationships the agricultural group was able to relate to, while the urban group did not relate to the images as strongly as the agricultural group. The study noted that further research must be conducted to understand the total affects media has on the perceptions of rural America. |
