EVALUATING A DEVELOPMENT-ORIENTED COMMUNITY

NEWSPAPER: A CONTENT ANALYSIS

OF THE LOS BAOS TIMES

EIRA RAYE MENESES GRUTA

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE COLLEGE OF DEVELOPMENT

COMMUNCATION UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES LOS BAOS IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE

DEGREE OF

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

(Development Journalism)

APRIL 2012

This undergraduate research titled EVALUATING A DEVELOPMENTORIENTED COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE
LOS BAOS TIMES prepared and submitted by EIRA RAYE MENESES
GRUTA in partial fulfilment of the degree Bachelor of Science in Development
Communication (Development Journalism), is hereby accepted.

_____________________________
RICARDA B. VILLAR
Adviser

_____________________________
Date

Accepted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree

Bachelor of Science in Development Communication
(Development Journalism)

_____________________________
SERLIE B. JAMIAS
Chair

Department of Development Journalism

College of Development Communication
University of the Philippines Los Baos
College, Laguna

_____________________________
Date
2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
As my mom always told me, her thesis was her labor of love. I am proud to say that this
study is also my own labor of love, my baby. The conceptualization, production, and finalization
of this research will not be possible without the following people. To you, I dedicate this study.
To my mom, you have been my biggest influence and inspiration in pursuing journalism. Thank
you for being supportive in this chosen field of mine. Even though you were not as supportive in
other fields I explored, I understand that you were just doing your job as a mom, and was doing it
well. I could not have asked for more, and I thank you for all the support and love you continually
give me. Shall we put up a community newspaper now?
To my dad, thank you for always telling and showing me how proud you are of me. You always
offered me help not only for this study, but in whatever I was doing. I value all of your words of
wisdom and constant text messages. Remember that I love you no matter how far you are. Thank
you.
To my brother, Elliott, thank you for getting off the computer when I needed it. I know this is a
big sacrifice for you, and how you hate it. I appreciate it a lot. In the words of Taylor Swift, Got
smiles on my little brother, inside and out hes better than I am. This applies to you too, and I am
very proud of you. You can now use the computer all you want, passing Computer Science in the
same university as me and all. Good luck on your own thesis!
To my adviser, Maam Candy, thank you for directing me to the right path. I know that I have
been very confused for a semester and more, and so I thank you for your guidance. Also, thank
you for being patient and very understanding. Though I was quite afraid of you, Id still say that
you are the best adviser for me.
I would also like to thank Maam Pam who was instrumental to this study, for suggesting the
Krippendorffs reliability test. Though it was a difficult test to conduct, the mere suggestion saved
me a lot of time in finding the best reliability test for my study. I am also one of the first
researches to employ this test in the country, and for that I have you to be grateful for.
To Dr. Crispin Maslog, the main proponent of The Los Baos Times, I guess I can say that I
owe my undergraduate thesis to you. Thank you for imparting your copies of The Los Baos
Times to the Department of Development Journalism, that has so kindly lent them to me for
this study. Thank you also for sharing to our DEVC123 class your experiences with The Los
Baos Times and other community newspapers. This has greatly inspired me to pursue this study,
and us all in our batch of Timers to produce an issue that can make you proud.
To Dr. Floyd J. McKay who so graciously sent me a copy of his 1993 study through snail mail. I
did not expect such a well-renowned scholar to be so approachable as he was, even if we only
communicated mostly online. I am very honored, and flattered even, to have been in touch with
one of the people in my bibliography. I will really treasure this copy of your article that travelled
thousands of miles just to be cited in my undergraduate thesis.

To Kuya Esti, my 24-hour on-call statistician, thank you for being so patient and oh-so very kind.
You answered all of my questions, no matter how basic or complicated they were, and you always
replied no matter what time of day. Thank you also for learning Krippendorffs alpha, even if it was
alien to you and I both. I guess I am one of your most high-maintenance clients, and I thank you for
putting up with me.
To Tito Bernie who was always very accommodating from when we were producing our own LB
Times till I was thesising in the InLab, and to Tito Aga who went out of his way to help me more
than a thousand copies of The Los Baos Times, my greatest thanks.
To my coders, Karl and JV, thank you for bearing with me in coding all those newspapers. I know it
was a tedious job, and though you didnt always give back the newspapers on time, I know it is
because of your OC-ness. For that, I thank you.
To The Los Baos Times editorial staff 2011, this study wouldnt be as profound and heartfelt
without my experience with you. Thank you for making those nights without a wink of sleep worth it.
The survey we conducted was essential to this study and I have you guys to thank for that. This study
is especially dedicated to you.
To Chelsea, Kitkat, and Alvin, my best friends in the whole wide universe. Thank you for lending an
ear and putting up with me through the labor pains of this study, and beyond. No matter how far away
you guys are, its always as if you were just beside me. No one else could ever be better than any of
you guys. And I still have the same three friends, as the song sings, high school never ends.
To Arkelyn and Paulinate, thank you for being my pseudo-thesismates. Though we were all
conducting different studies, we always had each other to rely on. My sanity is safe and sound
because of you guys. Ito na, gragraduate na nga tayo! Kahit na naiba-iba na yung mga thesis topics
natin. We made it!
To my Kapatid, Alyssa, for all the sleepless nights we worried about how on earth we were going to
pass our drafts on time. Thank you for bearing with me, and even lifting up my spirits when I was
down thesis-wise. Its good to know we have each others backs through this whole process. The only
thing to worry about now is the future. Aja!
To the UPLB Jocks, thank you for all the support, the laughter, the company. I still stand by what I
said before; you are the most amazing bunch of people in this whole university!
To my batchmatesthe Space CadetsBlake, Connor, James, Marissa, Marcus, and Sonya, we
are the best batch ever and everyone knows that. Another one of us is leaving the university, but our
high spirits will remain to haunt the booth and wherever the Jocks are. They know they wouldnt be
this awesome without our batch.
To my ninang, Holly, even our theses are matching! From the first time I reported to you, and till
now that were graduating, its really evident why youre my ninang. I love you!
To Robyn, my partner-in-crime and chismismate. Thank you for pushing me, and even cursing me, to
finish my thesis and graduate on-time. My last days in the university were funner with your company.
To Jason, Cerra, and Calista, thank you for helping me out with this study. From the consultation
lunchdate with Cerra, the DevJourn staff insiderness of Jason, and newspaper copies from Calista, the
success of this study wouldnt have been possible without you.
4

ABSTRACT
GRUTA, EIRA RAYE M. University of the Philippines Los Baos. April 2012.
Evaluating a Development-oriented Community Newspaper: A Content Analysis of
The Los Baos Times.
Adviser: Ricarda B. Villar

This study evaluated The Los Baos Times as a development-oriented community

newspaper through content analysis using the Krippendorff inter-coder reliability test.
Twenty-eight archived issues of The Los Baos Times from 1983-2011 were used as a
sample.

Reinforced by the agenda building theory, the research assessed the newspapers
fulfillment of its goals as a development-oriented community newspaper, and the prevalence
of the development journalism practice. The study also identified what development news
categories in the newspaper were most and least salient, relating these to the newspapers
goals.

The qualities of The Los Baos Times shown by its profile were found to be deviant
from standard qualities of other Philippine community newspapers. It also differed with the
preference of its primary audience, and needs tweaking to properly perform its function as a
community newspaper.

The most salient development categories in the newspaper as per attention were
Others, Political, and Infrastructure. How-tos, Consumerism, and Science and technology
were given least attention. The most salient category in terms prominence were Political and
Ecology and the environment. The least prominent were Education, Others, Health and
population, Ecology and the environment, and Community development. Ranking of these
categories indicated low development-orientation and a decline in the community newspaper
function of The Los Baos Times.
5

In terms of the salience of development writing characteristics, development writing

techniques, and development journalism approaches, The Los Baos Times was found to
adhere to its claim of being a development-oriented community newspaper. This indicates
that the development journalism advocacy is indeed practiced. The newspaper was also
found to perform most of the identified functions of a community newspaper.

As per the level of development-orientation and community newspaper function, The

Los Baos Times only had low to moderate levels for both roles. This was shown by the
aggregate space allocation percentage of each variable indicating development-orientation
and community newspaper function.

Keywords: development-orientation, community newspaper, content analysis, The Los Baos

Times

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Structure and Rationale of the Study

Statement of the Problem

Objectives of the Study

Significance of the Study

Limitations of the Study

Operational Definition of Terms

CHAPTER 2 RELATED REVIEW OF LITERATURE

12

Development Communication

12

History of the College of Development Communication

12

BS Development Communication Curriculum

13

Development Journalism

14

Development Journalism in the Philippines

15

Development Writing Characterisitcs

16

Development Writing Techniques

17

Development Journalism Approaches

18

Issues and Major Areas for Further Studies

18

Newspaper Production

20

Style and Make-up

20

News Staff

21

Community Newspaper

22

Community Newspapers in the Philippines

23

Community Newspapers in Southern Luzon

24

Establishing a Community Newspaper in Los Baos

25

History of the Los Baos Times

26

Evaluating the Los Baos Times

27

Salience of Newspaper Content

30
7

PAGE
Content Analysis

31

Krippendorff Reliability

31

Theoretical Framework

32

Conceptual Framework

33

Analytical Framework

35

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

36

Research Design

36

Period and Sampling Procedure

36

Research Instrument

37

Data Collection

39

Coding Method

40

Data Analysis

41

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

44

Krippendorffs alpha Reliability Test

45

Newspaper Profile

47

Development News Categories

49

Attention Dimension

49

Prominence Dimension

53

Development Orientation

56

Development Writing Characterisitc

57

Development Writing Techniques

59

Development Journalism Approach

63

Community Newspaper Function

64

Recording of Community Activities

65

Locality of News Stories

66

Commentary on Local Issues

67

Localization of News Stories

68

PAGE
Type of Source

70

Contributor of Content

71

Locality of Advertisement

72

CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

74

Summary

74

Newspaper Profile

75

Development News Categories

75

Development Orientation

76

Community Newspaper Function

77

Conclusions

78

Recommendations

79

BIBLIOGRAPHY

84

APPENDICES

LIST OF TABLES
PAGE

TABLE 1.1

TABLE 1.2

TABLE 1.3

Krippendorffs alpha reliability test results for The Los Baos

Times profile
Krippendorffs alpha reliability test results for developmentorientation variables
Krippendorffs alpha reliability test results for community
newspaper function variables

46

46

46

TABLE 2.1

The Los Baos Times profile summary

48

TABLE 2.2

Profile of The Los Baos Times 2011

49

TABLE 3.1

TABLE 3.2

Frequency of articles per development news category with

ranking of most used to least used
Space allocation of articles per development news category in
cm2

52

52

TABLE 3.3

News treatment of articles per development news category

54

TABLE 3.4

Quadrant of articles per development news category

54

TABLE 3.5

Page location of articles per development news category

55

Frequency of articles applying each development writing

59

TABLE 4.1

characteristic

10

TABLE 4.2

TABLE 4.3

TABLE 4.4

Summary of space allocation descriptive statistics for each

development writing characteristic per occurrence in cm2
Frequency of articles employing development writing
techniques
Summary of space allocation descriptive statistics for each
development writing technique per occurrence in cm2

59

60

61

PAGE

TABLE 4.5

Frequency of types of visuals with ranking of most used to

least used

63

Summary of space allocation descriptive statistics for each

TABLE 4.6

type of visual in cm2 with ranking of mean space allocation

63

from largest to smallest

TABLE 4.7

TABLE 4.8

TABLE 5.1

TABLE 5.2

TABLE 5.3

Frequency of articles employing development journalism

approaches
Summary of space allocation descriptive statistics for each
development writing approach per occurrence in cm2
Frequency of articles recording community activities
Summary of space allocation descriptive statistics for
community activity per occurrence in cm2
Frequency of article per type of locality

64

64

66

66

67

11

TABLE 5.4

Summary of space allocation descriptive statistics for story

locality in cm2

67

TABLE 5.5

Frequency of editorials per locality

68

TABLE 5.6

Summary of space allocation descriptive statistics for editorials

per locality in cm2

68

TABLE 5.7

Frequency of article per type of story localization

69

TABLE 5.8

Summary of space allocation descriptive statistics for story

localization in cm2

69

TABLE 5.9

Frequency of article per type of source

70

allocation descriptive statistics for type of

TABLE 5.10 Summary of space
2
source in cm

71

TABLE 5.11 Frequency of articles per type of contributor

72

allocation descriptive statistics for type of

TABLE 5.12 Summary of space
2
contributor in cm

72

TABLE 5.13 Frequency of advertisements per type of locality

72

descriptive statistics for

TABLE 5.14 Summary of space allocation
2
advertisements in cm

73

12

LIST OF FIGURES
PAGE
FIGURE 1

Conceptual framework of the study

34

FIGURE 2

Analytical framework of the study

35

13

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Structure and Rationale of the Study
Since 1983, the then Department of Development Communication has been
producing The Los Baos Times as part of the DEVC164 (Management and Production of a
Community Newspaper) course requirement under the guidance of Dr. Crispin Maslog. In
1991, DEVC 164 was renumbered to DEVC 123 (Production and Management of a
Community Newspaper).

The Los Baos Times is a development-oriented community newspaper covering Los

Baos and neighboring communities within Laguna and parts of Region 4A (Cavite, Laguna,
Batangas, Rizal at Quezon). To date, The Los Baos Times serves as the highlight of the
major courses in development journalism.

In the past 30 years, the community newspaper has been the venue for the news and
feature stories written by BS Development Communication students majoring in
development journalism.

Aside from being a class requirement, The Los Baos Times serves as the training
ground for development journalists in training as they are introduced to the newsroom
setting. The students have a semester to produce their community newspaper. Maslog (2007)
characterizes a community newspaper to usually be a twelve-page weekly in tabloid format
which carries predominantly local news and comments about local issues and is circulated
mainly in one city or province (p. 172). As the years progressed, modifications were
introduced to the community newspaper as agreed upon by the editorial board.

Previous BS Development Communication undergraduate studies have been

conducted on The Los Baos Times focusing on the change in the emphasis of its news
1