Map Use in Regional Newspapers in the Midwestern United States 1930-1985

Map use in three metropolitan newspapers in Ohio, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the Columbus Dispatch is sampled between 1930 and 1985. Each has daily and Sunday circulations between 250,000 and 500,000. The frequency of map use, the thematic focus of map-illustrated articles, and the geographic area mapped are all examined. Overall, map use has been limited. Similar temporal trends in map use are demonstrated by each of the newspapers, with increases in the 1940s, 1960s and 1980s. Military conflict dominated the focus of most maps, accounting for 40% of all maps published. Economic resources/development/transportation and tourism/ travel/sports are also important foci of map-illustrated articles, together representing another 25%. Newspapers generally have increased the range of article topics they supplement with maps. In a geographic sense, most maps have focused on areas outside the borders of the United States, almost 60%. Maps focusing on a newspaper's respective metropolitan area or the state of Ohio have been relatively uncommon. Map use among the three newspapers did vary. The somewhat more cosmopolitan Plain Dealer used maps more frequently and focused more attention on a wider variety of thematic topics man did the other two newspapers

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