This study applies public agenda-setting theory to test the influence of newspaper coverage on Los Angeles resident concern for drought. Using a content analysis method, this study samples two local and two national newspapers, examining drought news during the height of California drought conditions, 2013-2015, and comparing coverage with measures for public opinion and natural climatological conditions. The study finds that local newspapers help set the public agenda by raising concern for drought, while natural conditions do not. The study also finds that local and national coverage of drought differed, such that national newspapers emphasized issues of morality, conflict, and development more than local news. Analysis of California drought coverage, though limited, elucidates the ways newspaper media confine the slow-onset hazard to episodic news cycles, and elaborates an understanding of the effect of geographic proximity, a necessary step in advancing risk-based communication approaches for climate-based hazards.
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