My data tables can be viewed or downloaded here: Sentiment-(Newspaper), Sentiment-(Category), Articles-(Newspaper), Articles-(Term).
Sentiment
The first question that I sought to answer, as stated in the Introduction, was whether sentiment about psilocybin had changed from January 1, 1989 to December 31, 2019 in the New York Times (NYT), San Diego Union-Tribune (SDUT), St. Louis Post-Dispatch (SLPD), and Tampa Bay Times (TBT).
Total Sentiment per Year – Each Newspaper
[Figure 4]
The total sentiment scores for each year for each newspaper ranged from 26 in 2018 for the New York Times to -12.5 in 1991 also for the New York Times. The San Diego Union-Tribune ranged from 2 in 2006 to -4.5 in 1999. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ranged from 1 in 2005 and 2019 to -5 in 1991. The Tampa Bay Times ranged from 3.5 in 2008 to -7.5 in 1991.
Because the highest and lowest total sentiment scores for the New York Times were so much more extreme than the other newspapers, it might also be helpful to view total sentiment scores for the other three newspapers using their own scales:
San Diego Union-Tribune – Total Sentiment
[Figure 5]
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Total Sentiment
[Figure 6]
Tampa Bay Times – Total Sentiment
[Figure 7]
Total sentiment scores are a combination of sentiment scores in five separate thematic categories. Therefore, we can also compare newspapers by their sentiment scores in each thematic category, each with its own scale:
Legality – Each Newspaper
[Figure 8]
Mode of Action – Each Newspaper
[Figure 9]
Personal Impact – Each Newspaper
[Figure 10]
Scientific Integrity – Each Newspaper
[Figure 11]
Social Impact – Each Newspaper
[Figure 12]
For each newspaper, we can also compare sentiment scores in each thematic category within that newspaper, each with its own scale:
New York Times, Sentiment – Thematic Categories
[Figure 13]
San Diego Union-Tribune, Sentiment – Thematic Categories
[Figure 14]
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sentiment – Thematic Categories
[Figure 15]
Tampa Bay Times, Sentiment – Thematic Categories
[Figure 16]
I considered whether there would also be value in presenting the average sentiment per article (calculated by dividing the total sentiment score each year by the number of psilocybin articles that year). However, this did not seem a fruitful path, because many average scores did not appear to accurately reflect the sentiment of the year. For example, in the Tampa Bay Times, 2011 would have had a higher average negativity (-1) than 2001 (-0.786), but this is only because 2011 had a single psilocybin article (which happened to be negative), as opposed to 7 psilocybin articles in 2001 with a total negativity of -5.5. It seems difficult to argue that a single negative article would have more negative correlation with public sentiment than 7 articles with a -5.5 total negativity score.
Occurrences
The other questions that the present study examined were whether the number of psilocybin articles had changed over the 31-year period, and whether the number of articles using particular terms for psilocybin had changed over the 31-year period.
The final article set for the present study consisted of 534 total articles for all four newspapers. Of these, 304 articles were from the New York Times, 89 articles were from the San Diego Union-Tribune, 67 articles were from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and 74 articles were from the Tampa Bay Times.
Number of Psilocybin Articles per Year
[Figure 17]
The number of articles mentioning psilocybin ranged from 38 in 2019 for the New York Times to 0 in several years for all four newspapers. The San Diego Union-Tribune ranged from 11 articles in 2019 to 0 articles in 1991, 2011, and 2015. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ranged from 8 articles in 1994 to 0 articles in 1999, 2000, 2006, 2009, 2016, and 2018. The Tampa Bay Times ranged from 10 articles in 1994 to 0 articles in 2007, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
In the present study, four different terms for psilocybin were tracked over the 31-year period. The combined results for all four newspapers were:
Terms Used – Each Newspaper
[Figure 18]
The use of “psilocybin” ranged from 26 articles in 2019 to 0 articles in 1999. The use of “magic mushrooms” ranged from 17 articles in 2019 to 0 articles in 1999. The use of “hallucinogenic mushrooms” ranged from 17 articles in 2001 to 1 article in 1993 and 2010. The use of “psychedelic mushrooms” ranged from 13 articles in 2019 to 1 article in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2002, and 2008.
Because the results for the New York Times are occasionally such a significant portion of the overall results, it might also be helpful to track the use of each term within each newspaper:
New York Times – Terms Used
[Figure 19]
For the New York Times, the use of “psilocybin” ranged from 20 articles in 2019 to 0 articles in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1999, and 2004. The use of “magic mushrooms” ranged from 11 articles in 2019 to 0 articles in 1989, 1990, 1992, and 1999. The use of “hallucinogenic mushrooms” ranged from 7 articles in 2001 and 2011 to 0 articles in 1989, 1990, and 2010. The use of “psychedelic mushrooms” ranged from 11 articles in 2019 to 0 articles in 1990, 1991, 1992, 2006, 2008, and 2013.
San Diego Union-Tribune – Terms Used
[Figure 20]
For the San Diego Union-Tribune, the use of “psilocybin” ranged from 5 articles in 2019 to 0 articles in several years. The use of “magic mushrooms” ranged from 5 articles in 2019 to 0 articles in several years. The use of “hallucinogenic mushrooms” ranged from 4 articles in 2009, 2011, and 2009 to 0 articles in several years. The use of “psychedelic mushrooms” ranged from 2 articles in 1998, 2000, and 2019 to 0 articles in several years.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Terms Used
[Figure 21]
For the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the use of “psilocybin” ranged from 4 articles in 1994 to 0 articles in several years. The use of “magic mushrooms” ranged from 2 articles in 1989, 1992, and 2002 to 0 articles in several years. The use of “hallucinogenic mushrooms” ranged from 4 articles in 1995 to 0 articles in several years. The use of “psychedelic mushrooms” ranged from 2 articles in 2007 and 2012 to 0 articles in several years.
Tampa Bay Times – Terms Used
[Figure 22]
For the Tampa Bay Times, the use of “psilocybin” ranged from 5 articles in 1994 to 0 articles in several years. The use of “magic mushrooms” ranged from 3 articles in 1994 to 0 articles in several years. The use of “hallucinogenic mushrooms” ranged from 6 articles in 1994 to 0 articles in several years. The use of “psychedelic mushrooms” ranged from 2 articles in 2005, 2006, and 2015 to 0 articles in several years.