The Role of Media in Influencing Policy Melanie Wakefield Kate Clegg Smith Russil Durrant Funded by: National Cancer Institute State and Community Tobacco Control Initiative and Victorian Health Promotion Foundation
Direct influence of news media The news media is an important source of health information at the individual level NZ: doubling of volume of news coverage equal to effect of 10% increase in price of cigarettes US: number of magazine articles on tobacco related to annual incidence of smoking cessation, especially among middle age adults
Indirect influence of news media Well done investigative reporting produces public outrage or policy maker outrage that forces new regulations and laws or tougher enforcement of existing ones. Ten-thousand-watt klieg lights turned onto a situation focus the minds of policymakers very fast. (Otten)
Indirect influence of news media but it isn t fashionable, its not at all in the front pages, its not sexy to have testicular or prostate cancer so you don t get a run. (former Australian Health Minister)
Indirect influence of news media Media help to set the agenda and influence openness to change Media advocacy is an increasingly important aspect of public health campaigns How a problem is defined necessarily shapes available solutions
Monitoring U.S. & Aussie press Use reading service to clip tobacco articles from daily newspapers in each country In US, > 16,000 articles in 2001 from sample of 310 newspapers, 1/3 of days/month coded (n = 4,841) In Australia, all 1,188 articles coded from all 12 daily newspapers
% newspapern articles by month 20 United States (%) Australia (%) 18 16 Percentage of total articles 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Month
Article type (Aust Aust=1,188; US=4,840) News Editorial/columns Letters U.S. Australia Other 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Content analysis Content analysis of 13 tobacco control themes What makes this particular article news today? Product Issues, Tobacco Consumption, Economic Issues, Secondhand Smoke, Addiction, Youth Access & Possession, Farming Issues etc
Theme heme (Aust=1,188; US=4,840) Secondhand smoke issues Education & prevention Health effects Tobacco industry Advertising & promotion U.S. Australia Economic issues Product issues Other 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Tobacco-related events Not all coverage is necessarily good news for tobacco control Positive for tobacco control objectives (e.g. passage of tobacco control policy such as tax increase, advertising restriction; successful legal case against industry, etc.) Negative for tobacco control objectives (e.g. tobacco policy repealed; legal case won by industry, etc.) Mixed outcome for tobacco control objectives Neutral
Event slant slant (Aust=1,188; US=4,840) POSITIVE event NEGATIVE event U.S. Australia MIXED/NEUTRAL event 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Tobacco-related opinion Assessed in columns, editorials, letters, and question and answer pieces Express a view predominantly Positive for tobacco control (ie supports tobacco control objectives) Express a view predominantly Negative for tobacco control (ie. does not support tobacco control objectives) Express a Mixed view (ie. both positive and negative views expressed) Express a Neutral view
Opinion slant (Aust Aust=277; US=840) POSITIVE view NEGATIVE view U.S. Australia MIXED/NEUTRAL view 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Calculating media impressions How many people are exposed to newspaper articles about tobacco in each state? Number of newspaper articles x circulation of the newspaper x 2.2 To calculate per capita media impressions this figure is then divided by the state population
Per capita media impressions by state NT ACT TAS QLD WA SA NSW VIC 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Implications for research and practice Work with advocates to strategically release research findings to media More training in media advocacy Use media tracking to fine tune advocacy Monitor media as one exposure that may account for change in population trends in smoking beliefs and behaviour Pre-test our advocacy messages, as we do our antismoking ads
Research team Core Research Team: Melanie Wakefield 1, Katherine Clegg Smith 2, Catherine Siebel 2, Russil Durrant 1 Coding Development: Glen Szczypka 2, Sandy Slater 2, Sherry Emery 2, Yvonne Terry-McElrath 3 Coding Implementation: Ann Haggerty 2, Ryan Weyls 2, Laura Yelmini 2, Kim McLeod 1 www.impacteen.org/media/home.htm 1 The Cancer Council Victoria, Australia; 2 University of Illinois at Chicago; 3 University of Michigan