Newspaper and wire service coverage of tobacco farmers

The Development and Validation of a Coding Protocol to Measure Change in Tobacco-Control Newspaper Coverage

The national ASSIST newspaper coding protocol model was used as a template to adapt a system for measuring tobacco-related newspaper coverage in Colorado newspapers. Over a 3-month period, tobacco-related articles were clipped from 180 daily and weekly newspapers. Variables coded included adaptations of the original ASSIST categories. During development and testing, additional variables were added to make the protocol more comprehensive and sensitive to tobacco policy media coverage. Intercoder reliabilities were calculated for all nonstatic variables using Cohen’s kappa. Disagreements were resolved through group discussions. Two rounds of testing achieved ratings above .70 for all variables. The protocol improves dramatically upon the ASSIST model by providing greater breadth and depth of analysis and more sensitivity to the nuances of newspaper coverage of tobacco-related issues. Given its simplicity, the protocol could also prove valuable for antitobacco advocacy groups who wish to track the changes in public and media opinions.

Rural print media portrayal of secondhand smoke and smoke-free policy

The purpose of this article is to describe how the print media portrays secondhand smoke and smoke-free policy in rural communities. Baseline print media clips from an ongoing 5-year study of smoke-free policy development in 40 rural communities were analyzed. The authors hypothesized that community population size would be positively associated with media favorability toward smoke-free policy. Conversely, pounds of tobacco produced and adult smoking prevalence would be negatively associated with media favorability. There was a positive correlation between population size and percentage of articles favorable toward smoke-free policy. The authors did not find a correlation between adult smoking or tobacco produced and media favorability toward smoke-free policy, but we did find a positive relationship between tobacco produced and percentage of pro-tobacco articles and a negative relationship between adult smoking prevalence and percentage of articles about health/comfort. Implications for targeting pro-health media in rural communities as well as policy-based initiatives for tobacco control are discussed.

US news media coverage of tobacco control issues

OBJECTIVE

To characterise the relative amount and type of daily newspaper, local and national TV newscast, and national news magazine coverage of tobacco control issues in the United States in 2002 and 2003.

DESIGN

Content analysis of daily newspapers, news magazines, and TV newscasts.

SUBJECTS

Items about tobacco in daily newspapers, local and national TV newscasts, and three national news magazines in a nationally representative sample of 56 days of news stratified by day of week and season of the year, from 2002 and 2003.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Story theme, tobacco topics, sources, story prominence, story valence (orientation), and story type.

RESULTS

Tobacco coverage was modest over the two-year period as estimated in our sample. Only 21 TV stories, 17 news magazine stories, and 335 daily newspaper stories were found during the two-year sampling period. Noteworthy results for the newspaper data set include the following: (1) government topics predominated coverage; (2) government action and negative health effects topics tended not to occur together in stories; (3) tobacco stories were fairly prominently placed in newspapers; (4) opinion news items tended to favour tobacco control policies, while news and feature stories were evenly split between positive and negative stories; and (5) tobacco coverage in the southeast, which is the country's major tobacco producing region, did not differ from the rest of the country.

CONCLUSION

Results suggest mixed support in news coverage for tobacco control efforts in the United States. The modest amount of news coverage of tobacco is troubling, particularly because so few news stories were found on TV, which is a more important news source for Americans than newspapers. When tobacco was covered, government themed stories, which often did not include mentions of negative health effects, were typical, suggesting that media coverage does not reinforce the reason for tobacco control efforts. However, some results were encouraging. For example, when newspapers did cover tobacco, they accorded the stories relatively high prominence, thus increasing the chance that readers would see tobacco stories when they were published.

Readiness to change: newspaper coverage of tobacco farming and diversification

Diversification, like tobacco use prevention and cessation, is an important public health concern. The multilevel patterns of tobacco dependency suggest the need for public health approaches to the "tobacco problem." To understand how newspaper and wire service journalists cover issues involving diversification among tobacco farmers, the authors performed a content analysis of a subset of 100 articles on diversification and tobacco farming. Prochaska and DiClemente's stages of change model was applied to the "problem behavior" of tobacco farming. Among news accounts relating to tobacco farmers or tobacco farming, print media accounts gave relatively little attention to the issue of diversification. Farmers in the sample of news accounts were generally cognizant of pressures to diversify away from reliance on tobacco cultivation but were frustrated due to obstacles to diversification such as limited diversification options and relative absence of infrastructure supports. Community leaders and policy-relevant sources generally supported diversification.

A Primer on Tobacco Production: Implications for Health Promotion Practice

In the late 1990s, there has been unprecedented attention to issues that affect tobacco farmers and tobacco-dependent communities. During this time, relationships between public health professionals and organizations and tobacco producers have been established. At the same time, some growers have questioned tobacco company loyalty to the American tobacco farmer. Despite these burgeoning relationships, most public health professionals know little about tobacco production and the host of factors that play a role in shaping the tobacco culture. This overview article attempts to fill this gap in knowledge so that health professionals are in an informed position when they speak about intersections between public health and tobacco farming. An increased understanding of these background issues will enable the public health community to achieve the dual goals of reducing disease caused by tobacco products and ensuring the prosperity of rural farming communities historically dependent upon tobacco.