public health in the media patterns of health reporting in the media
TRANSCRIPT
Public Health in the Media
Patterns of health reporting in the media
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King’s Fund work
Health in the News: Risk, Reporting and Media influence (2003)
Media and Public Health: a consultation conducted on behalf of the Department of Health (June 2004)
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HEALTH IN THE NEWS: RESEARCH FOCUS
Exploring views of public health experts and policy makers on media coverage of health issues
Analysis of news content in selected media outlets on a range of health issues
Reporters and editors asked for their views on the research findings and why stories make the news.
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HEALTH IN THE NEWS: PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERTS
Mostly unhappy with way health covered in the media
Neglected issues important to public health Give undue prominence to scare stories and
NHS issues Don’t convey risk accurately Understand journalists priorities – but regret
news culture which is ‘Short-termist, simple, politically driven’
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HEALTH IN THE NEWS: Content Analysis
All health coverage for BBC News – Sept 2000-Sept 2001
– The Ten, Newsnight, 5 Live, 8am News
Newspapers - Oct-Dec 2002– Guardian, Mirror and Mail –
19 categories – Later recoded into 8.
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HEALTH IN THE NEWS: IMBALANCE
Number of Stories - BBC and Newspapers
150
75
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Public Health Health Scares
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HEALTH IN THE NEWS: DEATHS PER STORY
Deaths per Story: Newspaper news
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
Newspaper news 4444 846 2538 1.5 22.5 0.375 1375
Smoking Alcohol Obesity vCJD AIDS MeaslesMental
Disorders
8
Does it matter?
Impacts on public behaviour – eg MMR Policy makers sometimes take cue
from the media Government priorities and spending
patterns influence media agendas and public behaviour in ways that are mutually reinforcing (e.g. waiting lists)
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THE PROJECT
Part of the Department of Health’s “Choosing Health” consultation for the White Paper
Could we consult “the media” on their attitudes?
Could we do it in month?
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THE QUESTIONS
Did anyone in media feel it was their responsibility to cover public health?
Did anyone feel responsible towards the health of their readers/viewers?
Could the government do anything differently to get their message across?
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METHOD
Round table seminar of journalists (n=9)
Telephone interviews (n=16) Quick survey of crude story numbers
on NEON
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WHAT’S CHANGED?Stories with "obesity" in headline:
National Papers
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Sto
ries projected
to June 2004
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WHAT’S CHANGED"Obesity" compared to "NHS Crisis" headlines:
national papers
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
year
Nu
mb
er NHS Crisis
Obesity
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WHY THE INTEREST?
NHS: not so interesting anymore Personal experience Public finds it interesting Because we’re on the road to financial
ruin if we don’t do something about it NOT because the government is
concerned about it
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RESPONSIBILITY
I have no intention of becoming the purveyor of Government propaganda, or of being used as a mouthpiece for any organisation or business concern. My first duty is to defend the editorial independence of this paper
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RESPONSIBILITY
No sense of responsibility to help the government to get their message across
Some sense of responsibility to readers or listeners’ health
Overall responsibility to “the story”
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REGIONAL CAMPAIGNS
“Idle Eric”: Newcastle Evening Chronicle
“Lose More in 2004” (as above) ITV’s “Britain On The Move” campaign “A Chance To Live” campaign:
Northern Echo
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REGIONAL ENTHUSIASM
It’s one of the biggest issues facing our country and the people in this area- there’s a lot of eating pies and chips, drinking and smoking tabs here, and it’s got to be tackled
I’m sure we’ve saved lives of people in our area and improved health. I think we are very proud of that
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MISTRUST
Anti government papers: suspicious of everything
BBC News: question everything “it makes you look like a brave and
honest journalist to say government’s got it all wrong”, than to say “hmmm, maybe they’ve got it right”
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RELATIONS WITH GOVERNMENT
BSE, MMR: sense that Government is not always being honest
Civil servants: sometimes frightened to talk
Over controlling government: has the reverse effect
Regional experience: no better?
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RELATIONS WITH MEDIA
We banged our head against a brick wall with one PCT who could not see the benefits of joining forces with us initially. They simply couldn’t see the opportunity staring them in face, thousands of pounds worth of free publicity .. they were blind to it .
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KEY POINTS
Some media are very “engaged” Bandwagon is difficult to steer: impact
hard to measure Mistrust of government simmering Role for an independent purveyor of
fine quality public health information?