Coverage of beverage alcohol issues in the print media in the United States, 1985-1991.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the portrayal of alcohol-related issues in the print media in the United States during the 7-year period bracketing implementation of the US alcohol warning label act in November 1988. METHODS: All articles that appeared from 1985 to 1991 in 5 national newspapers and that were indexed as dealing with beverage alcohol were identified. Content analysis of a 15% sample of these articles allowed an in-depth assessment of the conceptualization of alcohol in the US print media. RESULTS: A slight decrease in articles related to alcoholism was offset by an increase in articles about the more general health-related effects of alcohol. The warning label act received little attention. Most articles portrayed alcohol neutrally or negatively, using information from government sources. CONCLUSIONS: Portrayal of alcohol in the US print media has changed in recent decades. A general shift noted as early as the 1960s has increasingly emphasized public health issues and deemphasized clinical aspects of alcoholism. This has been accompanied by a continuing shift away from a biopsychological definition of alcohol-related behavior to a definition stressing external environmental factors.

Do alcohol warning labels influence men's and women's attempts to deter others from driving when intoxicated?

“…Within the structural model which controls for several plausible influences on both label exposure and precautionary driving-related behavior (Greenfield & Kaskutas, 1993), the effect of warning labels on intervening with others perceived to be at risk for driving when intoxicated was revealed. To our knowledge, this is the first such empirical evidence suggesting an indirect role for warning labels in legitimating pro-social risk-reducing behavior aimed at other individuals, of a kind noted anecdotally in earlier news reports (Lemmens et al, 1999). …”

“…We believed that the warning label message might serve to ‘legitimize’ a socially challenging intervention, so increasing the likelihood of reporting behaviors designed to reduce the likelihood of an inebriated person getting behind the wheel. Early in the news media’s coverage of the alcohol warning label (Lemmens, Vaeth, & Greenfield, 1999), a related instance was reported in which two waiters were fired from a Seattle restaurant after confronting a drinking patron who was obviously pregnant by giving her a copy of the label with its other main message that pregnant women should not drink. In just such a way we believed, friends and acquaintances of someone about to risk a DWI might intervene to discourage driving or provide alternatives.…”

News on tobacco and public attitudes toward smokefree air policies in the United States

“…The news media decide which stories become public issues and which do not, simultaneously informing the public about the items being reported and tacitly lending import to chosen issues [30]. The news ought to be understood as something that both shapes and is shaped by the public.…”

Views of alcohol control policies in the 2000 National Alcohol Survey: What news for alcohol policy development in the US and its States?

“…The latter type of item may not well predict how a voter might respond to a specific policy alternative. Fluctuations in overall national mood (Kingdon, 1995) and media coverage of alcohol issues (Lemmens, Vaeth, & Greenfield, 1999) can both potentially affect public support for an alcohol control policy such as increasing alcohol taxes.…”