Entertainment (Mis)Education: The Framing of Organ Donation in Entertainment Television

Abstract

Researchers and practitioners who have sought to understand public reluctance to donating organs in spite of favorable attitudes toward organ donation have long thought that belief in myths about donation contribute to the problem. How these myths emerged and more important, why they have persisted in spite of national education campaigns is not clear. In the absence of direct personal experience with organ donation or transplantation, we believe that most people receive their information about donation through the media. In this study, we identify all entertainment television shows with organ donation storylines or subplots broadcast on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX from 2004-2005. Frame analysis reveals 2 competing metaframes: the moral corruption of the powerful and organ donors are good people. In addition to the metaframes, 4 secondary frames, and 6 tertiary frames are identified. Organ donation is framed in mostly negative terms, with a few notable exceptions. Recommendations for how to address negative framing of organ donation in the media are offered.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community online: discussions of bullying and self-disclosure in YouTube videos

“…This approach, as adopted by others analysing video content (Rotman and Preece 2010, Morgan et al 2007, Xiao et al 2004), allows greater insight and enhanced understanding of data due to there being no preconceived assumptions. Thematic analysis was employed to classify the main themes in each video; content analysis was then used to identify instances of these themes and allow for the discussion of meaning.…”

An Examination of Organ Donation in the News: A Content Analysis From 2005-2010 of the Barriers to Becoming an Organ Donor

“…More and more, communication campaigns promoting organ and tissue donation have become effective mechanisms to enhance organ donor registrations across college campuses (Feeley, Anker, Watkins, Rivera, Tag, & Volpe, 2009), driver's license facilities Harrison, Morgan, King, & Williams, 2011), and in the workplace (Morgan, Harrison, Chewning, Di Corcia, & Davis, 2010). As these efforts have certainly played a pivotal role in educating individuals about the importance of organ donation, individuals still learn much about organ donation from newspapers (Feeley & Vincent, 2007), television dramas (Morgan et al, 2007), and news programs (Quick et al, 2009). The current study sought to reveal how recent news coverage on television depicts organ donation with respect to the organ shortage, the benefits and barriers to donation, the process of registering as an organ donor, and the overall estimate of news industries' endorsement of organ donation.…”

“…The categories investigated in this study emerged from a careful review of literature on the benefits and barriers of organ donation (Feeley, 2007;Feeley & Vincent, 2007;Morgan, et al, 2007;Quick, et al, 2009) and the core assumptions of the HBM (Glanz & Bishop, 2010).…”

“…Finally, cues to action are the strategies that allow a person to feel that they can act. Research shows that various media such as newspaper (Feeley & Vincent, 2007), television dramas (Morgan, Harrison, Chewning, DiCorcia, & Davis, 2007) and television news (Quick, Kim, & Meyer, 2009) can serve as integral sources of organ donation information for individuals. These sources may provide consumers with cues to action or with inaccurate information.…”

“…Despite literature that has examined media coverage of organ donation (Feeley & Vincent, 2007;Morgan, Harrison, Chewning, Davis, & DiCorcia, 2007;Quick, Kim, & Meyer, 2009) no research to the authors' knowledge has accounted for the ability of news media to shape perceptions of organ donation using the HBM as a theoretical lens. As such, the following research questions draw from the HBM to describe the content of news articles.…”