Mediating the spaces of diet and health: A critical analysis of reporting on nutrition and colorectal cancer in the UK

Wells, Rebecca

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.05.001

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 83 publications

(83 reference statements)

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“…privileging certain voices over others. Wells (2017) found that the UK media coverage of nutritional means of preventing bowel cancer was primarily set in the "lifestyle" frame indicating that the responsibility for increasing dietary fibre was of the individual instead of discussions of structural drivers of dietary change such as social, economic or political drivers. In a more recent study, Yau et al (2021) found that the issue of food insecurity in the UK was predominantly covered by left-leaning and centrist newspapers.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who is responsible for fixing the food system? A framing analysis of media reactions to the UK's National Food Strategy

Tak,

Blair,

Marques

2024

BFJ

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PurposeHigh levels of child obesity alongside rising stunting and the absence of a coherent food policy have deemed UK’s food system to be broken. The National Food Strategy (NFS) was debated intensely in media, with discussions on how and who should fix the food system.Design/methodology/approachUsing a mixed methods approach, the authors conduct framing analysis on traditional media and sentiment analysis of twitter reactions to the NFS to identify frames used to shape food system policy interventions.FindingsThe study finds evidence that the media coverage of the NFS often utilised the tropes of “culture wars” shaping the debate of who is responsible to fix the food system – the government, the public or the industry. NFS recommendations were portrayed as issues of free choice to shift the debate away from government action correcting for market failure. In contrast, the industry was showcased as equipped to intervene on its own accord. Dietary recommendations made by the NFS were depicted as hurting the poor, painting a picture of helplessness and loss of control, while their voices were omitted and not represented in traditional media.Social implicationsBritish media’s alignment with free market economic thinking has implications for food systems reform, as it deters the government from acting and relies on the invisible hand of the market to fix the system. Media firms should move beyond tropes of culture wars to discuss interventions that reform the structural causes of the UK’s broken food systems.Originality/valueAs traditional media coverage struggles to capture the diversity of public perception; the authors supplement framing analysis with sentiment analysis of Twitter data. To the best of our knowledge, no such media (and social media) analysis of the NFS has been conducted. The paper is also original as it extends our understanding of how media alignment with free market economic thinking has implications for food systems reform, as it deters the government from acting and relies on the invisible hand of the market to fix the system.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who is responsible for fixing the food system? A framing analysis of media reactions to the UK's National Food Strategy

Tak,

Blair,

Marques

2024

BFJ

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“…In general, news values are not in line with the health information the population needs, particularly those considered underpriveleged (Epstein, 2008). Nutrition-related topics are covered according to lifestyle, placing a great amount of accountability on the individual, without taking into account social, economic, or political factors that can change one's diet (Wells, 2017). When the news provides solid recommendations for a healthy lifestyle, people are more likely to adopt this behavior (Chang, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HEALTHY EATING IN THE PRESS: using Morin-Chartier’s content analysis in a Brazilian newspaper

Oliveira-Costa

Costa

Rénaud

et al. 2020

BJR

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This paper evaluates if Morin-Chartier’s content analysis, when adapted to Portuguese, can successfully be applied to texts on health and diet published in a Brazilian newspaper. This is a cross-section study. The texts were collected from the Brazilian newspaper O Dia between January 2014 and July 2015. Texts written on the subject of health and diet were analyzed, and specific software was used to evaluate how often they appeared in various categories. The method demonstrably categorizes and classifies different subjects within a single text, and thus helping to minimize any errors. A total of 1.668 information units were extracted from a collection of 341 journalistic texts. These information units focused on the effects foods have on the body and recommendations for which foods to consume. Most of these foods were in natura but there were some ultra-processed as well. The texts are taken from the Brazilian press, and the sources, when identified, are specialists on the subject. The texts are written with the intent to promote health.A pesquisa avalia a aplicabilidade do método canadense de análise de conteúdo de Morin-Chartier em textos sobre saúde e alimentação, apresentados pelo jornal popular brasileiro O Dia, entre janeiro de 2014 e julho de 2015. A análise se baseia no registro das unidades da informação na imprensa que tratam sobre o tema alimentação, e avaliação de sua frequência em diferentes categorias com produção e uso de software específico. O método possibilitou que diferentes assuntos no mesmo texto fossem categorizados e classificados distintamente, minimizando falhas. Dos 341 textos jornalísticos coletados, extraiu-se 1.668 unidades da informação, observando enfoque em recomendações e efeitos dos alimentos, com maior presença dos in natura em detrimento dos ultraprocessados. A origem dos textos é nacional e as fontes, quando identificadas, são especializadas, em sua maioria. O engajamento dos textos é favorável à saúde. La investigación adapta al português y evalua la aplicabilidade de um método canadiense de análisis de contenido de Morin Chartier, en textos sobre salud y alimentación presentados por um periódico popular brasileño, O Dia, entre enero de 2014 y julio de 2015. La análisis es basada en el registro de las unidades de información que hablan del tema alimentación, e evaluación de su frecuencia de diferentes categorías con producción y uso de software específico. La metodología posibilita que diferentes temas en un mesmo texto sean categorizados y clasificados distintamente, minimizando fallas. De los 341 artículos, se observó 1.668 unidades de la información, observando el foco en las recomendaciones y efectos de los alimentos, com más frecuencia de los alimentos naturales. La origen de los textos es brasileña, y las fuentes identificadas son en gran parte, especializadas; el engajamento de los textos es favorable a la salud.

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Ruminant livestock and climate change: critical discourse moments in mainstream and farming sector news media

Simmonds,

Maye,

Ingram

2024

Agric Hum Values

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There is ongoing contestation around greenhouse gas emissions from ruminant livestock and how society should respond. Media discourses play a key role in agenda setting for the general public and policymakers, and may contribute to polarisation. This paper examines how UK news media portrayed ruminant livestock’s impact on climate change between 2016 and 2021. The analysis addresses a gap in the literature by comparing discourses in national and farming sector newspapers using a qualitative approach. Four national and two farming sector news outlets were searched for articles published between 2016 and 2021. A corpus of 996 relevant articles was assembled, from which 154 were selected for in-depth examination using Critical Discourse Analysis. Four ‘Critical Discourse Moments’ (CDMs), each signifying a discursive shift in the debate, were identified over the 6-year studied period: 1) Low salience, diverging discourses, 2) We must eat far less meat, 3) Fighting the anti-meat agenda, and 4) Policy (in)action at COP26. There was a large increase in the number of published articles from January 2019 onward, partly associated with publication of the EAT/Lancet Commission report. CDM 2 (We must eat far less meat) occurred mainly in the national media, while CDM 3 (Fighting the anti-meat agenda) occurred mainly in the farming media. Our findings reveal both opinion polarisation and intergroup polarisation between national and farming sector media, and low engagement with food system power imbalances. Addressing polarisation will be important to enhance capacity for collective decision-making regarding methane emissions from ruminant livestock.

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Mediating the spaces of diet and health: A critical analysis of reporting on nutrition and colorectal cancer in the UK

Cited by 4 publications

References 83 publications

Who is responsible for fixing the food system? A framing analysis of media reactions to the UK's National Food Strategy

Who is responsible for fixing the food system? A framing analysis of media reactions to the UK's National Food Strategy

HEALTHY EATING IN THE PRESS: using Morin-Chartier’s content analysis in a Brazilian newspaper

Ruminant livestock and climate change: critical discourse moments in mainstream and farming sector news media

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