News Coverage of Cancer in the United States: A National Sample of Newspapers, Television, and Magazines

Slater, Michael D.; Long, Marilee; Bettinghaus, Erwin P.; Reineke, Jason B.

doi:10.1080/10810730802279571

Cited by 115 publications

(139 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The current study replicates and extends current work (e.g., Cohen et al, 2008;Slater et al, 2008) as well as links back to the original comprehensive content analyses by using a comparable content scheme. This approach may reveal trends that ultimately contribute to individual or societal illness representations (e.g., about cancer risk factors).…”

Section: Content Analyses Of Cancer News Coveragesupporting

confidence: 64%

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Making sense of cancer news coverage trends: a comparison of three comprehensive content analyses

et al. 2012

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Abstract:Cancer stories (N = 5,327) in the top 50 U.S. newspapers were analyzed by a team of four coders and the results were compared with the earliest analyses of this type (from 1977 and 1980). Using cancer incidence rates as a comparison, three cancers were found to be consistently underreported (male Hodgkin's, and thyroid) and four cancers were found to be consistently overreported (breast, blood/Leukemia, pancreatic, and bone/ muscle). In addition, cancer news coverage consistently has focused on treatment rather than on other aspects of the cancer continuum (e.g., prevention), portrayed lifestyle choices (e.g., diet, smoking) as the most common cancer risk factor, and rarely reported incidence or mortality data. Finally, the data were compatible with the idea that personalization bias (e.g., celebrity profiles, event coverage) may explain some news coverage distortions.Keywords: cancer, news coverage, content analyses, health communication.In their latest review of cancer trends, Jemal and colleagues (2008) noted that for all cancer sites combined, incidence rates have stabilized and mortality rates continue to decrease. At the site level, however, certain cancers still share a disproportionate amount of the cancer burden. Prostate, breast, lung, and colon cancers account for 50% of new cancer cases as well as 49%-50% of estimated cancer deaths.

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Section: Content Analyses Of Cancer News Coveragesupporting

confidence: 64%

“…This work generally has shown that cancer news coverage mirrors incidence rates rather than mortality rates; however, certain cancers (e.g., breast cancer) disproportionately are represented regardless of the comparison data (Cohen et al, 2008;Hoffman-Goetz & Friedman, 2005;Slater, Long, Bettinghaus, & Reineke, 2008).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Making sense of cancer news coverage trends: a comparison of three comprehensive content analyses

et al. 2012

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“…이 뉴스 미디어의 환경 감시 기능은 환경오염 (Ader, 1995), 범죄 (Sheley & Ashkins, 1981), 경제 (Ju, 2008;Soroka, 2006) 등 특정 이슈의 언론 보도라는 틀 속에서 연 구가 진행되었다. 예를 들어, 에더 (Ader, 1995) Freimuth et al, 1984;Greenberg, Freimuth, & Bratic, 1979;Hoffman-Goetz & Friedman, 2005;Jensen, Moriarty, Hurley, & Stryker, 2010;Slater, Long, Bettinghaus, & Reineke, 2008) (Ju, 2008;Soroka, 2006), 환경오염 (Ader, 1995), 범죄 Health and Social Behavior,41, …”

Section: 언론 환경 감시 기능의 적절성이라는 차원에서의 접근 은 뉴스미디어가 원래 사회에 잠재된 위험 요인들에 대한 unclassified

The Representation of Cancer Risk by Korean Health Journalism: Comparing the Crude Rates of 10 Cancers to the Amount of Cancer News in the Three Major Newspapers(1990-2010)

Ju¹,

Jeong²,

You³

2013

Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion

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Objectives: The public relies on the news media to understand health risks. To examine the surveillance function of Korean health journalism, this study compared the rank-order of the 10 most frequently diagnosed cancers with that of the 10 cancers most frequently covered by three major Korean newspapers. Methods: News stories published between 1999 and 2010 by the Chosun-Ilbo, Joong-Ang-Ilbo, and Dong-A-Ilbo were examined. Data on cancer incidence were collected using the epidemiological data published by a governmental public health institution. To compare the level of the crude rates and the amount of news coverage, rank-order correlation tests and regression analyses were employed. Results: A reduction in the rank-ordered correlation coefficient was observed despite an increase in the overall number of cancer news stories released. The significance of the correlation disappeared after 2006. The big difference of the rank order between the crude rate and the amount of news coverage was observed in the cancer of breast, uteri, thyroid, and gallbladder/biliary. Finally, the three newspapers did not follow the amount change in stomach, lung, liver, and uterine cervix cancer. The four cancers' rank orders of crude rate were lowering, signifying a reduction of the comparative dangerousness of the four cancers. Conclusions: The news media's customization of news content and the negative bias in journalism are suggested as possible influences on the news media's inaccurate representation of cancer risk..

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“…Possibly most importantly, Slater et al (ref. 25, p. 534) find "numerous disparities between cancer news coverage and the realities of the disease in the United States" (25).…”

Section: Patterns Of Scientific Information In Media Contentmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrated model of communication influence on beliefs

Eveland

Cooper

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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How do people develop and maintain their beliefs about science? Decades of social science research exist to help us answer this question. The Integrated Model of Communication Influence on Beliefs presented here combines multiple theories that have considered aspects of this process into a comprehensive model to explain how individuals arrive at their scientific beliefs. In this article, we (i) summarize what is known about how science is presented in various news and entertainment media forms; (ii) describe how individuals differ in their choices to be exposed to various forms and sources of communication; (iii) discuss the implications of how individuals mentally process information on the effects of communication; (iv) consider how communication effects can be altered depending on background characteristics and motivations of individuals; and (v) emphasize that the process of belief formation is not unidirectional but rather, feeds back on itself over time. We conclude by applying the Integrated Model of Communication Influence on Beliefs to the complex issue of beliefs about climate change.knowledge | learning D ecades of scholarship in communication and related fields have examined the role of mass and interpersonal communication as means by which members of the public acquire information or beliefs about a variety of important topics (1, 2). However, there are several properties of this literature that make it less than ideal for succinctly answering the larger question of how scientific beliefs are formed. First, there is a tendency to focus research on a particular form of communication in isolation from others (e.g., news rather than entertainment or media rather than interpersonal discussion), with an emphasis on media effects. Second, most empirical models offer snapshots of associations among variables (3, 4) rather than consideration of how feedback processes connect communication and beliefs in both causal directions. Third, the models tested often seem to have been developed on the basis of the data available in a particular study rather than on a broader consideration of the theoretical processes involved. In those cases in which the models do seem more comprehensive, they usually eschew formal prediction in favor of offering more abstract frameworks and encouraging data exploration (5). Overall, although there is a wealth of insight and evidence relating communication and beliefs, it tends to be scattered because of emphasis on particular subprocesses rather than emphasis on the whole.Sociologist Robert Merton [ref. 6, pp. 52-53 (emphasis in original)] argued that "theories of the middle range hold the largest promise, provided that the search for them is coupled with a pervasive concern with consolidating special theories into more general sets of concepts and mutually consistent propositions" (6). The current body of research on media selection and impact on beliefs, which has, to date, been relatively circumscribed by focusing attention on subprocesses, would seem to be ripe for a comprehens...

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News Coverage of Cancer in the United States: A National Sample of Newspapers, Television, and Magazines

Cited by 115 publications

References 36 publications

Making sense of cancer news coverage trends: a comparison of three comprehensive content analyses

Making sense of cancer news coverage trends: a comparison of three comprehensive content analyses

The Representation of Cancer Risk by Korean Health Journalism: Comparing the Crude Rates of 10 Cancers to the Amount of Cancer News in the Three Major Newspapers(1990-2010)

An integrated model of communication influence on beliefs

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