Obesity in the news: directions for future research

Abstract

Obesity attracts large volumes of news coverage. This in turn has spawned academic studies investigating how news framing may affect views about causes of and solutions to obesity. We use key studies to demonstrate that although existing research has made valuable discoveries about how obesity is defined in various media outlets, some methodological and theoretical questions remain unaddressed. We argue that extant research has focused on one dimension of analysis--the problematization of obesity in news stories--precluding insights into the entire process of obesity communication. Drawing on framing and media studies research, we propose a multidimensional approach to shed more light on factors affecting the production of obesity news stories by journalists and how they may be received by audience members. Ways of moving research into this multidimensional direction are proposed, including analysis of journalistic news values, political leaning and style of media outlets, emotion-eliciting language, readers' comments and obesity-related news visuals. Knowledge resulting from the exploration of these dimensions of the issue of obesity can be used to improve strategies to inform and engage audience members.

Emotion in obesity discourse: understanding public attitudes towards regulations for obesity prevention

“…As such, reader comments have been identified by both Atanasova et al . () and Boero () as an important area for obesity research. Comment boards can engender highly emotive discussion about obesity (De Brún et al .…”

Overweight but unseen: a review of the underestimation of weight status and a visual normalization theory

“…Of particular note has been the dramatic increase in obesity prevalence observed in recent times 3, 4. Because of this, obesity has now been recognized as a global crisis 5, 6 and is a well‐discussed matter of considerable public interest 7, 8. Here, it is argued that although obesity is now a widely discussed societal issue, a sizeable and diverse body of evidence has accumulated, which suggests that overweight and obesity often go ‘undetected’ and are under‐recognized conditions.…”

Values and Choices in Television Discourse

“…Although the complex web of drivers of obesity which are beyond individual control (such as food deserts, urban planning, car dependency, working conditions, food and drink advertising and formulation) are increasingly understood by public health professionals (Dixon and Broom 2007), analyses of news media coverage find that individuals are widely held to be personally responsible (Lawrence 2004;Bonfiglioli et al 2007;Atanasova et al 2012;De Brún et al 2012). There are ideological barriers to thinking of overweight as a problem caused by systemic drivers requiring interventions at a societal level.…”