Why Isn’t Health a Priority?

Communicating a Health Risk/Crisis: Exploring the Experiences of Journalists Covering a Proximate Epidemic

“…I sought to unpack the constraining and enabling structures and processes in news production during a proximate health crisis (Ebola) in Ghana. In line with what other studies have found among vulnerable and low-resourced communities (e.g., Gearhart et al, 2018) the current study showed underdeveloped health reporting due to certain routines and practices within journalism practice in Ghana. First, perceptions or assumptions about the audience influence journalist in making decisions about stories (Hinnant, Len-Rios, & Oh, 2011).…”

“…While news workers in the Gearheart et al (2018) study attributed low priority of health reporting to leadership, some news workers in the current study attributed it to perceived audience interest in political issues. As one radio journalist said, “You know Ghanaians like politics, and we need to respond to our audience.” Thompson and Yeboah (2013) made a similar observation of a “seeming listener disinterest in health-related stories” in Ghana (p. 383).…”

“…It is unclear how these strategies impacted audiences but one can speculate that they played a part in the "fear and panic" that respondents expressed. Finally, in an unfamiliar epidemic, the media may play a part in the existing fear and panic (Gearhart et al, 2018). The issue then might be how to help journalists see the two-edged sword of the approaches and strategies they adopted during the Ebola outbreak.…”

“…The story is, however, different with media that serve low-resourced and minority contexts. For instance, Gearhart, Trumbly-Lamsam, and Adegbola (2018) surveyed journalists working in Native American communities about health news and found that although journalists viewed health as an important issue highly valued by their audience, health was not prioritized in practice. This low priority was attributed to leadership.…”

Botched Ebola Vaccine Trials in Ghana: An Analysis of Discourses in the Media

“…Irrespective of vaccine hesitancy or vaccine trial controversies, the media play a role in providing information for individuals to create their views and attitudes. Bearing in mind the key role that the legacy media in developing contexts play in health communication and public health campaigns [ 6 , 7 , 8 ], understanding discourses about vaccines in the media merits research.…”