public health in the media patterns of health reporting in the media

Public Health in the Media

Patterns of health reporting in the media

2

King’s Fund work

Health in the News: Risk, Reporting and Media influence (2003)

Media and Public Health: a consultation conducted on behalf of the Department of Health (June 2004)

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HEALTH IN THE NEWS: RESEARCH FOCUS

Exploring views of public health experts and policy makers on media coverage of health issues

Analysis of news content in selected media outlets on a range of health issues

Reporters and editors asked for their views on the research findings and why stories make the news.

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HEALTH IN THE NEWS: PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERTS

Mostly unhappy with way health covered in the media

Neglected issues important to public health Give undue prominence to scare stories and

NHS issues Don’t convey risk accurately Understand journalists priorities – but regret

news culture which is ‘Short-termist, simple, politically driven’

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HEALTH IN THE NEWS: Content Analysis

All health coverage for BBC News – Sept 2000-Sept 2001

– The Ten, Newsnight, 5 Live, 8am News

Newspapers - Oct-Dec 2002– Guardian, Mirror and Mail –

19 categories – Later recoded into 8.

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HEALTH IN THE NEWS: IMBALANCE

Number of Stories - BBC and Newspapers

150

75

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Public Health Health Scares

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HEALTH IN THE NEWS: DEATHS PER STORY

Deaths per Story: Newspaper news

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

Newspaper news 4444 846 2538 1.5 22.5 0.375 1375

Smoking Alcohol Obesity vCJD AIDS MeaslesMental

Disorders

8

Does it matter?

Impacts on public behaviour – eg MMR Policy makers sometimes take cue

from the media Government priorities and spending

patterns influence media agendas and public behaviour in ways that are mutually reinforcing (e.g. waiting lists)

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THE PROJECT

Part of the Department of Health’s “Choosing Health” consultation for the White Paper

Could we consult “the media” on their attitudes?

Could we do it in month?

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THE QUESTIONS

Did anyone in media feel it was their responsibility to cover public health?

Did anyone feel responsible towards the health of their readers/viewers?

Could the government do anything differently to get their message across?

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METHOD

Round table seminar of journalists (n=9)

Telephone interviews (n=16) Quick survey of crude story numbers

on NEON

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WHAT’S CHANGED?Stories with "obesity" in headline:

National Papers

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Year

Sto

ries projected

to June 2004

13

WHAT’S CHANGED"Obesity" compared to "NHS Crisis" headlines:

national papers

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

year

Nu

mb

er NHS Crisis

Obesity

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WHY THE INTEREST?

NHS: not so interesting anymore Personal experience Public finds it interesting Because we’re on the road to financial

ruin if we don’t do something about it NOT because the government is

concerned about it

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RESPONSIBILITY

I have no intention of becoming the purveyor of Government propaganda, or of being used as a mouthpiece for any organisation or business concern. My first duty is to defend the editorial independence of this paper

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RESPONSIBILITY

No sense of responsibility to help the government to get their message across

Some sense of responsibility to readers or listeners’ health

Overall responsibility to “the story”

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REGIONAL CAMPAIGNS

“Idle Eric”: Newcastle Evening Chronicle

“Lose More in 2004” (as above) ITV’s “Britain On The Move” campaign “A Chance To Live” campaign:

Northern Echo

18

REGIONAL ENTHUSIASM

It’s one of the biggest issues facing our country and the people in this area- there’s a lot of eating pies and chips, drinking and smoking tabs here, and it’s got to be tackled

I’m sure we’ve saved lives of people in our area and improved health. I think we are very proud of that

19

MISTRUST

Anti government papers: suspicious of everything

BBC News: question everything “it makes you look like a brave and

honest journalist to say government’s got it all wrong”, than to say “hmmm, maybe they’ve got it right”

20

RELATIONS WITH GOVERNMENT

BSE, MMR: sense that Government is not always being honest

Civil servants: sometimes frightened to talk

Over controlling government: has the reverse effect

Regional experience: no better?

21

RELATIONS WITH MEDIA

We banged our head against a brick wall with one PCT who could not see the benefits of joining forces with us initially. They simply couldn’t see the opportunity staring them in face, thousands of pounds worth of free publicity .. they were blind to it .

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KEY POINTS

Some media are very “engaged” Bandwagon is difficult to steer: impact

hard to measure Mistrust of government simmering Role for an independent purveyor of

fine quality public health information?