Taylor-Clark Kalahn Alexandra, Mebane Felicia E, Steelfisher Gillian K, Blendon Robert J
Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2007 Aug;65(3):405-17. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.03.039. Epub 2007 May 7.
National survey data reveal that while public awareness of healthcare inequalities in the USA has increased, the public have become less supportive of federal responsibility to address healthcare inequalities. Agenda setting literature suggests that news coverage may have an impact on both public awareness of an issue and public support for government responsibility to address that issue, particularly in relation to racial inequalities. This research examines the prominence and content of news coverage on racial healthcare disparities in the USA between 1994 and 2004 in order to disentangle the messages that may affect public views of who should be responsible for reducing racial disparities. Even among those who are aware of healthcare disparities, these data show that support for federal responsibility has significantly decreased. Results show that the prominence of coverage of racial healthcare inequalities increased over the period. Journalists increasingly used academics, academic reports, experts, advocacy groups, and Republican politicians, as sources of information. Mentions of actors responsible for causing healthcare inequalities were mixed, with a plurality of stories describing no responsible causal agent. Further, we found that approximately half of the articles in almost every time period studied did not report actors who are working to ameliorate healthcare inequalities, nor did a majority of stories call on any actor to address disparities. As a political agenda to reduce racial healthcare inequalities advances, public support for federal government responsibility will be needed to develop sustainable public policy. This research helps us to understand the messages that the public may be receiving in order to motivate public will to support federal responsibility for reducing racial healthcare inequalities.
全国调查数据显示，虽然美国公众对医疗保健不平等问题的认识有所提高，但公众对联邦政府解决医疗保健不平等问题的责任的支持度却有所下降。议程设置文献表明，新闻报道可能会影响公众对某个问题的认识以及公众对政府解决该问题责任的支持度，尤其是在种族不平等方面。本研究考察了1994年至2004年间美国新闻报道中关于种族医疗差距的突出程度和内容，以梳理出可能影响公众对谁应负责减少种族差距看法的信息。即使在那些意识到医疗保健差距的人当中，这些数据也表明对联邦政府责任的支持度显著下降。结果显示，在此期间，关于种族医疗不平等报道的突出程度有所增加。记者越来越多地将学者、学术报告、专家、倡导团体和共和党政治家作为信息来源。对造成医疗保健不平等的行为主体的提及各不相同，大多数报道没有描述有责任的因果主体。此外，我们发现，在所研究的几乎每个时间段中，约一半的文章没有报道致力于改善医疗保健不平等的行为主体，大多数报道也没有呼吁任何行为主体解决差距问题。随着减少种族医疗不平等这一政治议程的推进，需要公众对联邦政府责任的支持来制定可持续的公共政策。这项研究有助于我们理解公众可能接收到的信息，从而激发公众支持联邦政府减少种族医疗不平等责任的意愿。
