Research Fellow in Public Health, The King's Fund, 11e13 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0AN, UK.
J Hosp Infect. 2009 Dec;73(4):400-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2009.05.022. Epub 2009 Aug 20.
Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in the UK receives intense media attention. The nature of coverage, political responses and solutions offered has been questioned and the relationship between health professionals, the media and government policy needs greater understanding. We identified 2880 articles on MRSA published in 12 UK newspapers between 1994 and 2005, compared with 21 articles in six major US newspapers. To investigate the relative influences and relationships further, 68 weeks of coverage from 1990 to 2004 were analysed. The dates were selected based on publication dates of the ten most frequently cited articles on MRSA according the ISI Web of Science portal of Department of Health press releases on MRSA since 1997. Within this period, 351 news articles were published with members of the public and politicians representing 60% of sources quoted. Scientific articles, even those with the highest number of citations, have negligible influence on newspaper coverage. Simple solutions quoted in the newspaper articles focused almost exclusively on cleaning. The UK press exhibits a high interest in MRSA compared with that of the USA. Healthcare workers, experts and professional bodies have criticised the nature of media reporting, but have had little influence or involvement in the press. This may facilitate journalists, celebrities, the public and politicians to drive these stories unchecked and allow politics to address only the simplistic solutions generated.
耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌（MRSA）感染在英国受到媒体的高度关注。媒体报道的性质、政治反应和提出的解决方案受到了质疑，卫生专业人员、媒体和政府政策之间的关系需要更好的理解。我们在 1994 年至 2005 年间在 12 家英国报纸上发现了 2880 篇关于 MRSA 的文章，而在六家美国主要报纸上发现了 21 篇。为了进一步调查相对影响和关系，我们分析了 1990 年至 2004 年的 68 周报道。这些日期是根据 ISI Web of Science 数据库中 1997 年以来卫生部关于 MRSA 的新闻发布中引用最多的 10 篇关于 MRSA 的文章的出版日期选择的。在此期间，有 351 篇新闻文章发表，其中公众和政治家代表了 60%的引用来源。即使是引用率最高的科学文章，对报纸报道也几乎没有影响。报纸文章中提到的简单解决方案几乎完全集中在清洁上。与美国相比，英国媒体对 MRSA 表现出浓厚的兴趣。医疗保健工作者、专家和专业机构批评了媒体报道的性质，但对媒体的影响或参与很少。这可能会使记者、名人、公众和政治家不受控制地推动这些报道，并允许政治只解决由此产生的简单解决方案。
