Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
J Community Health. 2010 Oct;35(5):487-94. doi: 10.1007/s10900-009-9217-x.
News coverage of health topics influences knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors at the individual level, and agendas and actions at the institutional and policy levels. Because disparities in health often are the result of social inequalities that require community-level or policy-level solutions, news stories employing a health disparities news frame may contribute to agenda-setting among opinion leaders and policymakers and lead to policy efforts aimed at reducing health disparities. This study objective was to conduct an exploratory analysis to qualitatively describe barriers that health journalists face when covering health disparities in local media. Between June and October 2007, 18 journalists from television, print, and radio in Boston, Lawrence, and Worcester, Massachusetts, were recruited using a purposive sampling technique. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted by telephone, and the crystallization/immersion method was used to conduct a qualitative analysis of interview transcripts. Our results revealed that journalists said that they consider several angles when developing health stories, including public impact and personal behavior change. Challenges to employing a health disparities frame included inability to translate how research findings may impact different socioeconomic groups, and difficulty understanding how findings may translate across racial/ethnic groups. Several journalists reported that disparities-focused stories are "less palatable" for some audiences. This exploratory study offers insights into the challenges that local news media face in using health disparities news frames in their routine coverage of health news. Public health practitioners may use these findings to inform communication efforts with local media in order to advance the public dialogue about health disparities.
健康主题的新闻报道会影响个人层面的知识、态度和行为，以及机构和政策层面的议程和行动。由于健康方面的差异往往是需要社区层面或政策层面解决方案的社会不平等的结果，因此采用健康差异新闻框架的新闻报道可能有助于意见领袖和政策制定者设定议程，并促使他们采取旨在减少健康差异的政策努力。本研究的目的是进行探索性分析，定性描述健康记者在当地媒体报道健康差异时面临的障碍。2007 年 6 月至 10 月期间，采用目的性抽样技术从马萨诸塞州波士顿、劳伦斯和伍斯特的电视、印刷和广播媒体招募了 18 名记者。通过电话进行了深入的半结构化访谈，并采用结晶/沉浸方法对访谈记录进行了定性分析。研究结果表明，记者表示，他们在编写健康故事时会考虑几个角度，包括公众影响和个人行为改变。采用健康差异框架面临的挑战包括无法将研究结果如何影响不同社会经济群体，以及难以理解研究结果如何跨种族/族裔群体转化。一些记者报告说，关注差异的故事对一些观众来说“不太受欢迎”。这项探索性研究深入了解了当地新闻媒体在其健康新闻常规报道中使用健康差异新闻框架所面临的挑战。公共卫生从业者可以利用这些发现与当地媒体进行沟通，以推动关于健康差异的公众对话。
