Niederdeppe Jeff, Fowler Erika Franklin, Goldstein Kenneth, Pribble James
Jeff Niederdeppe, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University. Erika Franklin Fowler, Ph.D., is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Scholar at the University of Michigan. Kenneth Goldstein, Ph.D., is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin. James Pribble, M.D., is a Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Michigan.
J Commun. 2010 Jun 1;60(2):230-253. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01474.x.
A substantial proportion of American adults hold fatalistic beliefs about cancer prevention despite evidence that a large proportion of cancer deaths are preventable. Several scholars suggest that news media coverage is one source of these beliefs, but scant evidence has been brought to bear on this assertion. We report findings from two studies that assess the plausibility of the claim that local television (TV) news cultivates fatalistic beliefs about cancer prevention. Study 1 features a content analysis of an October 2002 national sample of local TV and newspaper coverage about cancer (n=122 television stations; n=60 newspapers). Study 2 describes an analysis of the 2005 Annenberg National Health Communication Survey (ANHCS, n=1,783 respondents). Study 1 indicates that local TV news stories were more likely than newspaper stories to mention cancer causes and scientific research and less likely to provide follow-up information. Study 2 reveals that local TV news viewing was positively associated with fatalistic beliefs about cancer prevention. Overall, findings are consistent with the claim that local TV news coverage may promote fatalistic beliefs about cancer prevention. We conclude with a discussion of study implications for cultivation theory and the knowledge gap hypothesis and suggest foci for future research.
尽管有证据表明很大一部分癌症死亡是可以预防的，但相当一部分美国成年人对癌症预防持有宿命论观点。几位学者认为，新闻媒体报道是这些观点的一个来源，但几乎没有证据支持这一说法。我们报告了两项研究的结果，这两项研究评估了地方电视台新闻培养对癌症预防的宿命论观点这一说法的合理性。研究1对2002年10月全国地方电视台和报纸关于癌症报道的样本进行了内容分析（122家电视台；60家报纸）。研究2描述了对2005年安嫩伯格全国健康传播调查（ANHCS，1783名受访者）的分析。研究1表明，地方电视台新闻报道比报纸报道更有可能提及癌症病因和科学研究，而提供后续信息的可能性更小。研究2表明，观看地方电视台新闻与对癌症预防的宿命论观点呈正相关。总体而言，研究结果与地方电视台新闻报道可能会促进对癌症预防的宿命论观点这一说法一致。我们最后讨论了研究对培养理论和知识差距假说的影响，并提出了未来研究的重点。
