Drug Policy Modelling Program, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Int J Drug Policy. 2011 Jul;22(4):285-91. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2011.05.008. Epub 2011 Jun 22.
Media reporting on illicit issues has been frequently criticised for being sensationalised, biased and narrow. Yet, there have been few broad and systematic analyses of the nature of reporting. Using a large sample and methods commonly adopted in media communications analysis this paper sought to identify the dominant media portrayals used to denote illicit drugs in Australian newspapers and to compare and contrast portrayals across drug types.
A retrospective content analysis of Australian print media was carried out over the period 2003-2008 from a sample comprised of 11 newspapers. Articles that contained one or more mention of five different drugs (or derivatives) were identified: cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin. A sub-sample of 4397 articles was selected for media content analysis (with 2045 selected for full content analysis) and a large number of text elements coded for each. Key elements included topic, explicit or implicit messages about the consequences of drugs/use and three value dimensions: overall tone, whether drugs were portrayed as a crisis issue and moral evaluations of drugs/use.
The dominant media portrayals depicted law enforcement or criminal justice action (55%), but most articles were reported in a neutral manner, in the absence of crisis framings. Portrayals differed between drugs, with some containing more narrow frames and more explicit moral evaluations than others. For example, heroin was disproportionately framed as a drug that will lead to legal problems. In contrast, ecstasy and cocaine were much more likely to emphasise health and social problems.
Media reporting on illicit drugs is heavily distorted towards crime and deviance framings, but may be less overtly sensationalised, biased and narrowly framed than previously suggested. This is not to suggest there is no sensationalism or imbalance, but this appears more associated with particular drug types and episodes of heightened public concern.
媒体对非法问题的报道经常因耸人听闻、有偏见和狭隘而受到批评。然而，对报道的性质进行广泛而系统的分析却很少。本文使用大样本和媒体传播分析中常用的方法，试图确定澳大利亚报纸中用来表示非法药物的主要媒体描述，并比较和对比不同药物类型的描述。
对 2003 年至 2008 年期间澳大利亚印刷媒体进行了回顾性内容分析，样本包括 11 份报纸。确定了包含一种或多种以下五种不同药物（或衍生物）的文章：大麻、安非他命、摇头丸、可卡因和海洛因。对 4397 篇文章进行了媒体内容分析（其中 2045 篇进行了完整内容分析），并对每个文章的大量文本元素进行了编码。主要元素包括主题、关于毒品/使用后果的明确或隐含信息以及三个价值维度：整体基调、毒品是否被描绘为危机问题以及对毒品/使用的道德评价。
主要的媒体描述描绘了执法或刑事司法行动（55%），但大多数文章以中立的方式报道，没有危机框架。不同的药物描述方式不同，有些包含更狭窄的框架和更明确的道德评价，而其他药物则没有。例如，海洛因被不成比例地描绘成一种会导致法律问题的药物。相比之下，摇头丸和可卡因更有可能强调健康和社会问题。
对非法药物的媒体报道严重偏向于犯罪和偏差框架，但可能不像以前认为的那样过于耸人听闻、有偏见和狭隘。这并不是说没有耸人听闻或不平衡，而是这似乎更多地与特定药物类型和公众关注度高的事件有关。
