Murukutla Nandita, Negi Nalin S, Puri Pallavi, Mullin Sandra, Onyon Lesley
Vital Strategies, New York, United States of America.
World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia, New Delhi, India.
WHO South East Asia J Public Health. 2017 Sep;6(2):41-50. doi: 10.4103/2224-3151.213791.
Background Air pollution is of particular concern in India, which contains 11 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world. Media coverage of air pollution issues plays an important role in influencing public opinion and increasing citizen demand for action on clean air policy. Hence, this study was designed to assess news coverage of air pollution in India and its implications for policy advancement. Methods Articles published online between 1 January 2014 and 31 October 2015 that discussed air pollution in India were systematically content analysed. From 6435 articles in the national media and 271 articles in the international media, a random selection of 500 articles (400 from national and 100 from international media) were analysed and coded by two independent coders, after high inter-rater reliability (kappa statistic above 0.8) was established. Results There was an increase in the number of news stories on air pollution in India in the national media over the study period; 317 (63%) stories described the risk to health from air pollution as moderately to extremely severe, and 393 (79%) stories described the situation as needing urgent action. Limited information was provided on the kinds of illnesses that can result from exposure. Less than 30% of stories in either media specifically mentioned the common illnesses resulting from air pollution. Very few articles in either media mentioned the population groups most at risk from air pollution, such as children or older people. Vehicles were presented most often as the cause of air pollution in India (in over 50% of articles in both national and international media). Some of the most important sources of air pollution were mentioned less often: 6% of national and 18% of international media articles mentioned unclean sources of household energy; 3% of national and 9% of international media articles mentioned agricultural field burning. Finally, the majority of articles (405; 81%) did not mention any specific institution or organization - such as the government or industry groups - as the primary responsible stakeholder, thus leaving ambiguous the organizations whose leadership was necessary to mitigate air pollution. Conclusion Gaps exist in the current media discourse on air pollution, suggesting the need for strengthening engagement with the media as a means of creating citizen engagement and enabling policy action. Through greater elaboration of the health burdens and evidence-based policy actions, the media can play a critical role in galvanizing India's action on air quality. These data may suggest opportunities for media advocacy and greater public and policy engagement to address issues around air quality in India.
背景
空气污染在印度是一个尤其令人担忧的问题，全球污染最严重的20个城市中有11个在印度。媒体对空气污染问题的报道在影响公众舆论以及增加公民对清洁空气政策行动的需求方面发挥着重要作用。因此，本研究旨在评估印度空气污染的新闻报道及其对政策推进的影响。
方法
对2014年1月1日至2015年10月31日期间在线发表的讨论印度空气污染的文章进行系统的内容分析。从国内媒体的6435篇文章和国际媒体的271篇文章中，随机选取500篇文章（400篇来自国内媒体，100篇来自国际媒体），在建立了较高的评分者间信度（kappa统计量高于0.8）后，由两名独立的编码员进行分析和编码。
结果
在研究期间，国内媒体关于印度空气污染的新闻报道数量有所增加；317篇（63%）报道将空气污染对健康的风险描述为中度至极度严重，393篇（79%）报道称这种情况需要紧急行动。关于接触空气污染可能导致的疾病种类提供的信息有限。两种媒体中不到30%的报道具体提到了空气污染导致的常见疾病。两种媒体中很少有文章提到空气污染风险最高的人群，如儿童或老年人。在印度，车辆最常被认为是空气污染的原因（国内和国际媒体超过50%的文章如此认为）。一些最重要的空气污染来源提及较少：6%的国内媒体文章和18%的国际媒体文章提到了不清洁的家庭能源来源；3%的国内媒体文章和9%的国际媒体文章提到了农田焚烧。最后，大多数文章（405篇；81%）没有提及任何特定的机构或组织——如政府或行业团体——作为主要责任利益相关者，因此对于减轻空气污染所需的领导组织仍不明确。
结论
当前关于空气污染的媒体话语存在差距，这表明需要加强与媒体的互动，以此作为促进公民参与和推动政策行动的一种手段。通过更详细地阐述健康负担和基于证据的政策行动，媒体可以在推动印度空气质量行动方面发挥关键作用。这些数据可能为媒体宣传以及更多公众和政策参与以解决印度空气质量问题提供机会。
