Department of Health Education & Behavioral Science, Center for Tobacco Studies, Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ.
Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2018 Jul 9;20(8):1015-1019. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntx170.
Coverage of e-cigarettes in the news media may shape public perceptions about them but little is known about such news content. This content analysis characterized discussion of e-cigarettes in leading print and online US news sources in 2015.
We searched Access World News and Factiva databases for e-cigarette-related news articles appearing in the top 30 circulating newspapers, 4 newswires, and 4 online news sources in the United States in 2015 (n = 295). Coders identified the presence of various e-cigarette topics (e.g. regulation), and benefit and risk statements.
Nearly half of articles (45.1%) focused primarily on e-cigarette policy/regulatory issues, although e-cigarette prevalence (21.0%) and health effects (21.7%) were common main topics. Concerns about youth were frequently mentioned, including the rise in youth e-cigarette use (45.4%), gateway to smoking potential (33.9%) and appeal of flavors (22.4%). Youth e-cigarette prevalence was more frequently mentioned than adult prevalence in articles discussing FDA regulation (61% vs. 13.5%, respectively). News articles more frequently discussed potential e-cigarette risks or concerns (80%) than benefits (45.4%), such as smoking harm-reduction. Quoted physicians, researchers, and government representatives were more likely to refer to e-cigarette risks than benefits.
In 2015, rising rates of e-cigarette use among youth and policy strategies to address e-cigarettes dominated US e-cigarette news stories, leading up to their FDA regulation in 2016. Statements about e-cigarettes' potential risks were frequently attributed to trusted sources such as physicians, and outnumbered claims about their harm-reduction benefits. Such coverage may impact e-cigarette risk perceptions, use intentions and policy support.
In the year leading up to the FDA's Deeming Rule, concerns about youth use or potential use were frequently discussed in e-cigarette news. News articles more frequently discussed potential e-cigarette risks/concerns compared to potential harm-reduction benefits relative to tobacco cigarettes. While such coverage may inform the public about potential e-cigarette risks, they may also contribute to increasing perceptions that e-cigarettes are as harmful as tobacco cigarettes. E-cigarette risk and benefit statements were most frequently made by or attributed to researchers and physicians in articles, which is significant given that they may be particularly trusted sources of e-cigarette risk information.
新闻媒体对电子烟的报道可能会影响公众对电子烟的看法，但人们对这类新闻内容知之甚少。本内容分析旨在描述 2015 年美国主要印刷和在线新闻来源中关于电子烟的讨论。
我们在 Access World News 和 Factiva 数据库中搜索了 2015 年美国排名前 30 的报纸、4 家新闻专线和 4 家在线新闻来源中与电子烟相关的新闻文章（n=295）。编码人员确定了各种电子烟主题（如监管）以及利益和风险声明的存在。
近一半的文章（45.1%）主要侧重于电子烟政策/监管问题，尽管电子烟流行率（21.0%）和健康影响（21.7%）是常见的主要主题。经常提到对青少年的关注，包括青少年电子烟使用率上升（45.4%）、潜在吸烟的入口（33.9%）和口味吸引力（22.4%）。在讨论 FDA 监管的文章中，青少年电子烟流行率比成人流行率更常被提及（分别为 61%和 13.5%）。新闻文章更频繁地讨论电子烟的潜在风险或担忧（80%），而不是好处（45.4%），如减少吸烟危害。引用的医生、研究人员和政府代表更有可能提到电子烟的风险，而不是好处。
2015 年，青少年电子烟使用率上升以及解决电子烟问题的政策策略主导了美国的电子烟新闻故事，这导致了 2016 年 FDA 对电子烟的监管。关于电子烟潜在风险的言论经常归因于医生等可信来源，而且数量超过了关于其减少危害的好处的言论。这种报道可能会影响对电子烟风险的认知、使用意图和政策支持。
在 FDA 发布《烟草产品预上市申请》规则的前一年，关于青少年使用或潜在使用电子烟的担忧在电子烟新闻中经常被提及。与传统香烟相比，新闻文章更频繁地讨论电子烟的潜在风险/担忧，而不是潜在的减害益处。虽然这类报道可能会让公众了解电子烟的潜在风险，但也可能会增加人们对电子烟与香烟一样有害的看法。在文章中，电子烟的风险和收益声明最常由研究人员和医生提出或归因于他们，这一点很重要，因为他们可能是电子烟风险信息特别可信的来源。
