Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, 6021, New Zealand.
Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont, VT, Burlington, USA.
Environ Health. 2023 Jan 20;22(1):9. doi: 10.1186/s12940-023-00960-5.
Recent studies linking low levels of nitrate in drinking water to colorectal cancer have raised public concerns over nitrate contamination. The aim of this study was to analyze the media discourse on the potential human health hazard of nitrates in drinking water in a high-income country with a large livestock industry: New Zealand (NZ).
Searches of media sources ("major newspapers") held by the Factiva database for the NZ setting in the five-year period 17 December 2016 to 20 December 2021.
The largest number of media items was observed for 2017 (n = 108), the year of a NZ general election, with a notable decrease in 2020 (n = 20) that was likely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which dominated health media. However, the percentage of these media items with a health focus steadily increased over time, from 11.1% of all articles in 2017 to 51.2% in 2021. The most commonly mentioned health hazard was colorectal cancer, followed by methemoglobinemia. The temporal pattern of media items suggests that the release of scientific studies and scholarly blogs was associated with the publication of subsequent media items. Major stakeholders involved in the discourse included representatives of local and central government, environmental and recreational interest groups, researchers, local residents, agricultural interest groups, and health organizations. Māori (Indigenous New Zealanders) values or perspectives were rarely mentioned.
Analysis of major newspapers for a five-year period indicated that a wide range of expert comment and opinions were made available to the public and policy makers on the issue of nitrates in water. While many different stakeholder views were captured in the media discourse, there is scope for the media to better report the views of Māori on this topic. There is also a need for articles detailing the health issues to also refer to the environmental, recreational, and cultural aspects of protecting water quality to ensure that the public, policy makers, and regulators are aware of co-benefits.
最近的研究将饮用水中低水平的硝酸盐与结直肠癌联系起来，这引起了公众对硝酸盐污染的关注。本研究旨在分析在一个拥有大型畜牧业的高收入国家（新西兰）中，媒体对饮用水中硝酸盐可能对人类健康造成危害的讨论。
在 Factiva 数据库中对新西兰背景下的媒体来源（“主要报纸”）进行了 2016 年 12 月 17 日至 2021 年 12 月 20 日五年的搜索。
在 2017 年（n=108）观察到的媒体报道数量最多，这一年举行了新西兰大选，2020 年（n=20）显著减少，这可能是由于新冠疫情主导了健康媒体。然而，这些以健康为重点的媒体报道的比例随着时间的推移稳步增加，从 2017 年所有文章的 11.1%增加到 2021 年的 51.2%。最常提到的健康危害是结直肠癌，其次是高铁血红蛋白血症。媒体报道的时间模式表明，科学研究和学术博客的发布与随后的媒体报道的发布有关。参与讨论的主要利益相关者包括地方和中央政府、环境和娱乐利益集团、研究人员、当地居民、农业利益集团和卫生组织的代表。毛利人（新西兰原住民）的价值观或观点很少被提及。
对五年期间的主要报纸进行分析表明，关于水中硝酸盐问题，广泛的专家意见和观点提供给了公众和政策制定者。虽然媒体讨论中捕捉到了许多不同利益相关者的观点，但媒体有扩大报道毛利人对此问题的看法的空间。还需要有详细说明健康问题的文章也提到保护水质的环境、娱乐和文化方面，以确保公众、政策制定者和监管机构意识到共同的好处。
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