Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme, Knowledge•Action•Change, London, UK.
Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, Blantyre, Malawi.
Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2023 Aug 29;18(1):50. doi: 10.1186/s13011-023-00559-6.
Electronic cigarette use has surged internationally in recent years, with numerous countries noting an uptick in users. Despite this, the portrayal of e-cigarette usage in African news remains unclear.
This research investigates the subject, employing a mixed-methodology approach. The study units were news articles on electronic cigarette use retrieved from AllAfrica, an online African news archive. A total of 38 online news and opinion articles published between June 2017 and June 2022 qualified the exclusion and inclusion criteria. A content analysis revealed prevalent codes and themes, while a thematic analysis explored the association between news sources and framing.
The results indicate that articles and arguments presenting e-cigarettes positively outnumber those with a negative slant. The health impacts of electronic cigarettes emerged as the most discussed topic, with health authorities frequently cited as news sources. However, these health authorities often lacked a unified stance on e-cigarette safety.
The lack of consensus among health officials could have public health consequences, possibly resulting in the formulation of uninformed policies.
近年来，电子烟在国际上的使用呈爆炸式增长，许多国家的用户数量都有所增加。尽管如此，非洲新闻对电子烟使用情况的描述仍不清楚。
本研究采用混合方法，对这一主题进行了调查。研究单位是从非洲在线新闻档案 AllAfrica 上检索到的关于电子烟使用的新闻文章。共有 38 篇于 2017 年 6 月至 2022 年 6 月期间发表的在线新闻和评论文章符合排除和纳入标准。内容分析揭示了普遍的代码和主题，而主题分析则探讨了新闻来源和框架之间的关联。
结果表明，正面介绍电子烟的文章和论点数量超过了负面观点的文章。电子烟的健康影响是讨论最多的话题，经常援引卫生当局作为新闻来源。然而，这些卫生当局在电子烟安全性问题上往往没有统一的立场。
卫生官员之间缺乏共识可能会对公共卫生产生影响，可能导致制定出不明智的政策。
