A strategy for increasing news media coverage of tobacco and health in Australia

Background: In many nations, government fiscal restraint is reducing the ability of public health authorities to mount mass-reach health information advertising campaigns. Strategies for increasing news coverage of health issues, and thereby contributing to policy advocacy, are well recognized, yet...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health promotion international 2001-06, Vol.16 (2), p.137-143
Main Authors: Chapman, Simon, Dominello, Amanda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia
Coverage
Health
Health Status Indicators
Humans
Information Services
Mass Media
New South Wales - epidemiology
News
ORIGINAL PAPERS
Persuasive Communication
Pilot Projects
Planning Techniques
Public Health Practice
Risks
Smoking - adverse effects
Tobacco
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background: In many nations, government fiscal restraint is reducing the ability of public health authorities to mount mass-reach health information advertising campaigns. Strategies for increasing news coverage of health issues, and thereby contributing to policy advocacy, are well recognized, yet under-explored in health promotion research. Objective: To increase news coverage of smoking and health issues by issuing media releases about research judged as newsworthy and important in contributing to tobacco control policy debates. Method: Research reports selected for their potential newsworthiness were promoted in news releases and their news ‘hit rates’ in New South Wales (Australia) metropolitan media over 5 weeks were compared with the background coverage of tobacco control issues over the same period. Results: Fifty-eight of 283 (20.5%) news reports on tobacco in the study period were generated by the six media releases. Conclusions: News reportage of tobacco control and other public health issues can be increased significantly by the strategic use of news releases alerting journalists to research reports that embody recognizable news values. This is an inexpensive strategy with great potential to advance public health objectives.
ISSN:0957-4824
1460-2245
1460-2245
DOI:10.1093/heapro/16.2.137