Effects of Newspaper Coverage on Public Knowledge About Modifiable Cancer Risks

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between cancer newspaper coverage and public knowledge about cancer prevention, confirming self-reported associations between news exposure and cancer prevention knowledge with descriptions of newspaper coverage of modifiable cancer risks. Content analyses (N = 954) revealed that newspapers pay relatively little attention to cancer prevention. However, there is greater newspaper attention to tobacco and diet than to exercise, sun, and alcohol. Survey analysis (the National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey) revealed that after controlling for differences based on gender, race, age, income, and education, attention to health news was significantly associated with knowledge about cancer risks associated with food and smoking but not for knowledge about exercise, sun, or alcohol. These findings conform to the findings of the content analysis data and provide a validation of a self-reported measure of media exposure, as well as evidence suggesting a threshold below which news coverage may not generate public knowledge about cancer prevention.

Frequently cited sources in cancer news coverage: a content analysis examining the relationship between cancer news content and source citation

“…The present study is part of a larger project that replicated, updated, and expanded the 1980 NCI content analyses [8,19,26]. Available data from the larger project provides the most recent glimpse of the current state of cancer news coverage.…”

“…Attending to newspaper coverage of cancer is associated with knowledge about cancer risks [8], and individuals relying on the media are better informed than counterparts relying on other sources of health information [9,10]. Media also affect cancerrelated behaviors, including cancer-preventive actions [11] and cancer screening [12][13][14][15][16].…”

The role of tobacco-specific media exposure, knowledge, and smoking status on selected attitudes toward tobacco control

“…While some research has linked health information exposure to accurate knowledge of cancer risks and cancer screening behaviors (Shim, Kelly, & Hornik, 2006;Stryker, Moriarty, & Jensen, 2008;Viswanath et al, 2006) and other research suggests that accurate knowledge has been a central component of effective health promotion in several areas (Evans et al, 2006;Finney Rutten, Meissner, Breen, Vernon, & Rimer, 2005;Glantz & Jamieson, 2000;Weinstein, Slovic, Waters, & Gibson, 2004), there has been little evidence thus far to show an association between knowledge, media exposure, and attitudes toward tobacco control, with a few exceptions (Clegg Smith et al, 2008;Quick et al, 2009). The current study has addressed this gap using data from a nationally representative sample of adults.…”

How is cancer recently portrayed in Canadian newspapers compared to 20 years ago?

“…With such a large impact on public health, it is no wonder that cancer is a common health topic in the mass media [2]. Knowledge of how newspapers portray cancer is essential from a public health perspective as it may subsequently affect readers' ways of relating to cancer (e.g., influencing perceptions and attitudes [3,4], as well as motivating information seeking [5,6] and preventive behaviors [7]). Although the news media also has an impact on public policy regarding health and illness, this article focuses on its potential impact on patient perspectives.…”