Representations of childhood obesity in Australian newsprint media and academic literature

Abstract

IntroductionThe media can influence and shape public perception by choosing what and how to present information. 20,21 Highlighting some aspects of an issue and downplaying others contributes to how a particular issue is socially constructed.22,23 Furthermore issues that receive heavy coverage are often prioritised in public and policy agendas and the way they are framed can define public perceptions. 22,24 In Australia during February 2009 media attention focused on an academic report by medical professionals claiming that childhood obesity is a child protection issue. While media coverage on the issue of obesity has risen over recent years there has been only modest attention to analysing obesity representation within newsprint media. 25,26 This study looks at the attention given to the issue of childhood obesity within newsprint media around this period of time and compares and contrasts the framing of this issue with that found in academic literature. The study theorises why the media favours certain representations over others and evaluates the role of the media's impact on the issue of childhood obesity. Method Choice of mediaNewsprint media has been selected because it is more likely to receive attention in comparison to television and radio, which can often be playing while individuals are doing other things, thus being used as background noise.27 Furthermore, newsprint media coverage is highly correlated with the reporting of the same issues in other media sources and often sets the news agenda for other sources. 22 In addition, newsprint media

Obesity in the news: directions for future research

“…Fewer studies examined television (19)(20)(21), mixed broadcasting and print (22)(23)(24) or studied the content of online media sources (25). Obesity was explored predominantly in factual formats, specifically news stories (8,(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34). Regarding geographic focus, news reporting of obesity in the United States-based media outlets attracted most research attention (8,9,14,(22)(23)(24)28,29,(31)(32)(33)35,36), followed by media from Australia (11,15,16,18,19,…”

“…Countrycomparative approaches of obesity news representation were also scarce (34). Finally, the news representation of obesity was predominantly approached through the lens of framing theory and research (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(17)(18)(19)(20)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(31)(32)(33)(34).…”

“…Extant studies sought to identify either holistic obesity frames or analysed the predominance of causes, solutions, definitions and moral evaluations in order to reconstruct obesity frames in line with Entman's (2) functional features of a frame (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)19,22,23,27,31,32,34). Obesity was most commonly found to be discussed in the news in terms of personal failure (8,9,15,19,(22)(23)(24)26,28) which finding has led researchers to warn that emphasis on individual responsibility for obesity may sway the public to favour policy solutions which aim to change and punish individual behaviours. An individualized framing of obesity contrasts with an alternative view of social problems, as influenced by environmental factors like the availability and affordability of healthy food.…”

Media framing and construction of childhood obesity: a content analysis of Swedish newspapers

“…Bastian's analysis of both academic literature and Australian newspaper coverage of childhood obesity identified an emphasis on societal framings in the former, and individual framings in the latter. Lawrence's analysis of framing of obesity in US news articles and other texts found that, in the two decades preceding 2004, obesity frames shifted from individualised and medicalised conceptions to a greater focus on environmental causes.…”

“…Literature on media representations of childhood obesity covers a broad range of focuses, including how media framing has defined obesity in terms of its causes and potential solutions , and the gendered nature of parental blame . Boero's review of social science perspectives on obesity media suggests that individual framings tend to dominate representations of obesity, but identifies childhood obesity as a possible exception, with blame for children's overweight shifted to parents and societal institutions.…”