ARTICLE: Headless photos increase negativity towards obese people

News images that depict obese people from the neck down increase the readers’ negative attitudes towards the obese, a team of researchers found. They conducted two online experiments with 332 and 312 participants, respectively. In them, participants read a news article with a picture of an obese or an overweight person, some female, some male … Continued

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Published: 15 Nov 2019
Picture: capturing a few textural images through the window at a stop sign by Tim Foster, license CC0 1.0

ARTICLE: What do journalism textbooks teach about reporting suicide?

Journalists’ use of news values on specific topics change as societal and scientific norms change. A new research article shows how this transformation can be seen in the case of suicide coverage. Perry Parks of Michigan State University analysed journalism textbooks published in the United States between 1894 to 2016. Suicide has long been a … Continued

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Published: 26 Apr 2019
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ARTICLE: Spanish media frames obesity most often by presenting solutions and recommendations

Obesity has become one of the main health concerns of modern society. Its coverage has placed much emphasis on personal responsibility. José I Armentia and Flora Marín, of the University of Basque Country, examined the framing used by Spanish daily newspapers El País, La Vanguardia, and El Correo throughout 2015. During the year, the newspapers … Continued

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Published: 31 Jan 2018
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ARTICLE: Are personal stories better than news at disseminating health information?

Yi Mou, of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Fuyuan Shen, of Pennsylvania State University, studied whether the effects of health information change according to its supposed source. They had 190 Chinese university students view social media posts made by a fictional person and surveyed them afterwards. The collection of social media posts contained either links … Continued

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Published: 23 Oct 2017
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ARTICLE: Journalists report suicide with caution, but also deviate from guidelines

Writing on the topic of suicide can have serious consequences for the reading public. Michael Mead Yaqub, Randal A Beam and Sue Lockett John, all of the University of Washington, interviewed 50 journalists in the United States about their awareness of and attitudes towards suicide, especially on risks related to reporting and US media recommendations. … Continued

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Published: 21 Sep 2017
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ARTICLE: Health journalism not prioritized in Native American news media

Health news is needed and valued by the Native American communities in the US, but coverage about the topic is insufficient. Sherice Gearhart and Oluseyi Adegbola, of Texas Tech University, and Teresa Trumbly-Lamsam, of the University of Nebraska at Omaha (authors not in original order), studied reporting about health in media outlets serving Native American … Continued

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Published: 5 Sep 2017
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ARTICLE: Who do journalists blame for cancer?

Yong-Chan Kim and Jee Hyun Kim (Yonsei University), Minsun Shim (Inha University), and Keeho Park (National Cancer Center) investigated where the “locus of responsibility” rests in news stories on cancer (author names not in original order). They analysed 1 500 stories from 24 South Korean news outlets, published between 2008 and 2012. Majority of the … Continued

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Published: 24 Apr 2017

ARTICLE: South Korean media is highly negative toward e-cigarettes

Sei-Hill Kim, James F. Thrasher, Yoo Jin Cho and Joon Kyoung Kim, of University of South Carolina, and Myung-Hyun Kang, of Hallym University (not in original order), analysed newspaper articles and television news transcripts, to study the quantity and the nature of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) coverage in South Korea. The study also examines the sources, topics, tones etc. of … Continued

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Published: 23 Mar 2017
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ARTICLE: News on HIV prevention medication downplay the virus’s severity

The way online news frame HIV prevention medication may lead to confusion among those at risk of contracting the virus, Joseph Schwartz, of Northeastern University, and Josh Grimm, of Louisiana State University, write. The authors analysed 234 online news stories about preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) on United State’s largest news websites, published between 2009 and 2016. … Continued

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Published: 21 Mar 2017
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ARTICLE: TV health news use most sources

Health news on television are more “richly sourced” than similar news on radio, in print, or online, Joyce Stroobant, Rebeca De Dobbelaer, and Karin Raeymaeckers (all of Ghent University) write. The authors analysed the health-related news pieces 35 Belgian news outlets published in February 2015 (N=981). The average number of sources used in TV health … Continued

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Published: 20 Mar 2017