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What hysteria? A systematic study of newspaper coverage of accused child molesters.

OBJECTIVE: There were three aims: First, to determine the extent to which those charged with child molestation receive newspaper coverage; second, to analyze the nature of that coverage; and third, to compare the universe of coverage to the nature of child molestation charges in the criminal justice system as a whole. METHOD: Two databases were created. The first one identified all defendants charged with child molestation in Rhode Island in 1993. The database was updated after 5 years to include relevant information about case disposition. The second database was created by electronic searching the Providence Journal for every story that mentioned each defendant. RESULTS: Most defendants (56.1%) were not mentioned in the newspaper. Factors associated with a greater chance of coverage include: cases involving first-degree charges, cases with multiple counts, cases involving additional violence or multiple victims, and cases resulting in long prison sentences. The data indicate that the press exaggerates "stranger danger," while intra-familial cases are underreported. Newspaper accounts also minimize the extent to which guilty defendants avoid prison. CONCLUSIONS: Generalizing about the nature of child molestation cases in criminal court on the basis of newspaper coverage is inappropriate. The coverage is less extensive than often claimed, and it is skewed in ways that are typical of the mass media.

Bibliometrics↗

Computer use increases the risk of musculoskeletal disorders among newspaper office workers.

BACKGROUND: Our objectives were to estimate prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among office workers at a newspaper in Mexico City, analyze the relationship between musculoskeletal disorders and use of the personal computer (PC) and associated ergonomic factors in the aforementioned population, and to analyze the modifying effect that psychosocial factors have on the relationship between ergonomic factors and musculoskeletal disorders and extant jobs at the newspaper. METHODS: A total of 73% (218 of 298) of office workers at a newspaper were studied. Information was collected by a questionnaire completed by participants. Cases for work-related musculoskeletal disorder in hands (WMSD-H), upper extremity (WMSD-UE), and back (WMSD-B) were established. Working conditions, computer use, and ergonomic and psychosocial factors were studied as independent variables. To study the relationship between musculoskeletal disorders and independent variables, prevalence ratios adjusted for potential confounders (sex, age, educational level, and marital status) were estimated. RESULTS: Risk of musculoskeletal disorders was greater among workers at the newspaper who used computers, those involved in editing work, and those who adopted uncomfortable positions. The modifying effect of psychosocial factors was observed only in the relationship between ergonomic factors and WMSD-B because among workers with control over work, WMSD-B risk was reduced by the greater number of work breaks. Among workers without social support, increase in number of postures and rotation/inclination of the neck was associated with substantial risk increase, while amid workers under psychological demand number of PC tasks and number of rest pauses were associated with increase in WMSD-B risk. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of our study showed that PC use increased risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD-H and WMSD-UE). Such an increase is mediated by ergonomic factors such as mouse use, remaining seated for prolonged periods, adoption of inadequate or uncomfortable postures, performing certain PC tasks, and psychosocial factors.

Adult↗

Consumer preferences and brand equity measurement of Spanish national daily newspapers: a conjoint analysis approach.

Brand is a product attribute that, for many types of goods or services, makes a major contribution to consumer preferences. Conjoint analysis is a useful technique for the assessment of brand values for a given consumer or group of consumers. In this paper, an application of conjoint analysis to the estimation of brand values in the Spanish daily newspaper market is reported. Four newspaper attributes were considered: brand (i.e., newspaper name), price (0.60, 1.05, or 1.50 euros), Sunday supplement (yes/no), and daily pullout (yes/no). A total of 510 regular readers of the national press, stratified by age and sex, were asked to rank 16 profiles representing an orthogonal fraction of the possible attribute-level combinations. Brand was by far the most important attribute, whereas price had negligible effect. More generally, the results confirm the utility of conjoint analysis for assessing brand equity in the newspaper market and for estimating the relative importance of the various attributes to different subgroups of consumers.

Adolescent↗

Finland's first anaesthesia revealed by newspapers.

BACKGROUND: According to the literature on the history of anaesthesia, Finland's first anaesthesia was given on March 8, 1847 for a ligature of an aneurysm of the subclavian artery. It has, however, not been possible to verify the date with certainty. We therefore wanted to find out whether newspapers might give additional information and how this exceptionally important medical invention had been received by the Finnish newspapers. METHODS: Microfilms of the 10 newspapers which appeared in Finland in 1847 were studied at the Helsinki University library. RESULTS: The first report which made reference to English newspapers was published on February 10 by "Borgå Tidning". On March 6, "Helsingfors Tidningar" wrote that two anaesthesias had already been given in Helsinki; the first of them for a difficult varicose veins operation and the second for an exarticulation of a shoulder. But there was no information regarding the dates of the operations. Fortunately, both operations had been recorded in the patient diary of the clinic, although without any information about the anaesthesia. According to the diary, Johan August Orn was operated for varicose veins on February 16 and Anders Gustaf Henrikson had his right arm exarticulated on March 3. Both patients recovered. In total, only six pieces of news on anaesthesia were found. CONCLUSIONS: Finland's first anaesthesia was given on February 16, 1847, which is three weeks earlier than had been previously assumed.

Amputation, Surgical↗

Fire-related child deaths: what do newspaper case reports tell us?

OBJECTIVE: To describe the accuracy and public health relevance of newspaper accounts of child deaths from fire-related incidents. METHODS: Domestic fire-related deaths of children aged under 15 years in Auckland, New Zealand, over a 10-year period were retrospectively identified from fire service records and the national minimum mortality dataset. Forensic pathology and fire service records were reviewed and this information was compared with reports published within 3 days of the index event in the region's sole daily newspaper. RESULTS: All 14 fatal fire-related events (19 deaths) identified using fire service records and the national minimum dataset during the study period were reported in the newspaper with a high degree of detail and accuracy. Only four news items informed readers of specific measures that could prevent such events. CONCLUSIONS: Daily newspapers can provide reliable, useful and timely surveillance data on the incidence of fire-related childhood deaths. However, these reports often represented missed opportunities to disseminate public health messages that raised awareness of sources of risk and means of preventing fire-related deaths.

Accident Prevention↗

Media advocacy and newspaper coverage of tobacco issues: a comparative analysis of 1 year's print news in the United States and Australia.

Tobacco control advocates now recognize the value of influencing news coverage of tobacco; news coverage influences attitudes and behavior as well as policy progression. It is, however, difficult to assess the progress of such efforts within a single national and temporal context. Our data represent the first systematic international comparison of press coverage of tobacco issues. Tobacco articles from major daily newspapers in Australia (12 newspapers; 1,188 articles) and the United States (30 newspapers; 1,317 articles) were collected over 1 year (2001). The analysis shows that coverage in the two countries was similarly apportioned between hard news (>70%) and opinion pieces. Similarly, stories in both countries were most likely to recount positive events. The substantive focus of coverage, however, differed, as did the expression of hostile opinion toward tobacco control efforts (United States, 4%; Australia, 7.1%). Although secondhand smoke and education, cessation, and prevention efforts were covered widely in both settings, these topics dominated coverage in Australia (29.2%) more than in the United States (17.6%), where a more diffuse set of tobacco topics gained relative prominence. The difference in policy conditions seems to offer contrasting opportunities for advocates in the two countries to use newspapers to promote helpful tobacco control messages for both behavior and policy change.

Australia↗

NINE: newspapers in nursing education.

Newspapers in education are not new, but the use of newspapers in nursing education (NINE) is just being initiated, because of the recognition that few students are informed about world events. The use of newspapers in the classroom can foster nurse leaders who are well informed and have appropriate communication skills (reading, writing, critical thinking) that prepare them for lifelong learning. The author describes the development and implementation of the newspaper approach in nursing education, based on Knowles' theory of adult learning. Outcomes of this approach are reported.

Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate↗

The correlates and consequences of newspaper reports of research on sex differences.

Correlates and consequences of newspaper accounts of research on sex differences were examined. In Study 1, articles from high-circulation newspapers were coded for the degree to which biological factors were used to explain sex differences. Results showed that political conservatism and traditional attitudes toward gender roles coded from other newspaper sections predicted greater use of biological explanations than did political liberalism and less traditional attitudes toward gender roles. In Studies 2 and 3, participants read a fictional newspaper article reporting research on a gender difference that cited either biological or sociocultural factors as explaining the difference. Results showed that exposure to biological explanations significantly increased participants' endorsement of gender stereotypes. Moreover, exposure to social explanations significantly increased participants' belief in the mutability of human behavior. Together, these studies show that political ideology influences how the popular press reports research findings and that such reporting in turn affects readers' beliefs and attitudes.

Attitude↗

Newspaper coverage of a violent assault by a mentally ill person.

The media is an important source of public information on mental ill-health. A man with a serious psychiatric illness attacked a minister with a knife at a Remembrance Sunday service in a remote, rural part of the Highlands, inflicting a severe facial wound. We aimed to identify lessons for the National Health Service (NHS) from the media coverage of the incident and of a subsequent court case and NHS Highland inquiry and in addition to explore how newspaper reporters approached reporting such incidents. We searched local and regional, national Scottish, and the Scottish editions of three UK newspapers for relevant coverage. We also conducted structured telephone interviews with eight reporters who had attended the inquiry press conference. Most of the media coverage was associated with the assault and the court case, rather than the inquiry results. Only three of 10 inquiry recommendations were mentioned in any reports. Coverage largely dealt with identified shortfalls, rather than proposed solutions. The NHS had made little comment in advance of the announcement of the inquiry results. Most of the newspaper coverage had already occurred. The NHS therefore limited its opportunity to influence newspaper coverage. The interpretation of the results is limited by the size of the study, but the coverage of such events forms part of the discourse on mental health in the media episodes and may have some affect on public perception of mental health issues. We conclude that, without providing confidential information, the NHS should take a more active stance in providing information on the nature and treatment of mental illness in such instances, even in advance of court cases.

Attitude↗

Farm-related injury event, social consequences and injury reporting in the Land Lantbruk newspaper in Sweden: a retrospective study of farm-related injury reporting during 2000-2005.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to detect how a leading news paper, the Land Lantbruk in Stockholm, Sweden, informs the public and specifically the rural sector in Sweden and the Scandinavian countries concerning injury events (farm-related injury event) and the use of injury prevention and control. Injury reporting in the Land Lantbruk has been studied from the point of injury prevention and control. A study of injury prevention and rural health and safety in Australia shows that the newspaper The Land that serves Australia's rural community should 'be an under-utilised vehicle for news and commentary on rural health and safety issues'. DESIGN: The study period was from January 2000 to February 2005. A total of 178 articles were reviewed and analysed. The articles were available on a newspaper database in the Land Lantbruk newspaper. Articles that addressed farm-related injury event and rural health and safety were chosen and organised into subgroups. RESULTS: Tractor and motor vehicle safety (35%) was most common among the injury reporting. Although the newspaper Land Lantbruk provided excellent coverage of the causes of these events, the reports tended to focus on circumstances and did not provide information on injury prevention or the advantages of also coverage of the social and psychosocial long-term consequences of accidents. CONCLUSION: In the prevention work of reducing farm-related injuries in the rural sector in the Scandinavian countries and decreasing the human suffering represented by this health problem, rural politicians, insurance companies, rural authorities and also handicap organisations should listen more to the injured individuals and their own experiences relative to the difficulty of life after an accident. The reaction of family and relatives, and experiences of the long-term social consequences, have not been included in the media coverage. Journalists at the Land Lantbruk could also share experiences of the Swedish coverage of rural health and safety from Australian journalists from The Land.

Accident Prevention↗

Newspaper framing of fatal motor vehicle crashes in four Midwestern cities in the United States, 1999-2000.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the public health messages conveyed by newspaper coverage of fatal motor vehicle crashes and determine the extent to which press coverage accurately reflects real risks and crash trends. METHODS: Crash details were extracted from two years of newspaper coverage of fatal crashes in four Midwestern cities in the United States. Details and causal factors identified by reporters were compared to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) using odds ratios and two tailed z tests. RESULTS: Papers covered 278 fatal crashes over the two year period, in contrast to 846 fatal crashes documented in FARS. Papers assigned blame in 90% of crashes covered, under-reported restraint use and driver's risk of death, failed to reflect the protective value of restraints, and misrepresented the roles played by alcohol and teen drivers. CONCLUSION: Newspaper coverage did not accurately reflect real risk. Papers presented fatal crashes as dramas with a victim/villain storyline; in keeping with this narrative strategy, papers were most likely to cover stories where a driver survived to take the blame. By highlighting crashes that diverge from the norm, focusing on the assignment of blame to a single party, and failing to convey the message that preventive practices like seatbelt use increase odds for survival, newspapers removed crashes from a public health context and positioned them as individual issues. Public health practitioners can work with media outlets in their areas to draw attention to misrepresentations and change the way these stories are framed.

Accidents, Traffic↗

Injury reporting in Connecticut newspapers.

OBJECTIVES: To describe how newspapers report injury events and how often they contain information about injury prevention measures. METHODS: A commercial service provided all newspaper clippings reporting unintentional injury events between July and September 1995 from 17 daily and 55 weekly newspapers published in Connecticut, USA. Each clipping was reviewed to determine the presence or absence of 35 content variables. RESULTS: There were 962 articles and excluding 35 editorials, 927 reported injury events and 17% pertained to persons under 21 years. Of the 60% that described motor vehicle collisions only 3% mentioned driver alcohol use, 9% seat belt use, and fewer than 1% airbag use. In the 17 motorcycle and 44 bicycle stories, 29% and 20% respectively, mentioned helmet use. In the 16 articles about house fires only 13% mentioned smoke detector use. There were no significant differences in injury reporting by circulation size. CONCLUSIONS: Newspapers are an important source of public information but are woefully deficient in providing information on injury prevention.

Accident Prevention↗

Recent newspaper coverage about persons with disabilities.

Newspapers are considered a powerful medium for developing public opinion about issues. In a representative sample of large-city newspapers, we found that three issues--budget, expenditures, or taxes; housing or normalization; and treatment in institutions--were the most frequently featured issues about persons with disabilities. The least frequently mentioned issues were school related, such as instruction, mainstreaming, and Public Law 94-142 compliance. A suggestion was made that if articles about special education are to appear in newspapers, special educators must develop strong relationships with newspaper reporters and their editors.

Persons with Disabilities↗

The reporting of theoretical health risks by the media: Canadian newspaper reporting of potential blood transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

BACKGROUND: The media play an important role at the interface of science and policy by communicating scientific information to the public and policy makers. In issues of theoretical risk, in which there is scientific uncertainty, the media's role as disseminators of information is particularly important due to the potential to influence public perception of the severity of the risk. In this article we describe how the Canadian print media reported the theoretical risk of blood transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). METHODS: We searched 3 newspaper databases for articles published by 6 major Canadian daily newspapers between January 1990 and December 1999. We identified all articles relating to blood transmission of CJD. In duplicate we extracted information from the articles and entered the information into a qualitative software program. We compared the observations obtained from this content analysis with information obtained from a previous policy analysis examining the Canadian blood system's decision-making concerning the potential transfusion transmission of CJD. RESULTS: Our search identified 245 relevant articles. We observed that newspapers in one instance accelerated a policy decision, which had important resource and health implication, by communicating information on risk to the public. We also observed that newspapers primarily relied upon expert opinion (47 articles) as opposed to published medical evidence (28 articles) when communicating risk information. Journalists we interviewed described the challenges of balancing their responsibility to raise awareness of potential health threats with not unnecessarily arousing fear amongst the public. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our findings we recommend that journalists report information from both expert opinion sources and from published studies when communicating information on risk. We also recommend researchers work more closely with journalists to assist them in identifying and appraising relevant scientific information on risk.

Bibliometrics↗

Portrayal of genetic risk for breast cancer in ethnic and non-ethnic newspapers.

There has been enormous attention paid to the genetics of breast cancer in this era of genomic medicine. A great deal of the interest has been generated through discourse in the public mass media. However, genetic risk is a probabilistic concept and one that requires adequate numeracy skills. The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to describe and evaluate the portrayal of genetic risk for breast cancer in mass print media. Mass print newspapers targeting high (Ashkenazi Jews) and low (general Canadian population) genetic risk audiences and published at least monthly, available in English and accessible through public archives at the National Library of Canada, were identified and hand searched for articles on breast cancer. Approximately 47% of breast cancer articles in 6 Jewish newspapers and published between 1996-2000 identified genetics in the title, first or last paragraph compared with 17% of 145 articles in 6 provincial newspapers published in 2000. The description of breast cancer risk was equally problematic in print media targeting high and low risk audiences. Statistics were presented in complex and contradictory ways, with, for example, the confounding of individual and population based risk estimates. Inconsistent messages about the value of genetic screening for breast cancer characterized articles in both ethnic and non-ethnic newspapers. Deciphering the information into a comprehensible form is likely challenging, particularly in light of widespread numeric-literacy limitations. The publication of discrepant research findings and the perplexing statistical information consequently brought into question the credibility of the scientific process and the recommendations of health care professionals.

Bibliometrics↗

News media coverage of a women's health contraversy: how newspapers and TV outlets covered a recent debate over screening mammography.

Over the past decade, there have been several highly visible debates about mammography that have captured professional, public and media attention. This paper looks at newspaper and television news coverage of a controversial research letter in The Lancet by Gøtzsche and Olsen (2001) that concluded that screening mammography did not prevent deaths from breast cancer. The news pieces examined for this project were published between October 2001 and March 2002 in one of eight U.S. newspapers or aired on one of six national or cable news networks. The six-month period was divided into one-week segments; the numbers of articles published or stories aired in each week were graphed to examine patterns. Each newspaper article and television transcript was then reviewed to identify its main content area and the amount of coverage for each major event was quantified. The highest number of newspaper articles appeared to result from several events during the end of January through the beginning of February. These events included the publication of another meta-analysis of mammography that disputed the original letter's conclusion and a full-page New York Times advertisement paid for by major medical organizations stating their continued support for mammography. The greatest amount of television news coverage was devoted to the announcement of the official federal guidelines by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in late February. We conclude by discussing how the flow of news coverage of medical controversies can potentially impact the actions and reactions of the public, the medical community and health policy makers.

Bibliometrics↗

The news on smoking: newspaper coverage of smoking and health in Australia, 1987-88.

All newspaper articles (n = 1601) mentioning tobacco or smoking drawn from a 12-month census of 30 Australian capital city newspapers in 1987-88 were coded for content, "slant," and apparent origin. Overall, 62 percent of articles were positive in their orientation toward smoking control objectives, 17 percent were negative, and 21 percent were neutral. Newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch published 55.7 percent positive and 23.7 percent negative articles compared to 68.0 percent positive and 13.7 percent negative articles in the other large chain of Australian newspapers.

Attitude↗

[Health information on oral malodor in Japanese newspaper articles].

OBJECTIVES: Mass media is an important source for the general public to obtain health information. Newspapers especially have the advantages of providing a variety of information to a broad range of age groups, with wide regional coverage of both urban and rural areas. The purposes of this study were to review the oral malodor information in Japanese newspapers and to investigate peoples' knowledge on the causes of oral malodor. METHODS: The Nikkei Database was used to select articles published in five major newspapers over a period of 12 years from 1993 to 2004. "Oral malodor" was used as a key search word. A total of 386 articles which contained oral malodor information were identified and used for the analysis. A questionnaire survey was conducted for the patients who visited a fresh breath clinic (n=295). RESULTS: The average number of articles per year was 32.2 +/- 7.3 and there was not a significant difference among years and months. There were only 25 articles (6.5%) with the central theme of oral malodor. More than half of the articles introduced anti-oral malodor products. The causes of oral malodor were described in 35% of the articles (n=134). Periodontal disease (n=57), tongue coating (n=35), otorhinolaryngological diseases (n=19), stomach problems (n=14) and psychological factors (n=21) were described as the causes of malodor. Only 35 articles (26%) described the treatment and prevention of halitosis. According to the questionnaire survey, 39% of the patients answered that they did not know the causes of malodor. Less than half knew that oral problems were related with malodor. DISCUSSION: It was revealed that the information about oral malodor in newspapers was not enough both quantitatively and qualitatively; people had little information about oral malodor. It is suggested that dental professionals should be aware of the importance of media advocacy to provide appropriate oral health information to the public.

Halitosis↗