Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117966

Lisa J. Barr, BBS, MA, PhD JD, Mass Communication and Media Studies, SIU Carbondale Illinois, Communications Building Mail Code 6609, Carbondale, IL 62966, 618-453-8989, drlisa2u@siu.edu

The Clinton-era Tobacco settlement represented a public health victory and a big journalism story--the biggest public health scandal, the biggest corporate malfeasance scandal in the century, according to former CBS producer Lowell Bergman. Just as Bergman's work was attacked by friends of Big Tobacco, so was the very mechanism by which the settlement was arranged---tort law. Current discussions of tort reform distort the nature of the tobacco settlement in ways health communicators could help correct. The study begins with a content analysis of media stories about tort reform and the tobaccl settlement. It concludes with some tag lines and phrases ethical health communicators could use in media interviews, commercials, or public service announcement to straighten the record on behalf of public health providers and the people they serve.

Learning Objectives:

• Tag lines
• Media management
• agenda setting

Keywords: Media Advocacy, Tobacco Litigation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.