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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Kelly D. Blake, MS, Harvard School of Public Health, 44 Binney Street, SM 251, Boston, MA 02115-6084, 6173835026, kblake@hsph.harvard.edu, Helen I. Meissner, PhD, Applied Cancer Screening Research Branch, National Cancer Institute, EPN Room 4103B, 6130 Executive Blvd. MSC 7331, Bethesda, MD 20892-7331, Nicole A. Saiontz, MHS, Media Relations Branch, National Cancer Institute, Building 31, Room 10A19, 31 Center Drive MSC 2580, Bethesda, MD 20852, Bradford W. Hesse, PhD, Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch, National Cancer Institute, 6130 Executive Boulevard, EPN-4087A, MSC 7326, Bethesda, MD 20892, Robert T. Croyle, PhD, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, 6130 Executive Boulevard, Executive Plaza North, Room 6134, Bethesda, MD 20852, and K. Vish Viswanath, PhD, Department of of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, 7th Floor, Boston, MA 02115.

News media, both print and broadcast, are critical channels for communicating health information, and play an important role in defining health issues for the American public. News media coverage of a health topic can heighten salience and frame issues in ways that potentially influence attitudes and behaviors – even while the effect of news is mediated by interpersonal channels such as doctors and significant others. Until now, little was known about health reporters' professional practices that lead to coverage of health and science news and the constraints under which the reporting takes place.

This presentation will focus on the barriers and constraints of health reporting in the United States, and potential ways to overcome them. The data come from the largest survey of health and medical science reporters in the United States. The survey was conducted by the National Cancer Institute in 2005, with data gathered from 468 reporters and editors representing 463 news organizations including print, broadcast, and local and national media.

At the conclusion of this session, participants will have an empirically-based understanding of how health and medical science reporters develop stories and will recognize barriers journalists face in reporting on health. Participants will be able to identify ways in which public health professionals can be helpful to reporters as they cover public health issues. Strategies for effective dissemination through media channels will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of this session, participants will have an empirically-based understanding of how health and medical science reporters develop stories and will recognize barriers journalists face in reporting on health. Participants will be able to identify ways in which public health professionals can be helpful to reporters as they cover public health issues. Strategies for effective dissemination through media channels will be discussed.

Keywords: Communication, Media

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No