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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Lisa Barr, MA PhD JD, Radio Television, Southern Illinois University, Communications building, Carbondale, IL 62966, 618-565-4105, drlisa2u@siu.edu

After 1981, 5,000 radio news jobs disappeared--almost all of them at the local level in America. The first generation of radio listeners who never heard local newscasts on an hourly basis are in college. Does this age group know what a soil assay report is? Do they pay attention to air quality reports? Do they know how to interpret this public health information in a manner which helps make sound risk assessment decisions? This pilot survey and limited content analysis will compare and contrast this age group with their parents. The literature review will create a frame for media content analysis which is predicated upon not only environmental quality terms used in soil assays, but by the lay terms used by scientists who interpret these findings for a lay or media audience. It will also explain some techniques public health professionals can use to help lobby for both a return of radio news obligations under regulation and a return of the fairness doctrine regarding debate during political campaigns. By way of example, It will also briefly explain mass media failures during the pre-Katrina landfall in New Orleans--failures which meant some people missed what could be construed as a public health message to evacuate in the face of the storm.

Learning Objectives:

• Skills--interpreting air quality reports in manner similar to a broadcast traffic report, analyzing risk in playgrounds, outdoor activities.
• Behaviors--how best to get radio public back into listening to local news media for environmental hazards.
• Perspectives--Asssumes that the right to know applies to consumers of broadcasting using the electromagnetic spectrum.
• Watchdog era of local journalism

Keywords: Child Health, Air Quality

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered