163237 Shaping the cancer news agenda: Sources in cancer newspaper stories

Monday, November 5, 2007

Jo Ellen Stryker, PhD , Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Established legitimated sources, favored by news reporters, have the power to define and shape the way an issue is reported by the news media. This study looks at sources most commonly cited in cancer news coverage, and how citations varied by topic. The sources measured were the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the American Cancer Society (ACS), medical/public health journals, research institutions, and pharmaceutical companies. The data comes from a content analysis of cancer news coverage in 2003 of the top US newspapers (n=3,638).

Research institutions were the most commonly cited source (30%), followed by medical/public health journals (12%), ACS (10%), NCI (5%), and pharmaceutical companies (5%). The most commonly cited research institutions were Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, and Harvard University. The most commonly cited medical/public health journals were the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and Journal of the American Medical Association.

The context in which sources were cited varied. Story topics included reports of new research; profiles of individuals dealing with cancer; descriptions of cancer fundraisers; cancer politics/ policies; cancer awareness/education pieces; and some other topic. The vast majority of medical journals (88%) were cited in reports of new research. ACS was the source most evenly distributed across topics. Pharmaceutical companies were cited most in reports of new research (45%) and other topics (43.4%), which included lawsuits. General awareness stories relied largely on NCI & ACS for cancer information.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to: 1) Identify the types of sources most commonly cited in cancer newspaper stories 2) Learn specific research institutions, medical/public health journals, and pharmaceutical companies that are commonly cited in cancer news stories. 3) Recognize how the use of different types of sources within cancer stories varies with the story topic.

Keywords: Cancer, Communication

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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