Findings You Can Use

Malone, R. E., Wenger, L. D., & Bero, L. A. (2002). High school journalists' perspectives on tobacco. Journal of Health Communication 7(2), 139-156.

[Link to full article - (228 KB)]

Abstract: How issues are covered in the media is an important factor in influencing public opinion, policy, and individual behavior. During the 1990s, the tobacco control movement developed a youth focus, prompted by research showing that most adult smokers begin tobacco use as teens. However, concern has been raised that this youth focus has derailed the overall goal of achieving a smoke-free society. Numerous studies have analyzed tobacco coverage and documented the impact of media messages on youth. To learn how tobacco is covered in a medium primarily produced by and for youth, this study conducted an analysis of tobacco coverage in high school newspapers. High school newspapers, like other media, communicate social messages through both content selection and framing. The authors surveyed a national sample of high school journalists and conducted content and frames analyses of tobacco articles (n = 257) from their publications. The most commonly used frame was "kids" (46%), followed by "killer" (31%), "nonsmokers' rights" (10%), and "choice" (5%). Their findings showed that kid-framed articles were less likely to mention health effects and less likely to be favorable toward tobacco control policies than killer-framed articles. In addition, the findings show that many "kids" articles included "resistance statements" congruent with viewing tobacco use as rebellion and/or independence. Lack of a consistently used frame has been identified as a barrier to effective tobacco control. Tobacco control media advocacy should focus on developing frames that are easily communicated, consistently used, and compatible with the developmental tasks of adolescents. Youth journalists should also be included in media advocacy efforts.

Major Findings

• High school journalists cover tobacco topics, especially when they involve policy issues.
• When high school journalists covered tobacco issues, they most often focused on tobacco control policies (49%) followed by health effects of tobacco (16%), teen tobacco use (15%), and smoking cessation (13%).
• Even if tobacco control wasn't the focus of a story, it was still mentioned in the majority of the stories (65%).
• Most high school newspapers had a positive (55%) or neutral (25%) position toward tobacco control policies, especially if no adults participated in the editorial decisions. Adult participation increased the odds for an anti-policy position of a newspaper.
• The most popular frame in high school newspapers covering tobacco issues was "kids" (46%), which included catch phrases such as "underage smoking," "youth smoking," "minors," "tobacco free kids," "targeting kids," "pure," "innocent," "teens," "we card."
• The second most popular frame in high school newspapers covering tobacco issues was "killer" (31%), which referred to the health risks of smoking.
• Stories with the "kids" frame were more likely to express a negative stance towards tobacco control policies and to contain teen rebellion and resistance to authority than stories with the "killer" frame.