美国公共卫生协会第131届年会热点

Highlights of the American Public Health Association 131st Annual Meeting

2003年11月15-19日 美国加利福尼亚州旧金山

November 15 - 19， 2003， San Francisco， California Health Communication in Popular Media FormatsDeborah C. Glik， ScD An important development in health communications and health promotion over the past decade is research and practice concerning health messages in popular media formats. This includes news media， broadcast entertainment media， and the Internet， all of which will be covered in this report， based on selected presentations from the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA). There will also be a brief look at media advocacy and media literacy interventions. Other popular formats include multimedia， video games， music videos， telenovelas， magazines， concerts， sports events， and self-help books， which will not be discussed in this report， as there were few presentations on these topics.

Health communications is a hybrid field that derives from communications studies， marketing， journalism， and public relations， and also overlaps with health education and health promotion. Communications about health in the popular media comprise both planned and unplanned content which has the potential to communicate positive， neutral， or negative health messages to the public.[1] Planned messages follow specific strategies for design and placement and are intended to change public beliefs， attitudes， and behaviors. Theoretical and research issues in health communications comprise the delineation of media content， audience needs and characteristics， the effects of media content on the audience， and the processes by which the media can be influenced to include healthier messages. Also important are the meanings and interpretations attributed to health messages in the media.[1] From a social marketing perspective， messages in the media that promote specific desirable behaviors have the potential to persuade consumers to change their behaviors if messages are viewed as compatible with consumers' own self-interest， competing messages are minimal， and resistance to change is low to moderate.[2]

Health in the News Media Over the past 20 years， the news media has increased attention to and coverage of health and science topics. Popular news formats include broadcast， print， and Internet sites with news. Numerous polls have concluded that news media are important sources of health information for the general public. Even though there has been a steady decline in the percentage of adults who are regular news watchers since 1964， a countertrend is that as people age they consume more news.[3]

A recent report found that health stories were the fifth most common topic covered in local broadcast news.[4] In this extensive study of 17，000 local news broadcasts in 13 major US media markets conducted over a 3-month period in 1996， it was found that most health news concerned either the causes and treatment of specific diseases or lifestyle and environmental risk factors.

Media advocacy has been defined as the art and science of working with the news media to enhance the portrayal of health， thereby potentially changing public opinion and influencing social norms.[5] In a session on this topic， veteran media advocacy researchers defined the process by which topics can be featured in news and other media formats.[6] Important components in this process include framing the health problems as social justice issues rather than individual tragedies， as well as networking with news media writers to "pitch" stories and get issues of interest in the local press.

An entire session devoted to the issue of how to get health stories in the news media featured a number of news media professionals from the San Francisco area. Penelope Dunham，[7] a producer for Dr. Dean Edell's nationally syndicated reports， suggested that， given the number of story ideas she must review on a daily basis， headlines and sound bytes that were succinct， clear， and intriguing caught her attention. This theme was reiterated by Kristin Reed，[7] a reporter for Bloomberg News， who receives over 70 different storylines a day to review and can only select a few to follow up and report. She said that it's helpful to her when reliable sources are provided that she can turn to to get story materials. Her advice to those pitching story ideas to the news media was to be transparent about one's identity and terse about the storyline. She also noted that selected stories have to clearly resonate with the production team and be relevant for the audience targeted. Others on the panel suggested that "edgier" stories were more publishable， that air time was so precious that ideas for TV or radio broadcast should be presentable in the context of minutes， and that stories often need to be of local interest.[7] Additionally， reporters working under tight deadlines often cannot pursue poorly framed story leads or obscure sources. Newsworthy stories must also have features such as drama， human interest， intrigue， excitement， or timeliness.

Although the power of the news media to reach and influence large numbers of persons is indisputable， news media credibility is often criticized. Specifically， a number of authors have suggested that health stories in the news may not be reported accurately， that there may be inherent biases in how health news is reported， that there is a tendency to sensationalize news stories， and that often health and science stories are not adequately followed up.[8，9] One identified issue is the lack of specialist health reporters in many news organizations.[4] Another is the pervasive influence of certain organized or corporate interests who may use behind-the-scenes methods to unduly influence news reporting. An example reported is tactics used by the tobacco industry since the 1970s to minimize negative reports in the news media and maximize positive ones.[10]

Health in the Entertainment Media An important aspect of health communications today is working with the entertainment media to include or improve health messages in popular programs. Whether the goal is to work with grass roots or local entertainment concerns[11-14] or to work with national entertainment programming， the methods and goals include a complex process of formative research to define messages， suggest storylines， and work with entertainment professionals in a consultative manner to embed programs with specific， accurate， and timely health messages.[15-17] This approach is occurring with increasing frequency in both developing and developed world contexts.[14]

In the United States， the most viable approach to the entertainment production industry is to work with television， using workshops， seminars， and ongoing consultation with writers， producers， and directors to promote storylines about health issues in their programming.[15，18，19] As might be expected， there are countless barriers to getting a particular message embedded in an ongoing storyline， which is the ideal.

In developing-world contexts， fewer channels and more state control of stations may allow more control over the product than in the highly competitive US market. The news and entertainment industries are both established， tight-knit cultures that have goals and objectives of increasing audience share which do not necessarily include educating the public. Success depends on the degree to which individuals and organizations network withi