Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This study explores how local television news structures the public and policy debate on youth violence. METHODS: A content analysis was performed on 214 hours of local television news from California. Each of the 1791 stories concerning youth, violence, or both was coded and analyzed for whether it included a public health perspective. RESULTS: There were five key findings. First, violence dominated local television news coverage. Second, the specifics of particular crimes dominated coverage of violence. Third, over half of the stories on youth involved violence, while more than two thirds of the violence stories concerned youth. Fourth, episodic coverage of violence was more than five times more frequent than thematic coverage, which included links to broader social factors. Finally, only one story had an explicit public health frame. CONCLUSIONS: Local television news provides extremely limited coverage of contributing etiological factors in stories on violence. If our nation's most popular source of news continues to report on violence primarily through crime stories isolated from their social context, the chance for widespread support for public health solutions to violence will be diminished.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Charren P., Gelber A., Arnold M. Media, children, and violence: a public policy perspective. Pediatrics. 1994 Oct;94(4 Pt 2):631–637. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cohen L. Forum on youth violence in minority communities. The coalition for alternatives to violence and abuse. Public Health Rep. 1991 May-Jun;106(3):239–240. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Colby D. C., Cook T. E. Epidemics and agendas: the politics of nightly news coverage of AIDS. J Health Polit Policy Law. 1991 Summer;16(2):215–249. doi: 10.1215/03616878-16-2-215. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Firman D. M. Comparison of gender and victim response to violence in popular movies. Health Care Women Int. 1991 Oct-Dec;12(4):457–464. doi: 10.1080/07399339109515969. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gerbner G., Gross L., Morgan M., Signorielli N. Health and medicine on television. N Engl J Med. 1981 Oct 8;305(15):901–904. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198110083051530. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mercy J. A., Rosenberg M. L., Powell K. E., Broome C. V., Roper W. L. Public health policy for preventing violence. Health Aff (Millwood) 1993 Winter;12(4):7–29. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.12.4.7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wood W., Wong F. Y., Chachere J. G. Effects of media violence on viewers' aggression in unconstrained social interaction. Psychol Bull. 1991 May;109(3):371–383. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.109.3.371. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]