Influences On the Media's Agenda In Coverage of Tobacco Regulation: Shaping Public Discussion of Health Policy

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis:The political process provides an important route for improving public health outcomes. This study examines the ongoing development of American policies to regulate cigarette content and marketing by studying media coverage of articles about FDA’s authority to regulate smoking. Guided by agenda-building theory, which posits that the media is influenced by and influences sources in society, this study examines how key players in the policy arena help shape the media’s agenda. Better understanding the roles of the key players in building the media’s agenda on important health policies may help in the development of strategies for influencing health care policies in the future. What roles did presidential administration, FDA leadership and the tobacco industry play in shaping the media coverage of tobacco regulation between 1990 and 2009?

Methods: We report results from a quantitative content analysis of 570 articles from The New York Times and the Washington Post between Jan. 1990 and Dec. 2009. Articles were randomly selected from a population of 2,192 articles in the Lexis-Nexis database. Initial coding found 355 articles focused only on FDA regulation of tobacco. Coding was completed by two coders, with approximately 30 percent double coded ( α= .65 to .84, average .80). Coders captured data on sources quoted in articles, dates, and topics (among others). Sources representing presidential administrations, FDA regulators, tobacco companies, and others were counted and sorted by date. These were then compared with a timeline including presidential administrations and important dates in the FDA’s battle for regulation of tobacco.

Results:The US President was quoted /referenced in 14.6% of FDA-related articles published in the NYT and WP between 1990 and 2009. The largest number of FDA articles (n=257, 32/year) were published during the Clinton administration (1993-2001), followed by 58, 7 per year, during the Bush administration (2001-2009). The first year of the Obama administration (2009) had 20 tobacco related articles, and the administration’s commitment to the issue continues to appear prominently in the media.   Important events in the FDA’s fight to regulate tobacco spurred increased coverage. For example, tobacco regulation stories rose in number and prominence in the media in 1997, when the tobacco industry settled lawsuits with several states (n=125 tobacco regulation articles, 35% of our total sample) Prominent sources in this coverage were the tobacco industry (22%), non-elected government officials (18%), and advocacy groups (8%). Other results will be presented from ongoing analyses to determine relationships between key sources and arguments around FDA regulation.

Conclusions:Initial results will demonstrate the role of the president and members of the administration in the agenda-building process. Consistent with previous studies, the president seems to have a unique capacity to play the role of agenda setter in national discussions.  

Implications for research and/or practice: Study findings will help public health advocates understand the process of making tobacco regulatory policy and the role of the president and the media in shaping the debate about this policy.