title: "A breath of fresh air worth spreading": media coverage of retailer abandonment of tobacco sales.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Media play an important role in the diffusion of innovations by spreading knowledge of their relative advantages. We examined media coverage of retailers abandoning tobacco sales to explore whether this innovation might be further diffused by media accounts.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched online media databases (Lexis Nexis, Proquest, and Access World News) for articles published from 1995 to 2011, coding retrieved items through a collaborative process. We analyzed the volume, type, provenance, prominence, and content of coverage.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found 429 local and national news items. Two retailers who were the first in their category to end tobacco sales received the most coverage and the majority of prominent coverage. News items cited positive potential impacts of the decision more often than negative potential impacts, and frequently referred to tobacco-caused disease, death, or addiction. Letters to the editor and editorials were overwhelmingly supportive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The content of media coverage about retailers ending tobacco sales could facilitate broader diffusion of this policy innovation, contributing to the denormalization of tobacco and moving society closer to ending the tobacco epidemic. Media advocacy could increase and enhance such coverage.
authors.affiliation: The authors are with the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: McDaniel
authors.forename: Naphtali
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Offen
authors.forename: Valerie B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Yerger
authors.forename: Ruth E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Malone
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D003132:Commerce; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D008402:Mass Media; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D014481:United States