title: Print media coverage around failed and successful tobacco tax initiatives: the South Carolina experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Taxes are a critical tobacco control policy, yet little systematic research has determined how mass media represent tobacco taxes. This study aimed to characterize print media coverage of tobacco tax initiatives in South Carolina (SC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Content analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The setting comprised 346 news articles from 2006 to 2010 in the four main SC newspapers.
  
  
  METHODS
  N/A .
  
  
  METHODS
  A coding scheme with good inter-rater reliability (α = .90-1.0) assessed article type (news vs. opinion), arguments, and the story tendency regarding whether it was in favor of the tax, against the tax, or neutral/mixed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chi-square tests and t-tests assessed hypotheses regarding the prevalence and number of different arguments and article tendencies across different time periods (i.e., legislature in session vs. not in session; successful vs. unsuccessful initiative) and article types.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most articles were favorable toward the tax (59%), with favorable articles most likely to be found in opinion pieces than in news articles. Compared to unsuccessful tax initiative years (2006 to 2009), articles from the successful year (2010) were more likely to include pro-tax arguments about how the tax can raise state revenues (47% vs. 33%; p = .020) and pay for tobacco control programs (40% vs. 26%; p = .014). Unsuccessful years included a relatively higher percentage of stories about the lack of consensus regarding how the tax money should be spent (25% vs. 11%; p = .014). Within articles, the mean number of arguments favorable toward the tax and the mean number of economic arguments were marginally higher in the successful year compared to the unsuccessful years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Study results suggest that advocates build consensus and communicate more clearly on how tobacco tax revenue streams should be spent.
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Thrasher
authors.forename: Sei-Hill
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: India
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Mary-Kathryn
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Craft
authors.forename: Kelly J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Biggers
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015397:Program Evaluation; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D013022:South Carolina; D013660:Taxes; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000191:economics*
keywords: Health focus: smoking control; Manuscript format: research; Mass Media; Outcome measure: other/policy change; Policy; Prevention Research; Pubic Advocacy; Research purpose: modeling/relationship testing; Setting: state/national; Smoking; Strategy: policy; Study design: content analysis; Target population age: youth who may start smoking, adults who smoke; Target population circumstances: geographic location in tobacco-producing southeastern state; Taxes; Tobacco