title: Media coverage of smoke-free policies after their innovation.
abstract: Smoke-free policies are critical to global tobacco control, and prior research on media coverage of smoke-free policies primarily focused on the period when they were first innovated; however, the scientific basis for smoke-free policies has broadened, and how media coverage has changed, if at all, is unknown. The authors characterized the actors, arguments, and favorability of media coverage of smoke-free policies from 2006 to 2009, by content-analyzing 452 news stories in the 4 primary newspapers in South Carolina. Most media coverage was favorable (45%) or mixed (43%) toward smoke-free policies, and negative coverage decreased over time (B = -1.001, SE = 0.326; p = .008). The most prevalent argument concerned the harms of secondhand smoke (44%). A higher percentage of articles mentioned economic arguments against (26%) than for (17%) smoke-free policies (χ(2) = 10.89, p < .01, for the difference between 26% and 17%), and these percentages did not change over time. Advocates and media should improve communications to more effectively represent scientific evidence regarding the null or positive impact of smoke-free policies on businesses.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health , University of South Carolina , Columbia , South Carolina , USA.
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: Mary-Kathryn
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Craft
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce / Q000191:economics; D058015:Health Communication; D006801:Humans; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D061845:Smoke-Free Policy / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012907:Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013022:South Carolina; D013997:Time Factors; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution