title: US media representation of post-traumatic stress disorder: a comparative study of regional newspapers and national newspapers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  News media play an important role in introducing and defining PTSD-related issues to the general public as well as framing their social importance and analyzing solutions for policymakers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Compare how coverage of PTSD by larger papers serving general audiences differed from smaller papers catering to communities likely to be affected by the issue.
  
  
  METHODS
  A content analysis of frames and subtopics about PTSD in all newspaper articles published by selected national newspapers and regional newspapers between the year of 2003 and 2014 (N = 426).
  
  
  RESULTS
  National newspapers engaged in higher-level policy discussion with greater frequency than regional newspapers, while regional newspapers were more likely to publish stories highlighting the impact of PTSD on individuals and local communities. Furthermore, coverage by regional newspapers used significantly more episodic frames than thematic frames.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both national and regional newspapers increased the amount of coverage on PTSD significantly after the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003. National newspapers and regional newspapers shared similarities in recognizing dominant issues with PTSD but varied in the way of presenting the topics to the public.
authors.affiliation: a School of Media and Journalism , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill, NC , USA.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D008402:Mass Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011050:Policy Making; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; D014481:United States
keywords: PTSD; framing; military; newspapers