PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
BACKGROUND: Firearm violence is an intensifying public health problem in the United States. News reports shape the way the public and policy makers understand and respond to health threats, including firearm violence. To better understand how firearm violence is communicated to the public, we aimed to determine the extent to which firearm violence is framed as a public health problem on television news and to measure harmful news content as identified by firearm-injured people.
METHODS: This is a quantitative content analysis of Philadelphia local television news stories about firearm violence using a database of 7,497 clips. We compiled a stratified sample of clips aired on two randomly selected days/month from January-June 2021 from the database (n = 192 clips). We created a codebook to measure public health frame elements and to assign a harmful content score for each story and then coded the clips. Characteristics of stories containing episodic frames that focus on single shooting events were compared to clips with thematic frames that include broader social context for violence.
RESULTS: Most clips employed episodic frames (79.2%), presented law enforcement officials as primary narrators (50.5%), and included police imagery (79.2%). A total of 433 firearm-injured people were mentioned, with a mean of 2.8 individuals shot included in each story. Most of the firearm-injured people featured in the clips (67.4%) had no personal information presented apart from age and/or gender. The majority of clips (84.4%) contained at least one harmful content element. The mean harmful content score/clip was 2.6. Public health frame elements, including epidemiologic context, root causes, public health narrators and visuals, and solutions were missing from most clips. Thematic stories contained significantly more public health frame elements and less harmful content compared to episodic stories.
CONCLUSIONS: Local television news produces limited public health coverage of firearm violence, and harmful content is common. This reporting likely compounds trauma experienced by firearm-injured people and could impede support for effective public health responses to firearm violence. Journalists should work to minimize harmful news content and adopt a public health approach to reporting on firearm violence.
METHODS: This is a quantitative content analysis of Philadelphia local television news stories about firearm violence using a database of 7,497 clips. We compiled a stratified sample of clips aired on two randomly selected days/month from January-June 2021 from the database (n = 192 clips). We created a codebook to measure public health frame elements and to assign a harmful content score for each story and then coded the clips. Characteristics of stories containing episodic frames that focus on single shooting events were compared to clips with thematic frames that include broader social context for violence.
RESULTS: Most clips employed episodic frames (79.2%), presented law enforcement officials as primary narrators (50.5%), and included police imagery (79.2%). A total of 433 firearm-injured people were mentioned, with a mean of 2.8 individuals shot included in each story. Most of the firearm-injured people featured in the clips (67.4%) had no personal information presented apart from age and/or gender. The majority of clips (84.4%) contained at least one harmful content element. The mean harmful content score/clip was 2.6. Public health frame elements, including epidemiologic context, root causes, public health narrators and visuals, and solutions were missing from most clips. Thematic stories contained significantly more public health frame elements and less harmful content compared to episodic stories.
CONCLUSIONS: Local television news produces limited public health coverage of firearm violence, and harmful content is common. This reporting likely compounds trauma experienced by firearm-injured people and could impede support for effective public health responses to firearm violence. Journalists should work to minimize harmful news content and adopt a public health approach to reporting on firearm violence.
摘要：
背景：枪支暴力是美国日益严重的公共卫生问题。新闻报道塑造了公众和政策制定者理解和应对健康威胁的方式，包括枪支暴力。为了更好地了解枪支暴力是如何向公众传达的，我们的目标是确定枪支暴力在电视新闻中被定性为公共卫生问题的程度，并衡量枪支受伤人员识别的有害新闻内容。
方法：这是使用7,497个剪辑的数据库对费城当地电视新闻故事有关枪支暴力的定量内容分析。我们从数据库中收集了从2021年1月至6月随机选择的两个月播出的片段的分层样本（n=192个片段）。我们创建了一个码本来测量公共卫生框架元素，并为每个故事分配有害内容得分，然后对剪辑进行编码。将包含集中于单个射击事件的情节框架的故事特征与具有主题框架的剪辑进行了比较，这些主题框架包括更广泛的暴力社会背景。
结果：大多数剪辑采用情节框架（79.2％），执法官员作为主要叙述者(50.5%)，并包括警察图像(79.2%)。共有433人被枪伤,平均每个故事中包含2.8个人。剪辑中大多数枪支受伤的人（67.4％）除了年龄和/或性别外，没有提供任何个人信息。大多数剪辑（84.4％）包含至少一种有害内容元素。平均有害内容得分/剪辑为2.6。公共卫生框架要素，包括流行病学背景，根本原因，公共卫生叙述者和视觉效果，大多数剪辑都缺少解决方案。与情节故事相比，主题故事包含更多的公共卫生框架元素和更少的有害内容。
结论：当地电视新闻对枪支暴力的公共卫生报道有限，和有害的内容是常见的。该报告可能加剧了枪支受伤人员遭受的创伤，并可能阻碍对枪支暴力的有效公共卫生对策的支持。记者应努力尽量减少有害新闻内容，并采取公共卫生方法报道枪支暴力。
方法：这是使用7,497个剪辑的数据库对费城当地电视新闻故事有关枪支暴力的定量内容分析。我们从数据库中收集了从2021年1月至6月随机选择的两个月播出的片段的分层样本（n=192个片段）。我们创建了一个码本来测量公共卫生框架元素，并为每个故事分配有害内容得分，然后对剪辑进行编码。将包含集中于单个射击事件的情节框架的故事特征与具有主题框架的剪辑进行了比较，这些主题框架包括更广泛的暴力社会背景。
结果：大多数剪辑采用情节框架（79.2％），执法官员作为主要叙述者(50.5%)，并包括警察图像(79.2%)。共有433人被枪伤,平均每个故事中包含2.8个人。剪辑中大多数枪支受伤的人（67.4％）除了年龄和/或性别外，没有提供任何个人信息。大多数剪辑（84.4％）包含至少一种有害内容元素。平均有害内容得分/剪辑为2.6。公共卫生框架要素，包括流行病学背景，根本原因，公共卫生叙述者和视觉效果，大多数剪辑都缺少解决方案。与情节故事相比，主题故事包含更多的公共卫生框架元素和更少的有害内容。
结论：当地电视新闻对枪支暴力的公共卫生报道有限，和有害的内容是常见的。该报告可能加剧了枪支受伤人员遭受的创伤，并可能阻碍对枪支暴力的有效公共卫生对策的支持。记者应努力尽量减少有害新闻内容，并采取公共卫生方法报道枪支暴力。
