Conditional transparency: Differentiated news framings of COVID-19 severity in the pre-crisis stage in China.

Transparency of Chinese media coverage became an international controversy when the COVID-19 outbreak initially emerged in Wuhan, the eventual crisis epicenter in China. Unlike studies characterizing mass media in authoritarian contexts as government mouthpieces during a crisis, this study aims to disaggregate Chinese media practices to uncover differences in when, where, and how the severity of COVID-19 was reported. We examine differences in how media institutions reported the severity of the COVID-19 epidemic in China during the pre-crisis period from 1 January 2020 to 20 January 2020 in terms of both the "vertical" or hierarchical positions of media institutions in the Chinese media ecosystem and the "horizontal" positions of media institutions' social proximity to Wuhan in terms of geographical human traffic flows. We find that the coverage of crisis severity is negatively associated with the media's social proximity to Wuhan, but the effect varies depending on the positional prominence of a news article and situation severity. Implications of the institutions' differentiated reporting strategies on future public health reporting in an authoritarian context are also discussed.

How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online.

Public opinion is shaped in significant part by online content, spread via social media and curated algorithmically. The current online ecosystem has been designed predominantly to capture user attention rather than to promote deliberate cognition and autonomous choice; information overload, finely tuned personalization and distorted social cues, in turn, pave the way for manipulation and the spread of false information. How can transparency and autonomy be promoted instead, thus fostering the positive potential of the web? Effective web governance informed by behavioural research is critically needed to empower individuals online. We identify technologically available yet largely untapped cues that can be harnessed to indicate the epistemic quality of online content, the factors underlying algorithmic decisions and the degree of consensus in online debates. We then map out two classes of behavioural interventions-nudging and boosting- that enlist these cues to redesign online environments for informed and autonomous choice.

Exposure and reach of the US court-mandated corrective statements advertising campaign on broadcast and social media.

OBJECTIVE: As a remedy to committing fraud and violating civil racketeering laws, in November 2017, four major tobacco companies were court-ordered to develop and disseminate corrective statements regarding smoking health risks using mass media channels. We aimed to describe the nature, timing, reach of and exposure to the court-mandated tobacco industry corrective advertising campaign on social, broadcast and print media. METHODS: Data from social, print and broadcast media were used to measure potential exposure to corrective messages. Keyword rules were used to collect campaign-related posts from the Twitter Firehose between November 2017 and January 2018. Data were analysed using a combination of machine learning, keyword algorithms and human coding. Posts were categorised by source (commercial/institutional, organic) and content type (eg, sentiment). Analysis of social media data was triangulated with ratings data for television advertising and print advertising expenditure data. RESULTS: Keyword filters retrieved 13 846 tweets posted by 9232 unique users. The majority of tweets were posted by institutional/commercial sources including news organisations, bots and tobacco control-related accounts and contained links to news and public health-related websites. Approximately 60% of campaign-related tweets were posted during the first week of campaign launch. Household exposure to the televised corrective advertisements averaged 0.56 ads per month. DISCUSSION: The corrective campaign failed to generate social media engagement. The size and timing of the advertising buys were not consistent with strategies effective in generating high sustained impact and audience reach, particularly among youth.

Public support for health taxes and media regulation of harmful products in South Korea.

BACKGROUND: Public health policy is inevitably associated with either a strong presence or lack of public support. We investigated factors associated with both the public support of and opposition to health taxes and the media regulation regarding advertising harmful products in Korea. METHODS: We interviewed 1200 respondents that were recruited using an equal-probability sampling method in accordance with the 2016 Korean census. Our investigation examined the extent of support and opposition towards health taxes and the media regulation of advertising that targets the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy foods according to socioeconomic characteristics, health habits, body mass index (BMI), and exposure to the advertising of harmful products. The study was conducted using a univariate and stepwise multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: The majority (71.8%) of the respondents were supportive of imposing health taxes in general. Despite a high prevalence of tobacco and alcohol consumption among the respondents, they strongly supported media regulation of tobacco (72.3%), alcohol (63.7%), and eating broadcasts (51.9%) food advertising (44.0%). Those that were non-smokers, earned a high-income, were married, or had a child were likely to support at least one kind of regulation regarding alcohol and smoking related advertising. An exposure to excessive advertising of unhealthy products was associated with increase of respondents supporting the media regulation. Those who regarded the media as being influential seemed to be more supportive of health taxes or media regulation. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated strong public support among the respondents for health taxes and the media regulation regarding the advertising of unhealthy products. Based on our data, we are optimistic that countries whose population show a high rate of tobacco, alcohol or unhealthy food consumption may launch public policy in addressing these factors.

Stakeholder Framing of Advertising Legislation: An Analysis of Media and Parliamentary Representations of the Loi Évin in the United Kingdom.

OBJECTIVE: The Loi Évin legislation restricts alcohol advertising in France and is more comprehensive than the self-regulation-based U.K. approach. Through contributions to news media and parliamentary processes, stakeholders can play an important role in framing the debate around public policy. This project therefore aimed to analyze how the Loi Évin has been represented since its inception in U.K. media and Parliament by the advertising and alcohol industries, politicians, and nongovernmental organizations. METHOD: Qualitative analysis of media and parliamentary documents using the hermeneutic method, analyzing contexts in which the Loi Évin was mentioned by stakeholders in the media and in Parliament. Print and trade media articles referencing the Loi Évin were retrieved from the ProQuest media archive [from 1985 to 2016]. U.K. parliamentary representations referencing the Loi Évin were obtained from the parliamentary database for publications and the Hansard parliamentary record. A total of 109 documents referencing the Loi Évin were identified, of which 71 met the inclusion criteria and were included for analysis. RESULTS: The alcohol and advertising industries have framed the Loi Évin as incompatible with European Union principles, irrational and ineffective, with arguments changing over time in response to landmark events and rulings. Supporters of Loi Évin-style legislation failed to counter industry framing of advertising as not contributing to increased consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The portrayal of the Loi Évin by industry in the United Kingdom is an important example of policy framing and provides evidence of the synergy between advertising and alcohol industry representatives in combatting legislation that could harm profits.

Analysis of Alcohol Industry Submissions against Marketing Regulation.

A growing body of literature points to the role of vested interests as a barrier to the implementation of effective public health policies. Corporate political activity by the alcohol industry is commonly used to influence policy and regulation. It is important for policy makers to be able to critique alcohol industry claims opposed to improved alcohol marketing regulation. The Australian National Preventive Health Agency reviewed alcohol marketing regulations in 2012 and stakeholders were invited to comment on them. In this study we used thematic analysis to examine submissions from the Australian alcohol industry, based on a system previously developed in relation to tobacco industry corporate political activity. The results show that submissions were a direct lobbying tactic, making claims to government that were contrary to the evidence-base. Five main frames were identified, in which the alcohol industry claimed that increased regulation: (1) is unnecessary; (2) is not backed up by sufficient evidence; (3) will lead to unintended negative consequences; and (4) faces legal barriers to implementation; underpinned by the view (5) that the industry consists of socially responsible companies working toward reducing harmful drinking. In contrast with tobacco industry submissions on public policy, which often focused on legal and economic barriers, the Australian alcohol industry placed a heavier emphasis on notions of regulatory redundancy and insufficient evidence. This may reflect differences in where these industries sit on the 'regulatory pyramid', alcohol being less regulated than tobacco.

Examination of the "CSI Effect" on Perceptions of Scientific and Testimonial Evidence in a Hong Kong Chinese Sample.

Television is a powerful medium through which to convey information and messages to the public. The recent proliferation of forensic science and criminal justice information throughout all forms of media, coupled with raised expectations toward forensic evidence, has led some to suspect that a "CSI effect" ( Crime Scene Investigation effect) is taking place. The present study contributes to the literature addressing the CSI effect in two ways. First, it examines whether the CSI effect exists in the Chinese population of Hong Kong. Second, using a mock-jury paradigm, it empirically examines a more integrative perspective of the CSI effect. It was found that, although the amount of media coverage involving forensic evidence does influence participants' perception of legal evidence to some degree, such a perception does not affect participants' legal decision making. Viewers of forensic dramas were not more likely to convict the defendant when forensic evidence was presented and not less likely to convict when only testimonial evidence was presented. The only significant predictor of the defendant's culpability when scientific evidence was presented was participants' ratings of the reliability of scientific evidence. Results from the present study lend no support to the existence of the CSI effect in Hong Kong.

¿Es tiempo de exigir publicidad basada en la evidencia?

Claims made in current advertising for medical products is not necessarily scientifically proven, yet at the same time clinicians are required to adopt evidence-based practices and undergo periodic certifications. This is a clear contradiction. It is crucial to begin to reflect on the need to regulate information presented in the media and to place greater emphasis on patient well-being and safety instead of on third-party interests. The medical community must demand stricter regulations and evidence-based advertising policies.

Noticias sobre suicidio en los medios de comunicación. Recomendaciones de la OMS / Reporting on suicide. WHO recommendations for the Media

La exposición inadecuada en los medios de comunicación sobre suicidios puede producir un efecto contagio o efecto Werther, mientras que determinadas características adecuadas pueden tener un efecto protector o efecto Papageno. Por tanto, los medios de comunicación pueden contribuir a la prevención del suicidio. Por ello, la OMS ha elaborado tres documentos con una serie de recomendaciones dirigidas a los profesionales de los medios de comunicación, para el tratamiento de las noticias relacionadas con el suicidio. Sin embargo, solo se ha traducido al español el primero, ambos tienen solapamientos y poseen una estructura diferente. Esto supone que los profesionales de los medios de comunicación de habla hispana en general, y de España en particular, difícilmente pueden tener un acceso a estas recomendaciones de la OMS de una forma clara y concisa. El objetivo de este trabajo fue la elaboración y provisión de un texto único y sintético que recogiera las recomendaciones de estos documentos. Para su creación se siguió un procedimiento formal y estructurado, que aunó criterios científicos y lingüísticos. El texto final contiene las recomendaciones agrupadas en tres categorías: "qué hacer", "qué no hacer" y "otras recomendaciones". Este documento puede ser de gran utilidad para los profesionales de los medios de comunicación, para actividades formativas de difusión de tales recomendaciones con finalidad preventiva y para la investigación (AU)

Inappropriate reporting on suicide in the media may lead to a contagious effect or "Werther effect", while appropriate characteristics may have a protective effect or "Papageno effect". Therefore, the media can contribute to the prevention of suicide. For this reason, the WHO has developed three documents with recommendations for media professionals about how to report on suicide. However, only the first one has been translated into Spanish, they have overlaps and have a different structure. Therefore, Spanish-speaking media professionals in general, and Spanish ones in particular, can hardly have access to these WHO recommendations displayed in a clear and concise manner. The objective of this work was the elaboration and provision of a single and concise text that includes the recommendations of these documents. A formal and structured procedure was followed, combining scientific and linguistic criteria. The final text contains the recommendations grouped into three categories: "what to do", "what not to do" and "other recommendations". This document can be very useful for media professionals, for training activities to disseminate such recommendations for preventive purposes, and for research (AU)

Press self-regulation in Britain: a critique.

This article reviews the history of press self-regulation in Britain, from the 1947 Ross Commission to the 2012 Leveson Inquiry Commission. It considers the history of the Press Council and the Press Complaints Commission, analysing the ways they developed, their work, and how they have reached their current non-status. It is argued that the existing situation in Britain is far from satisfactory, and that the press should advance more elaborate mechanisms of self-control, establishing a new regulatory body called the Public and Press Council that will be anchored in law, empowering the new regulator with greater and unprecedented authority, and equipping it with substantive sanctioning abilities. The Public and Press Council should be independent and effective, with transparent policies, processes and responsibilities. Its adjudication should be made in accordance with a written, detailed Code of Practice.

The risks and responsible roles for psychiatrists who interact with the media.

Journalists often turn to psychiatrists for analysis of medical, social, political, and cultural events that involve human behavior and illness. Once journalists seek their expertise, psychiatrists often rush to be helpful, which can lead to ineffective performance and to statements that may run afoul of principles of professional ethics. In this article, we discuss the bases on which the professionalism of psychiatrists may be impugned when they commit errors in their media presentations. Found within the Principles of Medical Ethics with Special Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry, the Goldwater Rule prohibits certain behaviors when psychiatrists share professional opinions with the public. We first discuss the Goldwater Rule, highlighting the events that led to its development and the professional response to its enactment. We then present a method to guide psychiatrists in their interaction with the media that will help them avoid violating ethics principles or the law. The method encourages knowledge of a framework of ethics principles that in turn guide the psychiatrist's behavior and thinking as he contemplates accepting invitations to interact with the media. The ethics-based roles include the Teacher, the Storyteller, the Celebrity Commentator, the Hollywood Consultant, the Clinician, and the Advertiser.

Opening minds in Canada: targeting change.

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the ongoing activities of the Opening Minds (OM) Anti-Stigma Initiative of the Mental Health Commission of Canada regarding the 4 groups targeted (youth, health care providers, media, and workplaces), highlight some of the key methodological challenges, and review lessons learned. METHOD: The approach used by OM is rooted in community development philosophy, with clearly defined target groups, contact-based education as the central organizing element across interventions, and a strong evaluative component so that best practices can be identified, replicated, and disseminated. Contact-based education occurs when people who have experienced a mental illness share their personal story of recovery and hope. RESULTS: Results have been generally positive. Contact-based education has the capacity to reduce prejudicial attitudes and improve social acceptance of people with a mental illness across various target groups and sectors. Variations in program outcomes have contributed to our understanding of active ingredients. CONCLUSIONS: Contact-based education has become a cornerstone of the OM approach to stigma reduction. A story of hope and recovery told by someone who has experienced a mental illness is powerful and engaging, and a critical ingredient in the fight against stigma. Building partnerships with existing community programs and promoting systematic evaluation using standardized approaches and instruments have contributed to our understanding of best practices in the field of anti-stigma programming. The next challenge will be to scale these up so that they may have a national impact.