posted on Tuesday, September 12, 2023
The news about sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax campaigns frequently reported the health harms of SSBs and exposed the beverage industry’s outsized campaign spending, but rarely named the benefits of SSB taxes or how they can act as a tool for industry accountability, found a new study from researchers at BMSG, the University of California Berkeley’s School of Public Health, and the University of California San Francisco’s School of Medicine.
posted on Monday, August 14, 2023
A new BMSG study conducted alongside the University of Minnesota’s Division of Health Policy and Management, Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Wesleyan University found that news coverage of food insecurity during the pandemic may have helped reduce the stigma associated with government-funded food assistance programs. However, reporting was largely “color blind” and failed to discuss racial disparities in hunger.
posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Latino communities and leaders have been at the forefront of organizing around racial justice for decades, but new research suggests their perspectives and voices are barely visible in the surging public discourse around racial equity and systemic racism. A study conducted by the Berkeley Media Studies Group (a program of the Public Health Institute), in collaboration with UnidosUS, revealed that less than 6% of news about racism and racial equity referenced Latinos, the country’s largest ethnic minority.
posted on Thursday, May 26, 2022
No amount of data or context in reporting can move the needle of social change if dominant news narratives convey a sense of doom and leave us feeling paralyzed. To make progress, it’s critical to reframe the conversation from one of fatalism to one of hope, while still acknowledging the deep pain and harm that many are suffering
