BMSG Director Lori Dorfman talks to Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, about how the news frames public health issues. Knowing how a particular issue is portrayed in the media allows advocates to anticipate their opposition’s arguments and gives them a starting point for having conversations with policymakers about potential solutions.
BMSG Director Lori Dorfman talks to Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, about marketing to children and youth in the digital age. Dorfman describes how marketers use online technology to target ads more precisely and for less money than traditional marketing.
This report explores how youth and violence have been framed in the news, how the issue of race complicates depictions of youth and violence, and how public attitudes about government can inhibit public support for violence prevention. It also includes recommended next steps for reframing violence among youth for UNITY, a national effort addressing the root causes of violence. The Appendix describes the methods for the literature review of research on news coverage included in the paper.
This appendix contains details on the methods for the literature review BMSG conducted to update the 2001 report from Building Blocks for Youth, Off Balance: Youth, Race, and Crime in the News. After sifting through hundreds of research studies that touched on either youth, race, or crime, we found 37 that were directly relevant to this inquiry. Most upheld the original findings from Off Balance, indicating that news coverage continues to distort youth, race, and crime.
This commentary addresses a little explored aspect of prevention, namely, how public health practitioners conceptualize the roles of industries whose business interests may be at odds with physical activity and eating nutrient-rich foods. Many public health advocates have framed obesity as a battle with the food industry, which can alienate potential fitness industry partners. Creating healthy environments requires reframing expectations of all industries that influence physical activity and inactivity.
This framing brief helps advocates explain that what surrounds us — our neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces — influences our health. When people understand that, then the policies that improve places make sense.
When it comes to prevention, the question isn’t what works, the question is: how can we pay for what we know will create healthy environments? In this report, we examine whether past efforts to raise revenues in the realms of alcohol, tobacco, and lead paint might hold promise in the realm of food and activity. We present six case studies of those efforts and an analysis of news coverage of three California attempts to raise taxes or attach a fee to junk food or soda.
Public health needs more practitioners who can bridge the gap between research and practice, and more students who can advocate for social change. Unfortunately, degree-granting public health programs generally do not provide systematic training in advocacy. Recognizing this gap, BMSG worked with professor Susan Sorenson and dean Lawrence Wallack to develop a curriculum and resource guide that could be adapted by public health programs to teach social advocacy. We enlisted the participation of faculty, nonprofit public health leaders, students and recent graduates from across the nation.
In 2006, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Maryland introduced legislation that included restrictions on the sales of sodas in schools. That same year, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation brokered a deal among soda companies to restrict soda sales in schools. We wanted to know: How were the arguments for and against restricting access to soda and junk food being portrayed in news and in testimony before lawmakers? Who was making the arguments, and what were they saying?
Delivering the keynote address for the 2008 True Spin Conference in Denver, BMSG’s director Lori Dorfman explains our approach to media advocacy, why message is never first, and what public health advocates need to know about framing.
