publications

BMSG's issue series
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Immigration in the news: An analysis of coverage from four California counties

Thursday, February 28, 2019

The hostile political climate facing immigrants in many parts of California means that communicating strategically and centering equity in those narratives is both challenging and urgent. To better understand the current conversation around immigration, BMSG conducted a news analysis of media coverage in four California counties. We explored the factors driving coverage, whose voices are over- or under-represented, the degree to which health is present, and whether the news about immigration contains stigmatizing language.

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Local health departments addressing the social determinants of health: A national survey on the foreclosure crisis

Monday, February 25, 2019

The foreclosure crisis has had more than just financial consequences for families throughout the United States; it has also been linked to negative mental and physical health outcomes and has disproportionately harmed communities of color. What role, then, should local health departments (LHDs) play in addressing social determinants of health, such as housing? In this article for the journal Health Equity, BMSG’s Katherine Schaff and Lori Dorfman report that more than a quarter of LHDs engaged in work related to the foreclosure crisis, and 30 percent of those surveyed said that LHDs should work on this issue.

Changing the discourse about violence: A strategic communication toolkit

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

To end violence, we need to invest in the communities most affected by violence and the solutions that we know are effective. Doing that requires changing the way policymakers and the public think, talk, and write about violence. BMSG developed this toolkit to help practitioners, advocates, residents, and others frame violence from a community perspective and harness the power of the media to achieve change.

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The Woodhull study revisited: Nurses’ representation in health news media 20 years later

Friday, October 12, 2018

Twenty years ago, The Woodhull Study on Nursing and the Media found that nurses were cited as sources in only 4% of health news stories. In 2017, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group and the George Washington University School of Nursing’s Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement replicated the study and found that nurses remain invisible in health news media, despite their increasing levels of education, unique roles, and expertise.

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Moving toward prevention: A guide for reframing sexual violence

Thursday, October 04, 2018

In this guide, developed by BMSG in partnership with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we review best practices in framing sexual violence to inform the public about preventing sexual assault. We also highlight ways to communicate with the media, which play an important role in educating the public.

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Reading for health: A reimagined, community-driven approach to early literacy in Del Norte County and Tribal Lands

Monday, September 10, 2018

In Del Norte County and Tribal Lands, early literacy is more than a local educational effort. It is a major community-wide cause aimed at improving life outcomes and health. This case study explores how residents, educators, and business leaders are using strategic partnerships, data, and empathy to increase school readiness and to support children’s and families’ well-being.

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Junk food marketing to children of color: The current reality and what we can do about it — Slides for the field

Thursday, September 06, 2018

All children deserve the opportunity to be healthy and thrive, but an all-too-common marketing practice in which food and beverage companies target kids of color with ads for junk food and soda is compromising the health of young African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. In this presentation, we outline the current landscape of junk food and sugary drink targeted marketing, and we share concrete actions that kids, parents, advocates, researchers, and policymakers can take to help hold industry accountable. This PowerPoint slide deck, developed by Berkeley Media Studies Group with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is available for free download, and we encourage advocates and others to adapt and use the presentation to help raise the visibility of targeted marketing as a health equity issue.

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Where we’re going and where we’ve been: Making the case for preventing sexual violence

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Helping people understand that sexual violence can be prevented is a critical step toward a future where abuse and assault are rare. And to make the case for prevention, we need to go beyond the scope of the problem and articulate what to do about it. This messaging guide, developed in collaboration with RALIANCE, a national partnership dedicated to ending sexual violence in one generation, provides concrete guidance for advocates to build effective messages that highlight the need for prevention.

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From beating the odds to changing the odds: Recommendations for journalists covering early childhood

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Early childhood is a critical developmental period because what happens during this time affects health outcomes into and throughout adulthood. How, then, can journalists incorporate complex findings from multiple bodies of science into their reporting to tell a more complete story about early childhood? In this report, we offer recommendations based on a national news analysis and conversations with veteran reporters whose own work on this subject is exemplary.

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