Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health
Monday, July 12, 2021Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit make that unattainable for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can make make every community healthier, safer, and more just.
News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: it influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. To support advocates working to advance housing policies in 22 diverse locations around the country, Berkeley Media Studies Group researchers are explored questions like:
- How often does news from different cities focus on housing?
- Which housing issues are most often covered?
- And when housing appears in the news, are equity and health part of the conversation?
To learn more about each of the cities we analyzed, please visit the following pages:
Atlanta, Georgia
Baltimore, Maryland
Boston, Massachusetts
Buffalo, New York
Charlottesville, Virginia
Dallas, Texas
Detroit, Michigan
Hartford, Connecticut
Honolulu, Hawaii
Los Angeles, California
Miami, Florida
Minneapolis, Minnesota
New Orleans, Louisiana
New York City, New York
Oakland, California
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix, Arizona
Santa Ana, California
Seattle, Washington
Trenton, New Jersey
Washington, D.C.
Yakima, Washington
To further support housing equity advocates in their media advocacy and strategic communication work, BMSG will also release a framing analysis in the fall of 2021 that takes a closer look at how news from around the country frames diverse housing issues. That analysis will explore questions like:
- When stories that connected housing and health appeared in the news, why?
- Who was quoted (and who was left out) of the stories?
- Who was held responsible for ensuring safe, stable, quality housing for everyone?
- When were racial and health equity issues named in news about housing and health — and when were opportunities to evoke equity missed?
We look forward to sharing those findings with you.
If you have questions about these resources or the upcoming analysis, please contact info@bmsg.org.