Citation, summary, extracts, and comment from me below.
CITATION: Viewpoint| Volume 12, ISSUE 8, e1365-e1369, August 2024. News media as a commercial determinant of health. Dan Even et al. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(24)00191-8
SUMMARY
Commercial determinants of health frameworks aim to identify the features and actions of corporate entities that can influence health. This Viewpoint conceptualises the work of the news media as a set of commercial forces and provides a framework that can help researchers better understand how features and actions of the news media shape health and health equity. We discuss four key features of news media action that can shape health: agenda setting, framing, priming, and tactics of persuasion. Beyond the direct role of the media in shaping health, we also explore pathways (ie, public relation activities, advertising, and economic pressures) in which the media is used by other commercial actors to affect health. A better understanding of how news media operates can help inform efforts to improve media actions to aid in improving population health outcomes.
EXTRACTS
The media sector operates as a means of communication, with the objective of disseminating information and stories to diverse and targeted audiences.
The examples in this Viewpoint illustrate how the role of the news media extends well beyond that of a neutral conduit transmitting objective information to becoming a CDOH itself, often driven by commercial incentives and strongly influenced by other commercial actors. This finding suggests that media actions can also harm or improve health in direct and indirect ways. This perspective could advance the discussion regarding the potential role of the media in promoting or discouraging healthy behaviours.
COMMENT (NPW)
Indeed a helpful perspective would be specifically to look at the impact of the news media on the global evidence ecosystem. By better understanding the drivers and barriers operating on the system, in whole and in part, this will help to inform the development of a global strategy towards universal access to reliable healthcare information. Such a systems-thinking approach is currently absent. To some extent, HIFA has served to increase our understanding, but a more systematic approach is needed, ideally led by WHO and supported by HIFA and other partners.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
