Research Commons
      • Browse 
        • Communities & Collections
        • Titles
        • Authors
        • By Issue Date
        • Subjects
        • Types
        • Series
      • Help 
        • About
        • Collection Policy
        • OA Mandate Guidelines
        • Guidelines FAQ
        • Contact Us
      • My Account 
        • Sign In
        • Register
      View Item 
      •   Research Commons
      • University of Waikato Research
      • Arts and Social Sciences
      • Māori & Psychology Research Unit
      • Māori & Psychology Research Unit Papers
      • View Item
      •   Research Commons
      • University of Waikato Research
      • Arts and Social Sciences
      • Māori & Psychology Research Unit
      • Māori & Psychology Research Unit Papers
      • View Item
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

      Constructing health news: Possibilities for a civic-oriented journalism

      Hodgetts, Darrin; Chamberlain, Kerry; Scammell, Margaret; Karapu, Rolinda; Nikora, Linda Waimarie
      DOI
       10.1177/1363459307083697
      Link
       hea.sagepub.com
      Find in your library  
      Citation
      Export citation
      Hodgetts, D., Chamberlain, K., Scammell, M., Nikora, L. & Karapu, R. (2007). Constructing health news: Media production and the possibilities for a civic- oriented journalism. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 12, 43-66.
      Permanent Research Commons link: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/1743
      Abstract
      Health is a very prominent news category. However, we know little about the production processes of journalists leading to the health stories we encounter on a daily basis. Such knowledge is crucial for ensuring a vibrant public sphere for health. This article draws on interviews with eight health journalists in New Zealand to document what they consider to constitute a health story, their professional norms and practices, their perceptions of audiences, and the need for increased civic deliberations regarding health. Journalists privilege biomedical stories involving lifestyle and individual responsibility, and have limited frames for presenting stories that involve socio-political concerns. Stories are strongly shaped by journalists' considerations of their target audience, the sources they draw on, their professional norms, and institutional practices. This results in the omission of stories that have relevance for minority and disadvantaged groups and limits the nature of the stories told to ones that reflect the views of the majority. However, journalists are also reflective about these issues and receptive to ways to overcome them. This raises possibilities for health researchers to engage with journalists in order to repoliticise health and promote a more civic-oriented form of health journalism.
      Date
      2007
      Type
      Journal Article
      Publisher
      SAGE Publications
      Collections
      • Māori & Psychology Research Unit Papers [257]
      Show full item record  

      Usage

       
       
       

      Usage Statistics

      For this itemFor all of Research Commons

      The University of Waikato - Te Whare Wānanga o WaikatoFeedback and RequestsCopyright and Legal Statement