Agenda-building, source selection and health news at local television stations: The first nationwide survey of local television health reporters.

摘要

This study was the first nationwide examination of local television news health reporters looking at health and medical newsgathering from the reporters' perspective. Data from this study revealed significant insight into how these health reporters receive ideas for their health stories and what influences a health reporter to cover a particular topic.; Theoretically, the data from this study support the agenda-building process suggesting a reciprocal effect among the viewing audience, the media and media sources as related to the media's health agenda. Whereas agenda-setting assumes the media alone set the public's agenda, agenda-building takes the process a step further by suggesting many different entities influence and build the agenda the media present to the viewing audience.; The data revealed that health reporters responding to the questionnaire generally had little or no formal education or training in the health and medical field. In addition, these reporters had large amounts of airtime to fill on a daily basis. Together, these factors seemed to contribute to an extreme reliance on health sources in the community.; For example, more than half of respondents receive ideas for their health reports directly from a public relations spokesperson who personally contacts them. These reporters also receive a large number of story ideas from a phone call or e-mail from a viewer or from other media outlets, such as a newspaper article or advertisement.; Sixty percent of respondents said they must frequently find a health expert to explain technical information and 60 percent also agreed health sources often influence the health content making air. Again, this suggests a theoretical link between agenda-building and health reporting in that it is not solely the reporter who determines what story is broadcast to the public. It also suggests that this reliance on sources is exacerbated by the technical nature of health and medical news and a health reporter's lack of health education and training.; As related to actually covering a particular health topic, data revealed that the audience's interest in a topic and a reporter's ability to humanize the topic by using personal examples in the story were highly influential on a reporter's decision to cover a story. Access to shoot video and having available resources to cover the story were also highly influential.