Background Media coverage of tobacco-related issues can potentially shape individual beliefs, attitudes and behaviors about tobacco use. This study aims to describe news coverage of tobacco control related issues in Chinese newspapers from 2000 to 2010. Methods All 1149 articles related to tobacco control were extracted from the Database of Chinese Important Newspapers and content analyzed for the period Jan 1, 2000 to Dec 31, 2010. The changing pattern of tobacco control topic, article type, viewpoint, and article origin, and their relationship were analysed. Results News coverage of tobacco control related issues increased significantly (p p χ2 = 24.09, p = 0.002) and article types (χ2 = 193.35, p Conclusion Chinese newspapers are giving increasing attention to tobacco control, but coverage remains lower than in the USA and Australia. Health workers need to give higher priority to efforts to increase news coverage beyond the present concentration around World No Tobacco Day and to develop strategies for making tobacco control issues more newsworthy to both national and local news outlets.
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