Media Discourse of Healthy Lifestyle in Provicial Media: an Effort of a Content Analysis

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of healthy lifestyle promotion in Russian provincial media. The topicality of the research is explained by the new content of the media space determined by the necessity to reflect the many-sidedness and acuteness of the problem of public and personal health. Besides, the importance of a healthy lifestyle and its values is predetermined by the national aims of increasing life expectancy, as well as by particular objectives of the demographic policy. The study object is the practices of Russian provincial print media in the field of presenting health care components as compared to the results of surveying the journalists employed by the media. The research covers 2,044 newspaper articles on healthy lifestyle published in nine geographically remote Russian provinces in the period 2016/01–2019/12. A content analysis by 4 key aspects (tasks, content, structure, and personalization) has helped to study the purpose of the publications and areas of public life that they focus on, their topic, news hook, health care components, practices of providing expert views, people and their activities, author(s)' attitude and argumentation methods. Basing on the results of the research, the authors make inferences that include both positive and, mostly, critical assessments, and give special and general recommendations.