Social Determinants of Health as a Lens for Understanding Local News Reporting

Abstract

ABSTRACT While scholars have long examined media bias, few studies have systematically examined how media represents health within American urban neighborhoods. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of 10 years of news articles of one Ohio neighborhood, the authors apply a social determinants of health (SDOH) lens to the coverage of one urban newspaper. The study’s aim is to understand what a SDOH approach might tell us about local and ongoing coverage of historically challenged neighborhoods. Findings reinforce those of previous studies from health communication and media studies which document a disproportionate emphasis on crime, but also push the conversation further to show how the health aspects of housing and food instability, unemployment, and non-crime safety concerns, are often elided in news coverage. The authors argue that the SDOH lens affords journalists a framework for ensuring that their reporting adequately captures the drivers of poor health in American urban neighborhoods.