"Tired of watching customers walk out the door because of the smoke": a content analysis of media coverage of voluntarily smokefree restaurants and bars.

Patricia A Mcdaniel,Valerie Yerger,Susan Forsyth,Naphtali Offen,Ruth E Malone

doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2094-6

Patricia A Mcdaniel, Valerie Yerger + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2094-6

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Abstract

BackgroundNews media are key sources of information regarding tobacco issues, and help set the tobacco control policy agenda. We examined US news coverage of voluntarily smokefree restaurants and bars in locales without mandatory policies to understand how such initiatives are perceived.MethodsWe searched three online media databases (Access World News, Lexis Nexis, and Proquest) for all news items, including opinion pieces, published from 1995 to 2011. We coded retrieved items quantitatively, analyzing the volume, type, provenance, prominence, and content of news coverage.ResultsWe found 986 news items, most published in local newspapers. News items conveyed unambiguous support for voluntarily smokefree establishments, regardless of venue. Mandatory policies were also frequently mentioned, and portrayed positively or neutrally. Restaurant items were more likely to mention health-related benefits of going smokefree, with bar items more likely to mention business-related benefits.ConclusionVoluntary smokefree rules in bars and restaurants are regarded by news media as reasonable responses to health and business-based concerns about worker and customer exposure to secondhand smoke. As efforts continue to enact comprehensive smokefree policies to protect all in such venues, the media are likely to be supportive partners in the advocacy process, helping to generate public and policymaker support.

Highlights

News media are key sources of information regarding tobacco issues, and help set the tobacco control policy agenda
Characteristics of news items and trends over time We found 986 news items published from 1995-2011 about restaurateurs and/or bar owners who voluntarily prohibited smoking on their premises; the vast majority were local newspaper articles (89.7 %), but sources included national newspapers, news wires, magazine articles, and web-based news sites (Table 1)
We examined whether mention of scientific evidence about tobacco increased after the 2006 publication of the Surgeon General’s report on secondhand smoke [43]; we found no such increase

Summary

Introduction

News media are key sources of information regarding tobacco issues, and help set the tobacco control policy agenda. Agenda setting communicates to the public and policymakers the relative importance of various issues based on the amount of media attention devoted to them [4]. Voluntary rules restricting smoking in restaurants and bars frequently precede passage of smokefree legislation [16]. While they are by nature less comprehensive and potentially less stable than mandatory policies [17], they may help create public support for legislation by increasing familiarity with and knowledge of the benefits of smokefree public places [16]. Economic considerations, such as reduced cleaning costs or a desire to cater to a majority nonsmoking clientele may motivate restaurant and bar owners to prohibit smoking, rather than

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