Abstract
BackgroundMedia reporting on communicable diseases has been demonstrated to affect the perception of the public. Communicable disease reporting related to foreign-born persons has not yet been evaluated.ObjectiveExamine how political leaning in the media affects reporting on tuberculosis (TB) in foreign-born persons.MethodsHealthMap, a digital surveillance platform that aggregates news sources on global infectious diseases, was used. Data was queried for media reports from the U.S. between 2011–2019, containing the term “TB” or “tuberculosis” and “foreign born”, “refugee (s),” or “im (migrants).” Reports were reviewed to exclude duplicates and non-human cases. Each media source was rated using two independent media bias indicators to assess political leaning. Forty-six non-tuberculosis reports were randomly sampled and evaluated as a control. Two independent reviewers performed sentiment analysis on each report.ResultsOf 891 TB-associated reports in the US, 46 referenced foreign-born individuals, and were included in this analysis. 60.9% (28) of reports were published in right-leaning news media and 6.5% (3) of reports in left-leaning media, while 39.1% (18) of the control group reports were published in left- leaning media and 10.9% (5) in right-leaning media (p < .001). 43% (20) of all study reports were posted in 2016. Sentiment analysis revealed that right-leaning reports often portrayed foreign-born persons negatively.ConclusionPreliminary data from this pilot suggest that political leaning may affect reporting on TB in US foreign-born populations. Right-leaning news organizations produced the most reports on TB, and the majority of these reports portrayed foreign-born persons negatively. In addition, the control group comprised of non-TB, non-foreign born reports on communicable diseases featured a higher percentage of left-leaning news outlets, suggesting that reporting on TB in foreign-born individuals may be of greater interest to right-leaning outlets. Further investigation both in the U.S. and globally is needed.
Highlights
Mass media has the ability to impact public perceptions of medicine and disease processes [1]
Media reporting of tuberculosis and foreign-born in the US
The control group comprised of non-TB, non-foreign born reports on communicable diseases featured a higher percentage of left-leaning news outlets, suggesting that reporting on TB in foreign-born individuals may be of greater interest to right-leaning outlets
Summary
Mass media has the ability to impact public perceptions of medicine and disease processes [1]. Given its wide scope and the increasing availability of media through the digitalization of the popular press, online news reports have become an important source for public health care information [2]. This is especially significant in the reporting of communicable diseases, where positive behavior change–as well as desensitization or even stigmatization–in the setting of an epidemic can occur [3,4]. Recent studies have found that the American public has become ideologically consistent and partisan [6] This finding is reflected in media consumption patterns based on self-identified placement along the ideological spectrum [6]. Communicable disease reporting related to foreign-born persons has not yet been evaluated
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