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http://dx.doi.org/10.14367/kjhep.2013.30.5.201

The Representation of Cancer Risk by Korean Health Journalism: Comparing the Crude Rates of 10 Cancers to the Amount of Cancer News in the Three Major Newspapers(1990-2010)  

Ju, Youngkee (School of Communication, Hallym Univeristy)
Jeong, Da-Eun (Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University)
You, Myoungsoon (Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University)
Publication Information
Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion / v.30, no.5, 2013 , pp. 201-210 More about this Journal
Abstract
Objectives: The public relies on the news media to understand health risks. To examine the surveillance function of Korean health journalism, this study compared the rank-order of the 10 most frequently diagnosed cancers with that of the 10 cancers most frequently covered by three major Korean newspapers. Methods: News stories published between 1999 and 2010 by the Chosun-Ilbo, Joong-Ang-Ilbo, and Dong-A-Ilbo were examined. Data on cancer incidence were collected using the epidemiological data published by a governmental public health institution. To compare the level of the crude rates and the amount of news coverage, rank-order correlation tests and regression analyses were employed. Results: A reduction in the rank-ordered correlation coefficient was observed despite an increase in the overall number of cancer news stories released. The significance of the correlation disappeared after 2006. The big difference of the rank order between the crude rate and the amount of news coverage was observed in the cancer of breast, uteri, thyroid, and gallbladder/biliary. Finally, the three newspapers did not follow the amount change in stomach, lung, liver, and uterine cervix cancer. The four cancers' rank orders of crude rate were lowering, signifying a reduction of the comparative dangerousness of the four cancers. Conclusions: The news media's customization of news content and the negative bias in journalism are suggested as possible influences on the news media's inaccurate representation of cancer risk.
Keywords
Cancer; Risk; Health journalism; Surveillance;
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