publications

Housing, equity, and health in U.S. news, 2020-2021: Findings and recommendations

Understanding how journalists currently frame housing, and how those choices shape long-term narratives, can help housing and health advocates be strategic about their communication strategies. To understand the specific nuances of how news coverage frames the complex intersections of housing and health equity, BMSG analyzed news about housing and health equity from media markets across the country. We share our findings — and recommendations for advocates and journalists — in this report.

Talking about our recovery from COVID: How public health practitioners can emphasize equity

How do California news outlets talk about recovery from the pandemic? Whose voices appear and whose are absent? How are topics like housing, food access, and community safety discussed? In this analysis, BMSG explores these questions and offers tips for centering equity.

‘People like us’: News coverage of food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic

Before the pandemic, news about food assistance was dominated by stories about abuse and fraud. To better understand portrayals of food benefits and whether they changed during COVID-19, BMSG conducted a content analysis of news articles and photographs about food insecurity or food assistance published by U.S. newspapers and wire services during the first year of the pandemic.

Public health advocacy must be taught

Communicating about vaccines: Meeting people where they are

Shame is all too common in communication about vaccines, but we should avoid it because it is not effective at changing individuals’ hearts and minds. Instead, as research has shown, we need to demonstrate empathy, listen without judgment, and share messages using credible local spokespeople who are easy for audiences to relate to. Learn more in this video, the fourth in a series from Berkeley Media Studies Group.

Communicating about the Nutrition Equity Amendment Act of 2021: An analysis of news, social media, and campaign materials

Public health practitioners around the world are excited about the potential of sugary drink taxes for protecting the public’s health. To better understand public support for — and opposition to — such taxes, BMSG analyzed how a recent Washington, D.C., tax proposal was discussed and debated in the news. We also explored how the issue showed up in social media conversations. In this report, we present an overview of past research on sugary drink taxes in news coverage and share our latest findings.

Communicating about vaccines: How to discuss racial equity in vaccine uptake

To help ensure equitable vaccination rates in all neighborhoods, public health advocates and practitioners must center communities of color in their messages. Being silent on racism allows vaccine opponents to invoke medical oppression in their communication, stoking further division, hesitancy, and distrust. This video, the third in a series from BMSG, offers strategic communication tips for advancing racial and health equity in immunizations.

Warning: Don’t let the beverage industry harm your kids

Recent research has found that countermarketing campaigns can be an effective way to reduce the demand for sugary drinks by exposing the beverage industry’s manipulative behavior, in much the same way that anti-tobacco campaigns successfully villainized Big Tobacco. However, as BMSG Director Dr. Lori Dorfman points out in this commentary for AJPH, grassroots health messages rarely have the same reach as well-funded efforts like the original “Truth” campaign, which was funded using money from a tobacco settlement. And while social media is cheap, platforms like Facebook are part of the problem, as they are among the world’s largest junk food marketers. Read the commentary to learn the steps Dr. Dorfman recommends for ensuring that anti-soda countermarketing campaigns are as effective as possible.

Communicating about vaccines: Illuminating the context for access and hesitancy [video]

To boost vaccine rates, public health practitioners and advocates need more than just compelling messages; we also must confront the practical barriers that make it hard for some people to access the vaccine — and credible information about it. In this video, the second in a series from BMSG, we discuss the context for why vaccination rates are lagging in some communities.

Understanding violence and prevention during a pandemic: California news about guns, gun violence, and firearm suicide, 2020-2021

A key component of stopping gun violence and firearm suicide in America is understanding the complete picture of these public health crises. Do journalists cover these issues thoroughly and effectively? How has coverage changed in recent years since nationwide protests against police brutality and structural racism have put some types of gun violence under more intense scrutiny? Recent research from BMSG, part of a larger project with our partners at the Hope and Heal Fund, sheds light on the coverage and how advocates can continue to shift the narrative on violence.