J Korean Med Sci.  2016 Aug;31(8):1231-1238. 10.3346/jkms.2016.31.8.1231.

News Portrayal of Cancer: Content Analysis of Threat and Efficacy by Cancer Type and Comparison with Incidence and Mortality in Korea

• Shim M
• Kim YC
• Kye SY
• Park K

• KMID: 2373750
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2016.31.8.1231

Abstract

How the news media cover cancer may have profound significance for cancer prevention and control; however, little is known about the actual content of cancer news coverage in Korea. This research thus aimed to examine news portrayal of specific cancer types with respect to threat and efficacy, and to investigate whether news portrayal corresponds to actual cancer statistics. A content analysis of 1,138 cancer news stories was conducted, using a representative sample from 23 news outlets (television, newspapers, and other news media) in Korea over a 5-year period from 2008 to 2012. Cancer incidence and mortality rates were obtained from the Korean Statistical Information Service. Results suggest that threat was most prominent in news stories on pancreatic cancer (with 87% of the articles containing threat information with specific details), followed by liver (80%) and lung cancers (70%), and least in stomach cancer (41%). Efficacy information with details was conveyed most often in articles on colorectal (54%), skin (54%), and liver (50%) cancers, and least in thyroid cancer (17%). In terms of discrepancies between news portrayal and actual statistics, the threat of pancreatic and liver cancers was overreported, whereas the threat of stomach and prostate cancers was underreported. Efficacy information regarding cervical and colorectal cancers was overrepresented in the news relative to cancer statistics; efficacy of lung and thyroid cancers was underreported. Findings provide important implications for medical professionals to understand news information about particular cancers as a basis for public (mis)perception, and to communicate effectively about cancer risk with the public and patients.

Keyword

Incidence; Mortality; Risk; Newspapers; Television; Internet; Korea

MeSH Terms

Communication
Humans
Incidence
Internet/statistics & numerical data
Liver Neoplasms/epidemiology
Male
Mass Media/*statistics & numerical data
Neoplasms/*epidemiology/mortality/prevention & control
Pancreatic Neoplasms/epidemiology
Prostatic Neoplasms/epidemiology
Republic of Korea/epidemiology
Retrospective Studies
Stomach Neoplasms/epidemiology

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 The rank of news content on each cancer type, in comparison to the rank of the amount of news coverage. X-axis indicates the rank of the amount of news coverage on each cancer type: 1, breast; 2, colon; 3, cervical; 4, prostate; 5, lung; 6, skin; 7, thyroid; 8, liver; 9, stomach; 10, pancreatic cancer. Y-axis indicates the rank of the content of cancer news, respectively for threat and efficacy.

• 

  Fig. 2 The rank of news content on each cancer, relative to the rank of cancer statistics (incidence rates, morality rates, and yearly incidence change). X-axis indicates the rank of cancer statistics, and the name of cancer sites was shortened: thy, thyroid; sto, stomach; col, colon; lun, lung; liv, liver; bre, breast; pro, prostate; pan, pancreatic; cer, cervical; ski, skin. Y-axis indicates the rank of the content of cancer news, respectively for threat and efficacy.

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