Promoting Health Intervention Strategies from Social and Behavioral Research (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Paper Contribution H: The Role of Mass Media in Creating Social Capital: A New Direction for Public Health
Paper Contribution H: The Role of Mass Media in Creating Social Capital: A New Direction for Public Health
Pages 337-365
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From page 337... ...
One news report related the observation of emergency workers who said "an alarming number of city residents without air-conditioning keep their windows shut because they fear becoming victims of crime, and instead became jar. Wallack is professor and director, School of Community Health, College of Urban and Public Affairs, Portland State University.
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The central argument of this paper is that mass media approaches to improving the public's health need to be rethought in light of recent developments in social epidemiology, political science, sociology, and mass communication. Of particular importance is how these findings relate to social capital and population health.
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From page 339... ...
It briefly reviews the implications of recent social epidemiological and political science research for developing mass media interventions, the limits of previous public health efforts to use mass communication strategies, and prospects for a new public health media of engagement and participation. SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND HEALTH There is a long history establishing the role of social status, measured in various ways, as a strong determinant of health (Haan et al., 1989a,b, Adler et al., 1993, Adler et al., 1994, Marmot and Mustard, 1994, Anderson and Armstead, 1995, Blane, 1995, Kaplan, 1995, Lantz et al., 1998~.
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It is a component of social cohesion that includes social trust and civic participation (Putnam, 1993~. Coleman (1990, p.
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306~. Also, lack of social capital might inhibit the flow of health information through populations, could make it less likely that communities band together for collective action to insure basic health and social services, and might influence psychosocial processes that increase the sense of isolation and low sense of self-efficacy of those living in less cohesive communities (Kawachi and Berkman, 1998~.
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On the other hand, the public health community has long been concerned about the mass media as a source of problems. Various types of advertising and the portrayal of health-compromising behaviors and products in the media have been identified as promoting disease rather than health.
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However, for purposes of this paper, my concern is whether social capital is related to indicators of public health and whether mass media might influence the level of civic participation from a public health perspective. Television viewing contributes to lower levels of group membership and civic trust two key components of social capital (Putnam, 1995a)
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worried that the mass media inhibited social change and suggested that they might contribute to a population that was 'politically apathetic and inert" (p.
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An equally important issue is how people relate to the media. Public Health Mass Media Campaigns: Building Human Capital If you ask a group of public health practitioners whether improvements in health status will come about primarily as a result of people getting more information about their personal health habits or of people getting more power to change the social and environmental conditions in which they live, they will inevitably voice the latter belief.
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In order to make this happen, campaigns focus on developing the right message to deliver to the largest number of people through the mass media. Finding the right message is central to the campaign and extremely important.
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There are at least three promising media approaches that have the potential to build social capital and thus contribute to public health. These approaches are civic or public journalism, media advocacy, and photovoice.
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Civic journalism projects seek to engage the community in the process of civic life by providing information and other forms of support to increase community debate and public participation in problem solving. Jay Rosen, an academic, and Davis Merritt, a long-time print journalist, are among the best-known architects of civic journalism.
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These projects have addressed a diverse set of issues, including race relations, crime and violence, juvenile delinquency, alcohol, land use planning, domestic violence, economic development, community leadership, and voting participation. Civic journalism projects are themselves quite diverse, employing a wide range of approaches.
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A series of evaluation studies provides encouraging findings on the effects of the civic journalism efforts (Chaffee et al., 1997, Ognianova et al., 1997, Thorson et al., 1997, Denton and Thorson, 1998~. In general, the survey evaluations focused on outcomes as well as theoretical pathways and found promising results for the hypothesis that the news media can enhance the democratic process by increasing involvement (Demon and Thorson, 1998~.
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Media Advocacy Media advocacy is the strategic use of mass media in combination with community organizing to advance healthy public policies. The primary focus is on the role of news media, with secondary attention to the use of paid advertising (USDHHS, 1988, Wallack and Sciandra, 1990-1991, Wallack, et al., 1993, 1999, Wallack, 1994, Wallack and Doryman, 1996, Winett and Wallack, 1996~.
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Media advocacy focuses on four primary activities in support of community organizing, policy development, and advancing policy: 1. Overall Strategy Development: Media advocacy uses critical thinking to understand and respond to problems as social issues rather than personal problems.
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Media advocacy involves understanding how journalism works in order to increase access to the news media. This includes maintaining a media list, monitoring the news media, understanding the elements of newsworthiness, pitching stories, holding news events, and developing editorial page strategies for reaching key opinion leaders.
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From page 354... ...
Also, it was unclear whether a comprehensive media advocacy approach was implemented as was found in the case studies on limiting alcohol outlets in Oakland or banning junk guns in California. Photovoice Photovoice, a relatively new concept, is the use of photography for social change by marginalized and traditionally powerless groups.
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This means finding ways to translate and make visible the "data" in the photographs so that others can be enlisted in the social change process. The photovoice process has been documented in a series of articles by Wang and her colleagues.
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Mass media campaigns that can direct people to the Internet for more detailed and personalized information, as well as social support, will no doubt increase their potential to help people. Civic journalism projects that use the Internet will make it easier for people to participate in a more informed way.
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In addition, because public health seeks to "create the conditions in which people can be healthy" (Institute of Medicine, 1988) , mass media strategies should also provide citizens with the skills to better participate in the policy process to create these conditions.
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Building social capital is not a panacea, but it can make an important contribution to changing the odds. Developing media approaches that can enhance social capital and level the playing field is important for the future of public health.
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One of the problems in determining effects is that these approaches must be seen as supporting and advancing larger interventions for policy change. Civic journalism, media advocacy, and photovoice are likely means to increase social capital and enhance the capacity of communities to act.
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DeJong W MADD Massachusetts Versus Senator Burke: A Media Advocacy Case Study.
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Holder HD, Treno AJ. Media Advocacy in Community Prevention: News as a Means to Advance Policy Change.
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Mass Communication, Popular Taste and Organized Social Action. In Schramm W
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Paper presented at Communication Theory and Methodology Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication; August 1997. Pew Center for Civic Journalism.
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Mass Media Audiences in a Changing Media Environment. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.
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Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications; 1993.
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