Media Effects

What are the consequences of media exposure on individuals, groups, and communities? While there are a variety of hypotheses, we will concentrate on four important hypotheses that relate to health behavior change.

The Knowledge Gap

The knowledge gap hypothesis was developed by Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien (1970). They suggested that when new information enters a social system (e.g., a health communication campaign) people with higher SES tend to acquire this information at a faster rate than those of lower SES. As a result, the knowledge as well as health disparity between the two groups may increase rather than decrease.

However, recent studies show that knowledge gaps can be influenced by a variety of factors, such as channels, social conflict, community structure, and motivator factors. It seems that the knowledge gap can be reduced under certain circumstances.

Agenda-Setting

It is well established that mass media can have a powerful influence on the setting of public agenda of important issues and problems. Not only can people acquire information about health issues from mass media, they also learn how much importance to attach to a topic on the basis of the emphasis placed on it in the mass media. For example, newspapers provide lots of cues about the salience of the topics- lead story on page one large headlines, a series of reports, etc. Obviously, public health professionals should learn to use mass media to raise the salience of specific health problems they want to target.

Cultivation Studies

The cultivation hypothesis was developed by Professor George Gerbner, dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. Gerbner and other researchers looked at the mass media as a socializing agent and investigated whether television viewers came to believe the television version of reality the more they watched it. They did find that the level of exposure seems to be one of the most important factors in the cultivation effect. For example, in a survey, about 450 New Jersey schoolchildren were asked to estimate the number of people involved in violence in a typical week. Results showed that children who were heavy viewers of TV were more fearful about walking alone in a city at night. They also overestimated the number of people who committed serious crimes (Dominick 1990). In sum, cultivation studies suggest that TV cultivates a stilted view of the world.

Risk Communication
Risk communication (RC) is a complex and evolving process of increasing importance in protecting the public's health. The National Research Council (NRC) defines risk communication as "an interactive process of exchange of information and opinion among individuals, groups, and institutions." The definition includes "discussion about risk types and levels and about methods for managing risks." Public health professionals use risk communication to give people appropriate information about health risks and to involve them in making decisions that affect their health. At the individual level, RC focuses on the cognitive processes by which individuals are exposed to information, how they interpret the risk information, and whether they act upon the risk information to change their behavior. For example, RC can help promote changes in individual behavior such as in informing homeowners about the need to check for indoor radon or lead-based paint.
At the community level, RC focuses on the interaction between populations and social institutions (e.g., mass media, government agencies) in policymaking about important social issues such as air pollution, hazardous waste sites, pesticides, and asbestos.
Below are seven rules for the practice of RC:
They are first expressed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several of the field's founders:

  1. Accept and involve the public as a legitimate partner.
  2. Plan carefully and evaluate your efforts.
  3. Listen to the public's specific concerns.
  4. Be honest, frank, and open.
  5. Coordinate and collaborate with other credible sources.
  6. Meet the needs of the media.
  7. Speak clearly and with compassion.

Source: Seven Cardinal Rules of Risk Communication. Pamphlet drafted by Vincent T. Covello and Frederick H. Allen. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, April 1988, OPA-87-020.

Please also read the following article in New York Times entitled Living in Fear and Paying a High Cost in Heart Risk . After you read, think about these questions:

  1. Through which channels are the risk of terrorism transmitted to the general public?
  2. What is the health consequence of living in the world of fear?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/science/15tier.html?scp=2&sq=fear+and+terrorism+warning+&st=nyt