Citation

Dorfman L, Thorson DE, Stevens JE. Health Educ. Behav. 2001; 28(4): 402-419.

Affiliation

Berkeley Media Studies Group, CA 94704, USA. dorfman@bmsg.org

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11465153

Abstract

The authors present a case study of a collaboration among the Berkeley Media Studies Group, the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism, and journalist Jane Ellen Stevens to introduce to five metropolitan newspapers new violence-reporting techniques that include a public health perspective. A handbook was designed for journalists, and workshops were conducted to explore with editors and reporters how newspapers can report highly unusual crimes and yet avoid misrepresenting the patterns of violence in their communities and creating misguided fear in the public. This case study documents how journalists can be meaningfully engaged on this topic with people from public health despite typical barriers to access faced by public health practitioners and solid resistance from many editors and reporters. The authors describe goals, objectives, and activities across five daily newspapers along with journalists' reactions, concerns, and resistance to the issues that were raised.

Language: en