Abstract

ORTIZ-BARREDA, Gaby; VIVES-CASES, Carmen  and  ORTIZ-MONCADA, Rocío. The coverage of obesity in the Spanish newspapers (2000-2005). Perspect Nut Hum [online]. 2012, vol.14, n.1, pp.23-32. ISSN 0124-4108.

Antecedents: obesity is a public health problem in Spain. Mass media are considered a useful tool for public health. Objectives: to explore press coverage of obesity in Spanish newspapers between 2000-2005, taking into account the social context in relation to frequency of occurrence, main sources of information and focus. Materials and methods: quantitative content analysis of 690 news published in El Pais, El Mundo and ABC were performed. Calculation of frequencies and odds ratio (OR) with confidence intervals (CI) of 95% and statistical significance were performed. Results: press coverage of obesity increased between 2000 (n=25) to 2005 (n=185). Mainly it was focused on complaints (36,4%) and magnitude of the problem (15,7%) at the expense of news about initiatives-political strategies (3,8%). It was highlighted that men were the main sources of information (75,5%) and women as first signatories of the news (56,1%). Men from the medical/sanitary field (OR=1,98;CI_95%,1,11-3,57) and women from the field of policy (OR= 2,54; CI_95%,1,46-4,42) were more likely to be the main source of information. Conclusions: media coverage of obesity in the period 2000-2005 increased, coinciding with the development of policy responses on this issue. Mainly, the news has reported the existence of the problem. It highlights the limited coverage of initiatives-policy strategies that could be related to an incipient interaction between the political and the media agenda.

Keywords : obesity; mass media; news; public health; España.

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