Harms to ‘others’ from alcohol consumption in the minimum unit pricing policy debate: a qualitative content analysis of UK newspapers (2005–12)
نویسندگان
چکیده
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Minimum unit pricing is a fiscal intervention intended to tackle the social and health harms from alcohol to individual drinkers and wider society. This paper presents the first large-scale qualitative examination of how newsprint media framed the debate around the harms of alcohol consumption to 'others' during the development and passing of minimum unit pricing legislation in Scotland. METHODS Qualitative content analysis was conducted on seven U.K. and three Scottish national newspapers between 1 January 2005 and 30 June 2012. Relevant articles were identified using the electronic databases Nexis U.K. and Newsbank. A total of 403 articles focused on the harms of alcohol consumption to 'others' and were eligible for detailed coding and analysis. RESULTS Alcohol harms to wider society and communities were identified as being a worsening issue increasingly affecting everyone through shared economic costs, social disorder, crime and violence. The availability of cheap alcohol was blamed, alongside a minority of 'problem' youth binge drinkers. The harm caused to families was less widely reported. CONCLUSIONS If news reporting encourages the public to perceive the harms caused by alcohol to wider society as having reached crisis point, a population-based intervention may be deemed necessary and acceptable. However, the current focus in news reports on youth binge drinkers may be masking the wider issue of overconsumption across the broader population.
منابع مشابه
Representations of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in UK newspapers: a case study of a public health policy debate
BACKGROUND Mass media influence public acceptability, and hence feasibility, of public health interventions. This study investigates newsprint constructions of the alcohol problem and minimum unit pricing (MUP). METHODS Quantitative content analysis of 901 articles about MUP published in 10 UK and Scottish newspapers between 2005 and 2012. RESULTS MUP was a high-profile issue, particularly ...
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