ABSTRACT

Health policy plays a critical role in determining a state’s or nation’s overall population health, and health system change has been a priority for a majority of Americans for at least a decade. News coverage can influence health policy development, but little research has examined the quality of that coverage, in part because no consensus exists regarding what information health policy stories should include. This paper describes a series of in-depth interviews with eight health policy experts and 12 experienced journalists who have covered health policy. While rejecting the notion of strict quality criteria that could be applied to all health policy stories, the interviewees agreed on several factors that would improve health policy coverage. They recommended that health policy stories should include information about financial costs to consumers, evidence that a policy will have its intended effect, historical context for the policy, and “relatable hooks” that help consumers understand which groups a policy will affect and how. In addition, the interviewees stressed the importance of building policy coverage on trustworthy sources representing multiple viewpoints and the need to recognize how audience members’ values influence their acceptance and interpretation of evidence. These findings provide an important foundation for future research examining the impact of health policy reporting on both public opinion and public policy development.

摘要

卫生政策在决定一个州或国家的总体人口健康方面起着关键作用，至少十年来，卫生系统变革一直是大多数美国人的优先事项。新闻报道可以影响卫生政策的制定，但很少有研究检查这种报道的质量，部分原因是关于卫生政策故事应该包括哪些信息还没有达成共识。本文描述了对 8 位卫生政策专家和 12 位报道过卫生政策的经验丰富的记者的一系列深入采访。受访者拒绝接受可适用于所有卫生政策报道的严格质量标准的概念，但同意可以改善卫生政策覆盖面的几个因素。他们建议，健康政策故事应包括有关消费者财务成本的信息、政策将产生预期效果的证据、政策的历史背景，以及帮助消费者了解政策将影响哪些群体以及如何影响的“相关线索”。此外，受访者强调了将政策覆盖范围建立在代表多种观点的可信赖来源上的重要性，以及认识到受众成员的价值观如何影响他们对证据的接受和解释的必要性。这些发现为未来研究卫生政策报告对公众舆论和公共政策发展的影响奠定了重要基础。以及帮助消费者了解政策将影响哪些群体以及如何影响的“相关挂钩”。此外，受访者强调了将政策覆盖范围建立在代表多种观点的可信赖来源上的重要性，以及认识到受众成员的价值观如何影响他们对证据的接受和解释的必要性。这些发现为未来研究卫生政策报告对公众舆论和公共政策发展的影响奠定了重要基础。以及帮助消费者了解政策将影响哪些群体以及如何影响的“相关挂钩”。此外，受访者强调了将政策覆盖范围建立在代表多种观点的可信赖来源上的重要性，以及认识到受众成员的价值观如何影响他们对证据的接受和解释的必要性。这些发现为未来研究卫生政策报告对公众舆论和公共政策发展的影响奠定了重要基础。