A Content Analysis of Organ Donation Stories Printed in U.S. Newspapers: Application of Newsworthiness

Abstract The current study applied a theory of newsworthiness to the topic of organ donation. Specifically, content analysis of newspaper stories published in the United States (N = 1,988) was performed to identify whether deviance and significance of a story predicted story prominence, measured as story length and placement in the newspaper. Results indicated support for study hypotheses: Longer stories and front-page stories pertaining to organ donation were more deviant and more significant in content. Analyses also indicated stories more negative in nature were more likely given front-page coverage, represented international events, and were high on deviance and significance. Higher circulating newspapers were more likely to publish stories recounting negative events in organ donation. Results indicated organ donation coverage represents a valid application of newsworthiness theory, and implications of study findings are discussed in relation to the agenda-setting function of news stories.

[1]  E. L. Fink,et al.  The FAQs on Data Transformation , 2009 .

[2]  Jong Hyuk Lee,et al.  News values of sports events: an application of a newsworthiness model on the World Cup coverage of US and Korean media , 2009 .

[3]  M. Slater.  Reinforcing Spirals: The Mutual Influence of Media Selectivity and Media Effects and Their Impact on Individual Behavior and Social Identity , 2007 .

[4]  M. McCombs.  Agenda setting function of mass media , 1977 .

[5]  Pamela J. Shoemaker,et al.  Deviant Acts, Risky Business and U.S. Interests: The Newsworthiness of World Events , 1991 .

[6]  J. Galtung,et al.  The Structure of Foreign News , 1965 .

[7]  D. Weaver.  Thoughts on Agenda Setting, Framing, and Priming , 2007 .

[8]  Dietram A. Scheufele,et al.  Framing as a theory of media effects , 1999 .

[9]  Pamela J. Shoemaker,et al.  Deviance as a Predictor of Newsworthiness: Coverage of International Events in the U.S. Media , 1987 .

[10]  R. Sorelle.  United Network for Organ Sharing. , 1997, Circulation.

[11]  James Shanteau,et al.  Organ Donation and Transplantation: Psychological and Behavioral Factors , 1990 .

[12]  Thomas Hugh Feeley,et al.  How Organ Donation Is Represented in Newspaper Articles in the United States , 2007, Health communication.

[13]  P. J. Tichenor,et al.  MASS MEDIA FLOW AND DIFFERENTIAL GROWTH IN KNOWLEDGE , 1970 .

[14]  Thomas Hugh Feeley,et al.  College Students' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Regarding Organ Donation: An Integrated Review of the Literature† , 2007 .

[15]  Timothy J. Servoss,et al.  Examining College Students' Intentions to Become Organ Donors , 2005, Journal of health communication.

[16]  Susan E. Morgan,et al.  In Their Own Words: The Reasons Why People Will (Not) Sign an Organ Donor Card , 2008, Health communication.

[17]  Brian L Quick,et al.  A 15-Year Review of ABC, CBS, and NBC News Coverage of Organ Donation: Implications for Organ Donation Campaigns , 2009, Health communication.

[18]  Tyler R. Harrison,et al.  The Challenges of Social Marketing of Organ Donation: News and Entertainment Coverage of Donation and Transplantation , 2008, Health marketing quarterly.

[19]  M. Prior,et al.  News vs. Entertainment: How Increasing Media Choice Widens Gaps in Political Knowledge and Turnout , 2005 .

[20]  Carole Rich,et al.  Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method , 1993 .

[21]  Peter A Andrews,et al.  Transplant: From Myth to Reality , 2003, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[22]  R. L. Horton,et al.  Knowledge regarding organ donation: identifying and overcoming barriers to organ donation. , 1990, Social science & medicine.

[23]  Ashley E. Anker,et al.  Reasons for (not) Signing the State Registry: Surveying Department of Motor Vehicles Customers in New York State , 2014, Progress in transplantation.

[24]  D. Howard,et al.  Should We Promote Organ Donor Registries When So Few Registrants Will End Up Being Donors? , 2007, Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making.

[25]  Pamela J. Shoemaker,et al.  Determinants of International News Coverage in the U.S. Media , 1987 .

[26]  Shimon Gadir,et al.  Agenda Setting , 1980 .

[27]  Ashley E. Anker,et al.  Estimating the risks of acquiring a kidney abroad: a meta‐analysis of complications following participation in transplant tourism , 2012, Clinical transplantation.

[28]  I. Walker,et al.  Social representations and themata: the construction and functioning of social knowledge about donation and transplantation. , 2005, The British journal of social psychology.

[29]  Ashley E. Anker,et al.  Examining the Attitude–Behavior Relationship in Prosocial Donation Domains , 2010 .

[30]  Andy J. King,et al.  A Kernel of Truth? The Impact of Television Storylines Exploiting Myths About Organ Donation on the Public's Willingness to Donate , 2010 .

[31]  Linda L. Putnam,et al.  Making Sense of Intractable Multiparty Conflict: A Study of Framing in Four Environmental Disputes , 2008 .

[32]  Susan E. Morgan,et al.  The Intersection of Conversation, Cognitions, and Campaigns: The Social Representation of Organ Donation , 2009 .

[33]  Tyler R. Harrison,et al.  Facts versus `Feelings' , 2008, Journal of health psychology.

[34]  Pamela J. Shoemaker,et al.  Hardwired for News: Using Biological and Cultural Evolution to Explain the Surveillance Function , 1996 .

[35]  J. Finnegan,et al.  The Knowledge Gap Hypothesis: Twenty-Five Years Later , 1996 .

[36]  C. Goodman.  United Network for Organ Sharing , 1988 .

[37]  Jacob Cohen.  A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales , 1960 .