Improving Rural Newspaper Coverage of Nutrition Stories: An Educational Assessment of Editors’ Attitudes and Learning Needs

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Health Promot Pract
• Personal Author:
  Nothwehr, Faryle ; Chrisman, Matthew ; Andsager, Julie L.
• Description:
  Local newspapers are an important source of information for rural residents but often lack accurate or helpful nutrition-related information. To improve the quantity and quality of nutrition stories in rural, local newspapers, it is important to understand the perspective of editors. An online survey of 51 rural Midwest editors was conducted to assess attitudes toward writing nutrition stories, sources of information, perceived challenges, and interest in learning more about writing such stories. Of respondents, 49% were female, and 63% had at least a 4-year college degree. Through a mix of closed- and open-ended questions, the majority indicated positive attitudes toward nutrition stories, were confident in their abilities to write them, and expressed interest in learning more. Challenges cited include lack of print space, small staff, lack of specific requests from readers for nutrition stories, and the need to avoid offending local agricultural businesses. Results should be useful in planning an educational intervention for editors. Meanwhile, public health practitioners should provide concise press releases to their local newspapers about their activities. Also, greater expressions of appreciation from public health professionals and other readers may lead to higher prioritization of nutrition-related stories, and ultimately to an environment more supportive of healthy eating.
• Keywords:
  • nutrition
  • newspapers
  • rural
  • media
  • Administrative Personnel
  • Consumer Health Information
  • Decision Making
  • Diet
  • Female
  • Health Behavior
  More +
• Source:
  Health Promot Pract. 2014; 15(6):849-856
• Pubmed ID:
  24648288
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4251733
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  P30 CA086862/CA/NCI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U48 DP001902/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHSUnited States/ ; 1-U48DP001902-01/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  15
• Issue:
  6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/30190/cdc_30190_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 129.00 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:551e8b644286bec112cbfcf0e3d6684217335b0d66eeec15b698a11c70750d5a