Media Framing in Public Health Communication
Summary
Media framing refers to the selection and emphasis of particular aspects of public health issues to shape how audiences interpret information and make decisions. By highlighting certain causes, consequences and solutions, frames guide public perceptions of disease risk, responsibility and stigma. In traditional news outlets, print and broadcast journalists employ narrative devices—such as metaphors of battle or journey, moralising language or human-interest angles—to influence policy debates and individual behaviour. In digital and social media, framing extends into user comments, hashtags and visual memes, creating dynamic feedback loops that can reinforce or challenge official public health messages. Advances in content analysis, text mining and discourse analysis have enabled researchers to unpack how shifts in terminology—from “family moral tragedy” to “long-term care tragedy,” for example—can alter public empathy and engagement. Understanding media framing is therefore vital for designing communication strategies that reduce stigma, promote preventive behaviours and foster informed policymaking on issues ranging from suicide prevention to chronic disease management and childhood obesity.
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Media Framing in Public Health Communication publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in media framing in public health communication across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Frame: A coherent narrative or angle used by media to organise information and guide audience interpretation.
Content analysis: A research method for systematically coding and quantifying textual or visual media elements.
Text mining: The computational process of extracting patterns and trends from large text corpora.
Semantic prosody: The tendency of words to co-occur with positive or negative contextual language, influencing connotation.
References
- Media Discourse, Influence, and Reflection: Content Analysis and Text-Mining Study of Suicides and Homicides in Long-Term Care. Journal of Medical Internet Research (2025).
- Disease frames and their consequences for stigma and medical research funds. Social Science & Medicine (2025).
- Public Understanding of Childhood Obesity: Qualitative Analysis of News Articles and Comments on Facebook. Health Communication (2021).
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