FOGARTY Andrea - Final thesis

270 Pages·2013·1.54 MB·English

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Alcohol and the News: an investigation of
Australian news media reports about
alcohol policies, expert priorities and
audience understandings

Andrea Fogarty

School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

2013
Declaration
This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare I have not submitted this
material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution.

Ethical Clearance
The study protocol was approved by the University’s Human Research Ethics
Committee (protocol #12034).
ABSTRACT
Background
Alcohol is associated with a significant societal burden of harm and news media
coverage of the issue can affect how different audiences think about potential
policy solutions and who is responsible for responding. This thesis investigates
relationships between news coverage of alcohol, expert policy advocacy, and
audience responses to policy proposals.
Method
Five analyses were used, including three content and framing analyses: (i) five
years of television news reports about alcohol; (ii) newspaper and television
coverage of the 2008-09 ‘alcopops tax’; (iii) newspaper coverage of alcohol
advertising restrictions; and two qualitative analyses focused on alcohol pricing
and alcohol advertising restrictions: (iv) in-depth interviews with 21 alcohol
policy experts, and (v) eight focus groups discussions with young people, parents
of young people, and Australian adults.
Results
Alcohol is covered extensively by Australian television and newspapers, with
emphases on harms to health. The ‘alcopops tax’ generated significant news
coverage, yet evidence of its effectiveness was relegated to the background,
while coverage of alcohol advertising restrictions was relatively limited. Alcohol
experts appeared frequently in news coverage and agreed that alcohol’s price
and promotion are policy priorities, with some important differences concerning
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policy implementation. Audience members expressed concern about alcohol’s
harms and supported alcohol policies in principle, but remained unconvinced
that existing policies have the capacity to effectively deal with the ‘alcohol
problem’.
Conclusion
News media advocacy has effectively established that alcohol poses problems.
Future media advocacy would benefit from resolving policy differences in order
to successfully convince the public of the need for introducing new proposals.

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Table of contents

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ 1
Table of contents ..................................................................................................... 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ 7
CHAPTER 1: THESIS STRUCTURE AND PUBLICATIONS ............................................. 9
CHAPTER 2: AN INTRODUCTION TO ALCOHOL, ASSOCIATED HARMS AND
POTENTIAL POLICY RESPONSES ............................................................................. 13
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? .............................................................................................. 13
ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION ............................................................................................. 14
ALCOHOL RELATED HARMS AND COSTS TO SOCIETY ................................................... 17
BEST PRACTICE IN PREVENTION .................................................................................... 20
TABLE 1.1: Summary of prevention interventions for Australia, adapted from [39] and
[44] ................................................................................................................................ 23
THE POLICY ENVIRONMENT .......................................................................................... 24
THE DRINKS INDUSTRY .................................................................................................. 27
INTEREST GROUPS AND ORGANISATIONS .................................................................... 28
TABLE 1.2: Australian public health organisations and associations with an interest in
national alcohol policy .................................................................................................. 30
TABLE 1.3: Australian drinks industry groups and organisations with a presumed
interest in national alcohol policy ................................................................................. 31
CHAPTER 3: ALCOHOL AND NEWS MEDIA ............................................................. 38
NEWS MEDIA AND AUDIENCE EFFECTS ................................................................. 39
ALCOHOL IN THE MEDIA ............................................................................................... 54
AIMS OF THE THESIS ..................................................................................................... 68
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CHAPTER 4: AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION NEWS COVERAGE OF ALCOHOL, HEALTH
AND RELATED POLICIES, 2005 TO 2010: IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY ADVOCATES
............................................................................................................................... 70
PUBLISHED WORK ......................................................................................................... 70
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... 71
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 73
METHOD ........................................................................................................................ 77
RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 81
Table 4.1: Main alcohol-related themes in N=612 broadcast news items ................... 83
Table 4.2: Reported alcohol-related health effects in N=612 broadcast news items .. 84
Table 4.3: Alcohol control policies mentioned in N=612 broadcast news items .......... 86
Table 4.4: News actors represented in N=612 alcohol-related news items ................. 89
DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................... 90
CHAPTER 5: FRAMING AND THE MARGINALISATION OF EVIDENCE IN MEDIA
REPORTAGE OF POLICY DEBATE ABOUT ALCOPOPS, AUSTRALIA 2008-09:
IMPLICATIONS FOR ADVOCACY ............................................................................. 97
PUBLISHED WORK ......................................................................................................... 97
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... 98
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 99
METHOD ...................................................................................................................... 103
RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 106
Table 5.1: Summary of statements for or against the ‘alcopops tax’ ......................... 106
Table 5.2: Breakdown of the arguments made by interested parties ........................ 110
DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................. 111
CHAPTER 6: ADVOCATES, INTEREST GROUPS AND AUSTRALIAN NEWS COVERAGE
OF ALCOHOL ADVERTISING RESTRICTIONS: CONTENT AND FRAMING ANALYSIS
............................................................................................................................. 118
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PUBLISHED WORK ....................................................................................................... 118
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... 119
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 121
METHODS .................................................................................................................... 126
RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 130
Table 6.1: Summary - mentions of specific advertising channels, types of advertising
restrictions and the news actors present in each story before and after the
Preventative Health Task Force Report ...................................................................... 134
Table 6.2: Distribution of different frames across the coverage (N=1,322 statements)
..................................................................................................................................... 142
Table 6.3: News actor support for advertising restrictions – statements N=1,322 .... 143
DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................. 144
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 150
CHAPTER 7: WHAT SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT POLICY ON ALCOHOL PRICING AND
PROMOTIONS? AUSTRALIAN EXPERTS’ VIEWS OF POLICY PRIORITES: A
QUALITATIVE INTERVIEW STUDY ......................................................................... 152
PUBLISHED WORK ....................................................................................................... 152
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... 153
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 155
METHOD ...................................................................................................................... 160
RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 162
DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................. 173
CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................. 180
CHAPTER 8: “LIKE THROWING A BOWLING BALL AT A BATTLE SHIP” AUDIENCE
RESPONSES TO AUSTRALIAN NEWS STORIES ABOUT ALCOHOL PRICING AND
PROMOTION POLICIES: A QUALITATIVE FOCUS GROUP STUDY .......................... 182
PUBLISHED WORK ....................................................................................................... 182
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... 183
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 185
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METHOD ...................................................................................................................... 189
Table 8.1: characteristics of focus groups recruited ................................................... 190
RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 191
DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................. 202
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 208
CHAPTER 9: IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH .......................................... 209
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ............................................................................................. 209
IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY ADVOCACY ...................................................................... 214
SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS ........................................................................................ 224
FUTURE RESEARCH ...................................................................................................... 227
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 230
APPENDIX 1: UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY POLICY ON SUBMISSION OF PhD BY
PUBLICATION ....................................................................................................... 251
APPENDIX 2: SUMMARY TABLE OF LITERATURE RELATED TO NEWS REPORTING
OF ALCOHOL AND AUDIENCE UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE NEWS ....................... 258

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This PhD was supported through funding from the Australian National Health and
Medical Research Council (NHMRC): Capacity Building Grant #571376

I’d like to thank my primary PhD supervisor, Professor Simon Chapman, who has guided
me through the ups and downs of academic research by providing his insight, support,
advice and encouragement through every stage of this thesis. I am grateful for
everything I have learned along the way.

I also want to thank my co-supervisor, Dr Catriona Bonfiglioli, who has been thoughtfully
supportive, kind and endlessly encouraging, with a fantastic gift for absorbing
information and turning it into practical advice for my benefit. Catriona pointed me in
the right direction too many times to acknowledge, and popped up to ask how I was
going at just the right time, every time. I couldn’t have done this without you – heartfelt
thanks for the lunches and conversation!

A special shout-out to my office buddy and ‘work wife’ Dr Becky Freeman, who not only
bore the brunt of my neuroses towards the end, but has also shared her enthusiasm,
insight, and expertise with much patience and warmth. For every crack of the whip, I
thank you. I will miss our office chats immeasurably, thank you for being a constant
source of inspiration!

To Simon Holding, who dedicated endless hours to the TV archive and whose
enthusiasm for gelato matched my own – thanks for being a tops work colleague, with
impeccable taste in science fiction.

To my cheer squad of friends: you’re the best! Particular mentions for Kirsten Challinor,
who gave me the single most useful piece of advice along the way; Holly & Jorge, who
believed in me and fed me a bunch of delicious of meals along the way; Amy & Jono
Watson, who checked in on me throughout and are solid gold rocks of awesome; Ladan
Shirvani, my dear friend of so many years, who always facilitates laughter, deep from
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