Tob Control 2001;10:137-144 ( Summer )

Can media advocacy influence newspaper coverage of tobacco: measuring the effectiveness of the American stop smoking intervention study's (ASSIST) media advocacy strategies

Frances A Stillman^a, Kathleen A Cronin^a, W Douglas Evans^b, Alec Ulasevich^b

^a National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, ^b Prospect Center of the American Institutes for Research, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

Correspondence to: Frances Stillman, EdD, National Cancer Institute, Executive Plaza North, Room 4040, 6130 Executive Boulevard, MSC 7337, Bethesda, MD 20892-7337, USA fs40i{at}nih.gov

Received 21 May 2000; Revision received 5 January 2001; Accepted 25 January 2001

OBJECTIVETo compare the rate and slant of local tobacco control print media coverage in ASSIST (American stop smoking intervention study) states as compared with non-ASSIST states.
METHODSLocal tobacco control policy articles, editorials, and letters to the editors published from 1994 to 1998 clipped from all daily local newspapers in the USA were analysed (n = 95 911). The main hypothesis tested for the existence of an interaction between ASSIST intervention and time. This interaction would represent a change in the difference between ASSIST and non-ASSIST states over the course of the intervention.
RESULTSNo evidence of an ASSIST-year interaction was found. However, a main effect for ASSIST was significant for the percentage of articles with the model predicting higher rates of articles for ASSIST states. Similarly the rate of letters to the editor expressing protobacco control views was higher in ASSIST states than non-ASSIST states. No main effects or interactions were found for analyses of percentage of protobacco control editorials. Models controlled for a measure of preintervention tobacco control conditions at baseline.
CONCLUSIONSThe presence of an ASSIST main effect should be interpreted with caution because of the quasi-experimental design and the lack of information on article rates before the ASSIST intervention. Nonetheless, these preliminary findings suggest some possible effects of the media advocacy activities of ASSIST when controlling for differences in states' initial tobacco control conditions.


Keywords: ASSIST; intervention study; media advocacy strategy

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© 2001 by Tobacco Control
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