“A Death in the Family” – A Case Study of Newspaper Influence on Health Policy Development

Abstract

This case study of an Alabama newspaper's series on infant mortality and of subsequent changes in related state health services shows that the series helped increase public support for policy changes to reduce infant mortality and created pressure on the governor and legislators to make those changes. Factors that seem to have affected the series' influence include expert agreement on solutions, the existence of supportive private citizen groups and public officials, Alabama's political situation, the newspaper's location in the capitol city, widespread distribution of series reprints, editorial and reporting follow-ups, and publicity when the series won a Pulitzer Prize.