Abstract
Purpose.
This study examines two newspapers' editorial coverage of issues related to the Healthy People 2010 focus areas and compares the two newspapers.
Design.
A qualitative study.
Setting.
Two Los Angeles, California, newspapers.
Subjects.
The masthead editorials of the Los Angeles Times and La Opinión in the year following the release of Healthy People 2010.
Measures.
A structured data abstraction instrument was used for descriptive coding. Correspondence to 1 of the 28 Healthy People 2010 focus areas determined whether domestic editorials were about health.
Analysis.
An ethnographic content analysis.
Results.
There were 1075 editorials from the Los Angeles Times and 361 from La Opinión; 17% were focused on domestic health issues. Three Healthy People 2010 focus areas dominated: Environmental Health, Injury and Violence Prevention, and Access to Quality Health Services. Ten focus areas did not receive a single mention in the Los Angeles Times, and 19 focus areas lacked editorials in La Opinión.
Conclusion.
Editorial writers regularly tackled issues related to a Healthy People 2010 focus area. Public health practitioners can meet with their local newspaper editorial board and discuss the nation's health objectives as manifested by Healthy People 2020 and the National Prevention Strategy, thereby promoting policies that support individual and population health.
Keywords
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