Emergency contraception and the media: an analysis of English national and
regional newspaper coverage from September 2000 to September 2003
P. Kingori (1), K. Wellings (2), J. Stephenson (1), R. Kane (2), R. French
(1) + TPSE team
Centre for Sexual Health and HIV Research, Dept. of Primary Care &
Population Sciences, Royal Free & University College Medical School, The
Mortimer Market Centre, off Capper Street, London, UK (1); Centre for Sexual
& Reproductive Health Research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Medicine, Keppel Street, London, UK (2)
Background: In 1999, the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy was launched with
the aims of halving under–18 conception rates and reducing social exclusion
among teenage parents in England by 2010. The prevention of teenage pregnancy
forms one of four major components of the Strategy. Improving contraceptive
provision and services are key elements in this component, of which increasing
and enhancing early access to Emergency Contraception (EC) forms an important
part. The Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Evaluation (TPSE) has been commissioned to
inform the Strategy. The role of national and regional newspapers in influencing
the social environment in which the Strategy is implemented forms an important
part of the TPSE.
Objectives: To present a systematic examination of English newspaper
articles related to EC and teenage pregnancy, from September 2000 to September
2003.
Design & Methods: A commercial press cuttings agency was used to
monitor all national and regional newspapers for the keywords ‘teenage
pregnancy’ and ‘Teenage Pregnancy Unit’ (TPU). The TPSE team coded the
articles by: newspaper; month; story; story headline; reporter; tone of the
article; spokesperson quoted/ referred to in the article, and region. Five
researchers were blinded to the newspaper’s name and the identity of
spokespersons, and asked to describe the tone of articles as ‘positive’, ‘neutral’
or ‘negative’.
Results: 1249 articles were collected (464 from national newspapers;
785 from regional newspapers). Regional newspapers tended to have a larger
proportion of positive articles than the national newspapers (56% vs. 32%). 186
stories (15%) were related to EC, 64% (n=129) were about the availability of EC
‘over-the-counter’ and 8% (n=15) were about the provision of EC in schools.
The majority of these were negative or neutral in tone, 37% (n=69) in each case,
while 26% (n=48) were positive in tone. Over the three years the proportions of
negative stories were: Year 1=49%; Year 2=26% and Year 3=40%. The inter-rater
reliability check of the coding of the tone of the articles produced an average
weighted Kappa of 0.62 (range from 0.4–0.8). The most frequent spokespersons,
or person quoted/referred to in the articles, were those categorised as ‘Family
Values’ campaigners (n=56, 30%) e.g. SPUC. ‘Commercial organisations’
(n=37,19.9%) e.g. Schering, and ‘Sexual Health Groups’ (n=34,18.3%) e.g.
Brook, were also major contributors to discussion of EC in the articles. Over
the three years ‘Family Values’ campaigners and the Daily Mail newspaper
were significantly associated with negative articles (p= <0.0001 and 0.007, respectively).
Conclusions: Newspaper reports of EC and teenage pregnancy have been
predominantly negative over the three years. Our analysis highlights important
distinctions between newspaper type, spokesperson and regional/national
newspapers. These findings can inform media advocacy strategies related to EC.
