Cancer News Coverage in Korean Newspapers: An Analytic Study in Terms of Cancer Awareness

OBJECTIVES: Cancer diagnoses have a tremendous impact on individuals and communities, drawing intense public concern. The objective of the current research was to examine news coverage and content related to cancer-related issues in Korean newspapers. METHODS: Primarily using the database system of the Korea Press Foundation, we conducted a content analysis of 2806 articles from 9 Korean daily newspapers during a recent 3-year period from 2015 to 2017. Thematic categories, the types of articles, attitudes and tone, and the number of sources in each article were coded and classified. RESULTS: Many news articles dealt with a diverse range of themes related to cancer, including general healthcare information, the latest research and development, specific medical institutions and personnel, and technology and products, which jointly accounted for 74.8% of all articles. Those thematic categories differed markedly in terms of article type, tone, and the number of cited sources. News articles provided extensive information about healthcare resources, and many articles seemed to contain advertising content. However, the content related to complex social issues such as National Health Insurance did not include enough information for the reader to contextualize the issues properly or present the issues systematically. CONCLUSIONS: It can be assumed that the media exert differential influence on individuals through news coverage. Within the present reporting framework, the availability and usefulness of information are likely to depend solely on individuals’ capabilities, such as financial and health literacy; this dependency has a negative impact on knowledge gaps and health inequities.