The portrayal of electronic cigarettes in Indonesia: a content analysis of news media

BACKGROUND: The news media play an essential role in shaping public opinion. Analyzing a specific issue reported in the news media provides insight and considerations for a government to form a policy. This study aimed to assess the portrayal of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in Indonesian news media, including the variety of arguments being presented and the actors behind them. METHODS: We used a paid service database from eBdesk to collect Indonesian news articles from 2020 to 2021 using the keywords ‘rokok elektronik’ (electronic cigarette), ‘rokok elektrik’ (electric cigarette), ‘e-rokok’ (e-cigarette), ‘vape’, and ‘vaping’. Content analysis of 551 full-text news articles was conducted to identify the concepts, topics, and frames of quoted arguments and to examine whether any frames were presented by different types of organizations and the origin of actors. RESULTS: News articles related to e-cigarettes were mostly published in the national newspaper and in the non-health section of the newspaper desk. A total of 891 arguments from 393 persons representing 212 institutions were identified. Twenty-eight concepts were further categorized into 12 topics. Health impact was the most frequently reported topic, followed by regulation, tax/price, and e-cigarettes as smoking cessation tools. Overall, the articles and arguments with positive tones toward e-cigarettes outnumbered negative articles and arguments. The industry, university, and research-based institutions were the most involved types of organizations in the news articles. There were more neutral frames toward e-cigarettes among government, even though the frame within the non-health government sector was reported to be more positive toward e-cigarettes. CONCLUSIONS: Although health impact is the most reported topic, the actors involved in delivering arguments were mainly from the non-health sector, including when the news articles were published by the newspaper desk. The e-cigarette issue in Indonesia was mainly played by the non-health sector, which is more inclined toward economic interest than health.