Sexual Health on Television

Television drama series have the potential to create awareness about sexual health problems and solutions. This study deployed a qualitative analysis of framing to understand how the Netflix show Sex Education framed sexual health concerns. Findings indicate that some sexual health concerns were depicted in the context of teaching sexual responsibility and destigmatizing processes such as seeking information or coming out as LGBTQ+. The show also portrayed the negative consequences of sexual violence and how people might choose to seek help related to sexual trauma. Overall, this study discusses how Sex Education frames sexual health issues in both expected and novel ways compared to those previously explored in public interest communications research.

Conversing or Diffusing Information?

This study examines the one-way information diffusion and two-way dialogic engagement present in public health Twitter chats. Network analysis assessed whether Twitter chats adhere to one of the key principles for online dialogic communication, the dialogic loop (Kent & Taylor, 1998) for four public health-related chats hosted by CDC Twitter accounts. The features of the most retweeted accounts and the most retweeted tweets also were examined. The results indicate that very little dialogic engagement took place. Moreover, the chats seemed to function as pseudoevents primarily used by organizations as opportunities for creating content. However, events such as #PublicHealthChat may serve as important opportunities for gaining attention for issues on social media. Implications for using social media in public interest communications are discussed.

It’s Good for Me

This study examines moral development’s role in judgments of health messages. This research assesses which appeals and type of benefit advertised in health ads impact ad effectiveness and health intentions. Results indicate that messages advertising a third-person benefit of the behavior are more appealing than a first-person benefit and that moral development should be considered when designing health messages. The ads presenting a third-person benefit and an emotional appeal were more effective among those who rated higher in the maintaining norms schema of moral development and among those with higher moral development. This indicates that health messages targeting adolescents should emphasize the principles at play when encouraging behavior or attitude change and should highlight societal values in the behaviors.

More Than a “Bad Apple”: Expanding Care Considerations for Strategic Communication in a Collective Crisis

The Larry Nassar case is one of many abuse stories within and beyond sports. Although conventional strategies of image repair such as identifying one “bad apple” are considered effective within an ethics of justice perspective, we argue that crisis responses must adopt an ethics of care when physical and emotional harm has occurred. Using a case study approach, we qualitatively analyzed organizational responses from Michigan State University (MSU), U.S.A. Gymnastics (USAG), and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), as well as media coverage of Nassar’s sentencing hearing, through Fraustino and Kennedy’s (2018) Applied Model of Care Considerations (AMCC) framework. We theorize how the media landscape creates a space of resistance for survivors that facilitates ethics of care in a collective crisis.

Book Review: A Comedian and an Activist Walk into a Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social Justice

A review of A Comedian and an Activist Walk into a Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social Justice by Caty Borum Chattoo and Lauren Feldman.

Applying Care to Political Public Relations: Crisis Communications Following the Terrorist Attack in New Zealand

Care is not a word generally associated with political crises. However, following the mosques massacre in New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was found to have used care and a feminist approach to political communication that served to unite rather than divide her country following this racially motivated terrorist attack. There is much literature on corporate crises, but this paper adds to the dearth of literature on political crises in a public interest context. Grounded in a consideration of care and agenda building theories, it reveals that a caring approach to political communication (both verbal and nonverbal) following an act of terrorism can influence the media agenda and by extension public opinion.

When “Tried and True” Advocacy Strategies Backfire

A core principle of policy advocacy is that to engage decision makers in the urgency, complexity, and controversy of problems, advocates must effectively tell the story of those issues. Policy stories, or narratives, paint mental pictures of what a problem is, who is affected, and how it came to be. Yet, the persuasive effects of narratives on one key group, state legislators, remain understudied. Drawing from the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), media advocacy, and public interest communications, we sought to inform advocacy strategy by illuminating state legislators’ responses to messages about public investments in quality childcare for all. Contrary to expectations, we found that narratives can have unintended effects challenging or even diminishing legislator support. We discuss implications for advocacy strategy.

Severe Allergies, Price Increases, and Supply Shortages

Controlling pharmaceutical prescription costs has been an interest in the United States for decades. In 2016, EpiPen experienced a 600% price increase. This exploratory framing study focuses on news coverage of EpiPen’s price increase and related pharmaceutical price increase stories through analyzing three U.S. television news programs’ coverage. Within 30 news segments that discussed EpiPen or medication price increases, analysis revealed four frames: economic, attribution of responsibility, morality and human interest, and conflict and powerlessness. This study provides a larger understanding of how the crisis of medication price increases is understood and implications for practitioners and individuals aiming to make medications more accessible.

Restorative Narratives

Restorative narratives are stories that highlight how people recover from adversity. Researchers have proposed that this storytelling approach may provide a way to share negative news without emotionally overwhelming audiences. Instead, restorative narratives may decrease the need for emotion regulation processes and as a result, increase the willingness to help those in need. In Study 1, a restorative narrative elicited more positive emotions and an increased willingness to volunteer compared to a negative and control version of the same story. In Study 2, the restorative narrative again evoked more positive emotions and higher hypothetical donations to a relevant charity. Study 2 also varied the narrative ending and found that restorative narratives may need to end positively to maintain their effects.

Editor's Essay

Editor's Essay for JPIC Volume 4, Issue 2.