Representations of the National Health Service (NHS) in UK print media.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Oxford University Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9008939 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1460-2245 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09574824 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Health Promot Int Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: Eynsham, Oxford, U.K. : Oxford University Press, c1990-
    • Subject Terms:
      Mass Media* ; State Medicine*; Humans ; United Kingdom
    • Abstract:
      Generating negative news coverage of state welfare provision has been identified as a strategy designed to create public support for radical policies aimed to reduce such provision. To date, research of this kind has focused on scandals and crises. However, little is known about the complex relationship between media representations of specific events, and those of media representations in the lead up to these events, what we refer to as periphery representations. Employing a content and frame analysis, this paper analyses the frequency and intensity of peripheral representations of the National Health Service (NHS) in the British print media for 1 week a month before and for 1 week during three key events in recent NHS history: the official consultation period for the Health and Social Care Act; the publication of Five-Year Forward View, and the first Junior Doctor Strike. This article finds that negative NHS representations in articles that are peripheral to particular topical issues of controversy evidence fluctuations, amplifications and intensities across time periods, depending on the particular context. The paper concludes by arguing that repetition of negative themes in news helps to build a sensibility of 'inadequacy' of vital services. We hope that this focus on the ways in which amplifications and de-amplifications in negative intensity of peripheral NHS representations across time and content, helps to contribute to debate about the complex interplay between public health services, media representation and policy consent.
      (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected].)
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: NHS; governance; media; public health; representations
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20200606 Date Completed: 20210728 Latest Revision: 20210728
    • Publication Date:
      20240628
    • Accession Number:
      10.1093/heapro/daaa044
    • Accession Number:
      32500138