Who Is Responsible for Causing and Solving the Problem? Responsibility Attribution of Medical Disputes in Chinese Print Media.

Publisher: Sage Publications Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 1305035 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1541-4469 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00207314 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Int J Health Serv Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2015- : Los Angeles : Sage Publications
Original Publication: Westport, Conn., Greenwood Periodicals.

Dissent and Disputes* ; Mass Media*; China ; Humans ; Public Health

This study provides an insight into medical journalism practice by examining how news media have framed who is responsible for causing and solving the growing problem of medical disputes in Mainland China. We identified responsibility-attribution information presented in 490 news articles about medical disputes published in the People's Daily, Health News, and Southern Metropolis Daily between 2012 and 2017. Our data reveal that, mentions of personal causes have significantly outnumbered those of societal causes. Specifically, health workers were discussed most often as being responsible for the occurrence of medical disputes. In terms of how to solve the problem, the media were focusing heavily on societal-level efforts, while post-event solutions were addressed more frequently than preventative actions. City press was less likely to discuss societal causes and solution suggestions compared with party press and professional newspapers. In the conclusion, we discussed the potential consequences of such framing patterns, and how media professionals can be meaningfully engaged in the future reporting on public health problems.

Keywords: Chinese press; content analysis; medical disputes; news framing; patient–physician relationship; responsibility attribution

Date Created: 20200717 Date Completed: 20220908 Latest Revision: 20220910

20231215

10.1177/0020731420940957

32669033