Item Details

Influence of content, events and culture on the public discourse about medical genetics in Switzerland – A quantitative media content analysis

Issue: Vol 16 No. 1 (2019)

Journal: Communication & Medicine

Subject Areas: Healthcare Communication Linguistics

DOI: 10.1558/cam.34832

Abstract:

Medical genetics is a broad and expanding field with many important implications for society, but knowledge about media coverage of this topic from recent years is lacking. This study aims to identify topics in medical genetics emerging in print media coverage in Switzerland by quantitatively analysing their occurrence in the public media discourse and assessing culturally conditioned differences between two Swiss language regions. We conducted a quantitative media content screening of print media and news agencies in the German- and French-speaking regions of Switzerland, and eight topics were identified. They demonstrate the large variety of topics in medical genetics present in public discourse. Coverage was dominated by legislative voting on genetics issues and by the preventive surgeries of the Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie. We found only small differences between the language regions, and coverage was strikingly similar for most variables.

Author: Bettina Maria Zimmermann, Steffen Kolb, Fabian Zimmermann, Bernice Simone Elger, David Shaw

View Full Text

References :

Bonfadelli, Heinz, Urs Dahinden and Martina Leonarz (2002) Biotechnology in Switzerland: High on the public agenda, but only moderate support. Public Understanding of Science 11 (2): 113-130.
https://doi.org/10.1088/0963-6625/11/2/302

 

Borzekowski, Dina, Yue Guan, Katherine C. Smith, Lori H. Erby and Debra L. Roter (2014) The Angelina effect: Immediate reach, grasp, and impact of going public. Genetics in Medicine16 (7): 516-521.
https://doi.org/10.1038/gim.2013.181

 

Bunnik, Eline M., Maartje Schermer and A. Cecile J. W Janssens (2011) Personal genome testing: Test characteristics to clarify the discourse on ethical, legal and societal issues. BMC Medical Ethics 12 (11): 1-13.
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6939-12-11

 

Burke, Wylie, Paul Appelbaum, Lauren Dame, Patricia Marshall, Nancy Press, Reed Pyeritz, Richard Sharp and Eric Juengst (2015) The translational potential of research on the ethical, legal and social implications of genomics. Genetics in Medicine 17 (1): 12-20.
https://doi.org/10.1038/gim.2014.74

 

Condit, Celeste M. (2001) What is ‘public opinion’ about genetics? Nature Reviews Genetics 2 (10): 811-815.
https://doi.org/10.1038/35093580

 

Dahdouh, Elias M., Jacques Balayla, François Audibert and Genetics Committee (2015) Technical update: Preimplantation genetic diagnosis and screening. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada 37 (5): 451-463.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1701-2163(15)30261-9

 

Dahlgren, Peter (2009) Media and Political Engagement: Citizens, Communication, and Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

Downs, Anthony (1972) Up and down with ecology: The ‘issue-attention’ cycle. Public Interest 28 (Summer): 38-50.

 

Epstein, Charles J. (2006) Medical genetics in the genomic medicine of the 21st century. American Journal of Human Genetics 79 (3): 434-438.
https://doi.org/10.1086/507610

 

Garrett, Jinnie M. and Stephanie J. Bird (2007) Ethical issues in communicating science. Science and Engineering Ethics 6 (4): 435-442.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-007-9016-7

 

Gerhards, Juergen and Mike S. Schäfer (2007) Hegemony of supporters: Comparing mass media debates on human genome research in Germany and the US. Soziale Welt-Zeitschrift Für Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung Und Praxis 58 (4): 367-395.
https://doi.org/10.5771/0038-6073-2007-4-367

 

gfs.bern AG (2016) VOX 121 Nachanalyse der eidgenössischen Abstimmung vom 05. Juni 2016: Änderung des Fortpflanzungsmedizingesetzes (FMedG). Available: http://www.gfsbern.ch/de-ch/Detail/vox-121-nachanalyse-der-eidgenoessischen-abstimmung-vom-05-juni-2016

 

Görke, Alexander, Matthias Kohring and Georg Ruhrmann (2000) Gentechnologie in der Presse. Publizistik 45 (1): 20-37.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11616-000-0048-0

 

Henderson, Lesly and Jenny Kitzinger (1999) The human drama of genetics: ‘Hard’ and ‘soft’ media representations of inherited breast cancer. Sociology of Health & Illness 21 (5): 560-578.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.00173

 

Holtzman, Neil A., Barbara A. Bernhardt, Eliza Mountcastle-Shah, Joann E. Rodgers, Ellen Tambor and Gail Geller (2005) The quality of media reports on discoveries related to human genetic diseases. Community Genetics 8 (3): 133-144.
https://doi.org/10.1159/000086756

 

Jarren, Offried and Martina Vogel (2011) ‘Leitmedien’ als Qualitätsmedien: Theoretisches Konzept und Indikatoren. In Roger Blum, Heinz Bonfadelli, Kurt Imhof and Otfried Jarren (eds) Krise der Leuchttürme Öffentlicher Kommunikation. Vergangenheit und Zukunft der Qualitätsmedien, 17-30. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften / Springer Fachmedien GmbH.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-93084-8_2

 

Jinek, Martin, Krzysztof Chylinski, Ines Fonfara, Michael Hauer, Jennifer A. Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentie (2012) A programmable dual-RNA-guided DNA endonuclease in adaptive bacterial immunity. Science 337 (6096): 816-821.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1225829

 

Jinek, Martin, Alexandra East, Aaron Cheng, Steven Lin, Enbo Ma and Jennifer Doudna (2013) RNA-programmed genome editing in human cells. eLife 2: Art. e00471.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00471

 

Kamenova, Kalina, Amir Reshef and Timothy Caulfield (2014) Angelina Jolie’s faulty gene: Newspaper coverage of a celebrity’s preventive bilateral mastectomy in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Genetics in Medicine 16 (7): 522-528.
https://doi.org/10.1038/gim.2013.199

 

Kohring, Matthias and Jörg Matthes (2002) The face(t)s of biotech in the nineties: How the German press framed modern biotechnology. Public Understanding of Science 11 (2): 143-154.
https://doi.org/10.1088/0963-6625/11/2/304

 

Kolb, Steffen (2005) Mediale Thematisierung in Zyklen: Theoretischer Entwurf und Empirische Anwendung. Cologne: Von Halem.

 

Kung, Johnny T. and Marnie E. Gelbart (2012) Getting a head start: The importance of personal genetics education in high schools. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 85 (1): 87-92.

 

Leonarz, Martina (2002) Die Gentechnologie als kontroverses Medienthema: Eine Zeitungsinhaltsanalyse von 1997 bis 1999. In Heinz Bonfadelli and Urs Dahinden (eds) Gentechnologie in der Öffentlichen Kontroverse. Eine Sozialwissenschaftliche Analyse, 25-43. Zurich: Seismo.

 

Liang, Puping, Yanwen Xu, Xiya Zhang, Chenhui Ding, Rui Huang, Zhen Zhang, Jie Lv et al. (2015) CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing in human tripronuclear zygotes. Protein & Cell 6 (5): 363-372.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-015-0153-5

 

Longchamp, Claude, Urs Bieri, Silvia-Maria Ratelband-Pally and Stephan Tschöpe (2003) Klare Präferenzen bei der Anwendung: Schlussbericht zum Gentechnik-Monitor 2003 für die Interpharma. Bern: GfS-Forschungsinstitut, Politik und Staat. Available online: http://www.gfsbern.ch/de-ch/Detail/klare-praeferenzen-bei-der-anwendung

 

MacQueen, Kathleen M., Eleanor McLellan, Kelly Kay and Bobby Milstein (2009) [1998] Codebook development for team-based qualitative analysis. In Klaus Krippendorff and Mary A. Bock (eds) The Content Analysis Reader, 211-219. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

 

Mast, Claudia (2012) ABC des Journalismus: Konstanz, Germany: UVK.

 

Mei Yue, Yan Wang, Huiqian Chen, Zhong Sheng Sun and Xing-Da Ju (2016) Recent progress in CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Journal of Genetics and Genomics 43 (2): 63-75.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgg.2016.01.001

 

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2015) International Summit on Human Gene Editing: A Global Discussion. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

 

Niemiec, Emilia, Bettina M. Zimmermann and Heidi C. Howard (2016) Ethical issues of gene editing: What does popular media report? Paper presented at the 12th Meeting of the European Human Genetics Societies, Barcelona, 22 May.

 

O’Mahony, Patrick and Mike S. Schäfer (2005) The ‘book of life’ in the press comparing German and Irish media discourse on human genome research. Social Studies of Science 35 (1): 99-130.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312705046542

 

Racine, Eric, Isabelle Gareau, Hubert Doucet, Danielle Laudy, Guy Jobin and Pamela Schraedley-Desmond (2006) Hyped biomedical science or uncritical reporting? Press coverage of genomics (1992-2001) in Quebec. Social Science & Medicine 62 (5): 1278-1290.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.07.024

 

Reardon, Sara (2015) Global summit reveals divergent views on human gene editing. Nature 528 (7581): 173.
https://doi.org/10.1038/528173a

 

Rödder, Simone (2005) Das Buch des Lebens in der Presse: Die Darstellung der Entschlüsselung des Menschlichen Erbguts in Deutschen und Britischen Medien. München: Verlag Reinhard Fischer.

 

Rössler, Patrick (2010) Inhaltsanalyse. Konstanz, Germany: UVK.

 

Ruhrmann, Georg and Jutta Milde (2011) Zum Nachrichtenwert von Molekularer Medizin: Eine Inhaltsanalyse von TV-Meldungen 1995 bis 2004. In Georg Ruhrmann, Jutta Milde and Arne F. Zillich (eds) Molekulare Medizin und Medien. Zur Darstellung und Wirkung eines Kontroversen Wissenschaftsthemas, 99-119. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften and Springer Fachmedien.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-92651-3_5

 

Schäfer, Mike S. (2012) Taking stock: A meta-analysis of studies on the media’s coverage of science. Public Understanding of Science 21 (6): 650-663.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662510387559

 

Schulz, Peter J., Kent Nakamoto, David Brinberg and Joachim Haes (2006) More than nation and knowledge: Cultural micro-diversity and organ donation in Switzerland. Patient Education and Counseling 64 (1-3): 294-302.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2006.03.009

 

Scott, William A. (2009) [1955] Scott’s π (pi): Reliability for nominal scale coding. In Klaus Krippendorff and Mary A. Bock (eds) The Content Analysis Reader, 347-349. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

 

Swiss Federal Council (1998) Eidgenössische Volksinitiative ‘zum Schutz von Leben und Umwelt vor Genmanipulationen (Gen-Schutz-Initiative)’. Available online: https://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/vi/vis240t.html

 

Swiss Federal Council (2005) Bundesbeschluss über die Volksinitiative ‘für Lebensmittel aus gentechnikfreier Landwirtschaft’: Volksabstimmung vom 27.11.2005. Available online: https://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20051127/det520.html

 

Swiss Federal Council (2015) Volksabstimmung vom 14.06.2015, Vorlage Nr. 592 Übersicht: Bundesbeschluss vom 12.12.2014 über die Änderung der Verfassungsbestimmung zur Fortpflanzungsmedizin und Gentechnologie im Humanbereich. Available online: https://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20150614/det592.html

 

Swiss Federal Council (2016) Volksabstimmung vom 05.06.2016, Vorlage Nr. 603 ÜbersichtÄnderung vom 12.12.2014 des Bundesgesetzes über die medizinisch unterstützte Fortpflanzung und Gentechnologie im Humanbereich. Available online: https://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20160605/det603.html

 

Ten Eyck, Toby A. and Melissa Williment (2003) The national media and things genetic: Coverage in the New York Times (1971-2001) and the Washington Post (1977-2001). Science Communication 25 (2): 129-152.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547003259212

 

Voß, Miriam (2010) Gesunde Gene: Die Mediale Diskussion um die Gentherapie. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.
https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839412374

 

WEMF (2016) MACH Basic 2016-2: Die Schweizer Leserschaftsstudie. Zurich: WEMF AG für Werbemedienforschung.

 

Wirth, Werner and Steffen Kolb (2004) Designs and methods of comparative political communication research. In Frank Esser (ed.) Comparing Political Communication: Theories, Cases, and Challenges, 87-111. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606991.006