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Research Projects
Cancer Communication in Black Newspapers
Grant Summary
Black newspapers are read, trusted and valued by African Americans. Their coverage is especially attentive to issues that affect local Black communities, and provides information and perspectives that are largely missing from general media. For these reasons, Black newspapers are often viewed as a voice of the local Black community and accorded the same status as other social institutions like schools and churches.
To date, Black newspapers have been largely untapped as a channel for cancer communication, but are well-positioned to be a valuable resource in helping eliminate health disparities. In this project, we will conduct the first-ever national descriptive study of cancer communication in Black newspapers to describe the frequency and nature of their cancer coverage. We will then develop and test a computer-based intervention to enhance this coverage by providing Black newspapers with community-specific cancer stories and data.
This intervention approach draws heavily on principles of data-driven cancer communication we have pioneered and shown to be effective, but for the first time applies these principles to communities rather than individuals. In a community randomized trial, 8 U.S. cities, 8 standard metropolitan areas, and 8 predominantly Black counties will be selected from a national sampling frame. By random assignment within each type of community, half the Black newspapers will receive the intervention and half will serve as controls. Black newspapers in intervention communities will receive weekly news releases called "Cancer Cover Stories" accompanied by community-specific "Local Angle Lead-ins."
Community-based cancer organizations in these communities will partner in the intervention, receiving "Media Action Alerts" to contact their local Black newspaper and offer help in preparing the cancer story. Effects of the intervention will be determined by tracking changes in cancer coverage in intervention vs. control newspapers, and by examining changes in cancer awareness, perceived importance of cancer, and cancer-related beliefs and behaviors in an annual panel survey among 840 African-American adults from intervention vs. control communities. If effective, this automated, computer-based cancer information system could be offered to all Black newspapers nationally and other Black media, and be adapted for use by other special population and general media.
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