Media coverage of women's and men's health issues
Kirsten Simmons
April 1997 (rev.)
This study compared coverage of male and female health issues in the mainstream Canadian news media. It sought to test the hypothesis that news media are influenced by a feminist perspective, resulting in a double standard that favors the coverage of women's issues.
The first part of the study consisted of a keyword search for breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer and heart disease in The Montreal Gazette, Toronto Star, The Vancouver Sun, and The Globe & Mail, and CBC TV National and CTV National News for the period 1 November 1995 to 31 October 1996. The search found 598 news items, with breast cancer yielding the most articles (275), prostate cancer (85), ovarian cancer (32) and testicular cancer (3 items). Heart disease was covered somewhat equally in regard to gender, with 25 articles referring solely to women's experience and 22 to men's experience with the disease.
The qualitative portion of the study was a content analysis of 64 articles, half dealing with breast cancer and half with prostate cancer. Breast cancer and prostate cancer were chosen for this comparison because of their similar incident rates. In 1996, 16,800 Canadian women were living with breast cancer and 16,200 men with prostate cancer. The main finding was that breast cancer received better coverage than prostate cancer. Articles on breast cancer were longer. more likely to be featured or profiled, and more often appeared with a photograph. There also tended to be more information on how readers could donate money or find screening resources for breast cancer than for prostate cancer.
The findings supported the hypothesis -- women's health issues received more, and arguably better, coverage in the Canadian news media. Three-quarters of news items focused on women's health issues, while only one-quarter dealt with men's issues. The content analysis showed that breast cancer was covered in greater depth and in a more "pro-active" manner than prostate cancer.