eCite Digital Repository
Australian Letters to the Editor on Tobacco: Triggers, Rhetoric, and Claims of Legitimate Voice
Citation
Clegg Smith, K and McLeod, K and Wakefield, M, Australian Letters to the Editor on Tobacco: Triggers, Rhetoric, and Claims of Legitimate Voice, Qualitative Health Research, 15, (9) pp. 1180-1198. ISSN 1049-7323 (2005) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2005 Sage
DOI: doi:10.1177/1049732305279145
Abstract
News coverage of tobacco issues influences both individual behavior change and policy progression.
Thus, media advocacy is increasingly recognized as important for promoting public
health. Letters to the editor (LTE) are a basic form of media advocacy, serving to demonstrate
community sentiment on a given issue. Such letters are yet to receive systematic
analytic consideration. The authors conducted an ethnographic content analysis of LTE on
tobacco issues from a sample of 11 Australian daily newspapers over a 3-year period (2001 to
2003, N = 361). They argue that letters are artifacts of active engagement in a public debate
and note that various stakeholders adopt similar strategies to pursue their objectives. They
illustrate how identifying personal and collective identities is crucial in the assertion of legitimacy
of voice in LTEs. Better understanding is needed of both the particular issues that
spark public engagement, and the salient rhetoric employed by advocates of disparate
positions.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Keywords: | tobacco; textual analysis; letters to the editor |
Research Division: | Human Society |
Research Group: | Sociology |
Research Field: | Sociology and social studies of science and technology |
Objective Division: | Health |
Objective Group: | Public health (excl. specific population health) |
Objective Field: | Public health (excl. specific population health) not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | McLeod, K (Dr Kim McLeod) |
ID Code: | 88673 |
Year Published: | 2005 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 25 |
Deposited By: | School of Social Sciences |
Deposited On: | 2014-02-12 |
Last Modified: | 2014-05-02 |
Downloads: | 0 |
Repository Staff Only: item control page