Framing responsibility for depression in news media: a content analysis of depression coverage on Sina Weibo

Depression stands as a pivotal health issue, notable both within the medical community and in society at large, and it is a leading contributor to disability. The prevalence of depression is on the rise, with a divergence of views on its cause attribution and solution responsibility for addressing i...

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Main Authors: Ma, Xiaoxia, binti Mahamed, Mastura, Alwie, Aryaty
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Redfame Publishing Inc. 2024
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114264/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114264/1/114264.pdf
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author Ma, Xiaoxia
binti Mahamed, Mastura
Alwie, Aryaty
author_facet Ma, Xiaoxia
binti Mahamed, Mastura
Alwie, Aryaty
author_sort Ma, Xiaoxia
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Depression stands as a pivotal health issue, notable both within the medical community and in society at large, and it is a leading contributor to disability. The prevalence of depression is on the rise, with a divergence of views on its cause attribution and solution responsibility for addressing it. It is crucial, therefore, to inform the public about these complexities. Given that news media are pivotal in disseminating health information and significantly shape public perceptions, attitudes, emotions, and the assignment of responsibility, this research employs a quantitative content analysis to assess the prevalence of framing responsibility for both the causes and potential solutions of depression at individual, social network, and societal levels. The results show that solution responsibilities for depression were reported more commonly than the causes. Meanwhile, attribution of responsibility for causes was tended to be at the individual, while solutions were on society. Social network played a major role in attributing both casual and problem-solving responsibilities as an independent level. Further, state-controlled media focused on societal responsible for addressing the issue and emphasized individual-level causal responsibilities more than market-oriented media organizations, which is likely to make societal-level responsibility attribution.
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spelling upm-1142642025-01-13T02:35:41Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114264/ Framing responsibility for depression in news media: a content analysis of depression coverage on Sina Weibo Ma, Xiaoxia binti Mahamed, Mastura Alwie, Aryaty Depression stands as a pivotal health issue, notable both within the medical community and in society at large, and it is a leading contributor to disability. The prevalence of depression is on the rise, with a divergence of views on its cause attribution and solution responsibility for addressing it. It is crucial, therefore, to inform the public about these complexities. Given that news media are pivotal in disseminating health information and significantly shape public perceptions, attitudes, emotions, and the assignment of responsibility, this research employs a quantitative content analysis to assess the prevalence of framing responsibility for both the causes and potential solutions of depression at individual, social network, and societal levels. The results show that solution responsibilities for depression were reported more commonly than the causes. Meanwhile, attribution of responsibility for causes was tended to be at the individual, while solutions were on society. Social network played a major role in attributing both casual and problem-solving responsibilities as an independent level. Further, state-controlled media focused on societal responsible for addressing the issue and emphasized individual-level causal responsibilities more than market-oriented media organizations, which is likely to make societal-level responsibility attribution. Redfame Publishing Inc. 2024 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114264/1/114264.pdf Ma, Xiaoxia and binti Mahamed, Mastura and Alwie, Aryaty (2024) Framing responsibility for depression in news media: a content analysis of depression coverage on Sina Weibo. Studies in Media and Communication, 12 (4). pp. 17-27. ISSN 2325-8071; eISSN: 2325-808X https://redfame.com/journal/index.php/smc/article/view/7011 10.11114/smc.v12i4.7011
spellingShingle Ma, Xiaoxia
binti Mahamed, Mastura
Alwie, Aryaty
Framing responsibility for depression in news media: a content analysis of depression coverage on Sina Weibo
title Framing responsibility for depression in news media: a content analysis of depression coverage on Sina Weibo
title_full Framing responsibility for depression in news media: a content analysis of depression coverage on Sina Weibo
title_fullStr Framing responsibility for depression in news media: a content analysis of depression coverage on Sina Weibo
title_full_unstemmed Framing responsibility for depression in news media: a content analysis of depression coverage on Sina Weibo
title_short Framing responsibility for depression in news media: a content analysis of depression coverage on Sina Weibo
title_sort framing responsibility for depression in news media: a content analysis of depression coverage on sina weibo
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114264/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114264/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114264/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114264/1/114264.pdf