The Pill at Fifty: How the New York Times Covered the Birth Control Pill, 1960–2010

Abstract

The birth control pill is a scientific innovation turned cultural phenomenon whose use has been entangled with health concerns, ethical choices, religious opposition, and political and legal controversies. Although two generations of Americans have learned most of what they know about the pill from the news media, media coverage of the pill has received limited attention. The fiftieth anniversary of the pill provides a vantage point to examine journalism history, and especially, how news of scientific and medical developments accompanied by challenging issues has been reported. This qualitative and quantitative content analysis of five decades of coverage in the New York Times finds that journalists have been impacted by enduring news values that influenced their choice of sources, their use of frames, and how they constructed their stories. Types and gender of sources and the prevalence and dominance of media frames changed dramatically over a half century, reflecting changes in both journalism and society.