A content analysis of newspaper coverage of maternal mortality from 2010-2019

ABSTRACT

Pregnancy-related death, the death of a woman during or within one year after pregnancy, is between three and four times more likely to occur in Black women than White women. To better understand communication about this public health crisis, we examined features of news coverage on maternal mortality in 155 newspaper articles. Very few articles included a clear definition of the problem, and only about a third mentioned that these deaths are largely preventable. Additionally, 61% referenced the racial disparity, but within those, most did not discuss substantive causes of inequities. In terms of message features, about one third of articles used a patient narrative, with less than 10% referencing a celebrity’s patient experience. Very few (5%) articles included information about the history of mistreatment of Black patients in American health care. Together, the findings suggest current newspaper coverage does not effectively address social determinants of maternal health outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Content analysis
• health disparities
• maternal mortality
• newspapers

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Anastasia Condos, Jordan Diver, and O’Livia Stalter for their work on data collection and analyses. They would also like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Brian Ogolsky at the University of Illinois for his assistance with data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amy Delaney

Amy Delaney (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016) is the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Carle Health in Urbana, Illinois. She previously served as an Assistant Professor of Communication at Millikin University, where her research and teaching focused on interpersonal communication in health contexts, cultural humility in healthcare, and communication and health disparities.

Gabi N. Singleton

Gabi Singleton (B.S., Millikin University, 2019) earned a Bachelor's of Science in Communication with an emphasis in Health Communication. As an undergraduate, she earned an undergraduate research fellowship to study provider-patient communication during pregnancy. She is currently pursuing an ADN-RN degree.