High School Journalists Write about Nutrition and Physical Activity

Many content analyses ofmass media and health messages havebeen conducted, but little is knownregarding the perceptions of high schoolstudents about health-related topics.The authors conducted a content analysisof 218 newspapers collected from25 Arizona high schools published duringthe 2003-2004 academic year.Two independent evaluators read eachentire newspaper, identified qualifyingarticles (n = 95), and categorized contentby the 2005 Dietary Guidelines forAmericans. Evaluators sorted each article’scontent into one or more groupsreflecting the MyPyramid food categoriesand tracked article themes relatedto harms or benefits of lifestyle choices.Articles were also scored regardinginformation accuracy. Categorizing bythe 2005 Dietary Guidelines, the mostfrequently mentioned article topicswere “carbohydrates” or “reduced sugars”in foods (55%), “weight management”(53%), and “physical activity”(45%). In all, 15% of articles includedsome incorrect information in their text.These data show that healthy eating andactive lifestyles are important concernsfor high school journalism students.Journalism and dietetics professionalsshould volunteer with high school journalismclasses to encourage these interestsand to promote greater coverage of nutrition and health issues as well asmore accurate reporting.