Reporting on the "Next Generation of Nicotine Addicts": A Mixed-Methods Analysis of How the Australian Media has Covered and Constructed Youth Vaping (2018-2023).

Abstract

In May 2023, the Australian Federal Government announced further restrictions on the sale of vaping devices, partly due to concern over widespread use by young people. We conducted a mixed methods study to examine how youth vaping has been reported in the Australian news media and compare these articles to media guidelines on responsible reporting of drug use. Drawing a sample from the Factiva database, we conducted quantitative content analysis on stories published in the Australian news media from 2018 to 2023, comparing them against guidelines published by the organization Mindframe. We also conducted a qualitative social semiotic analysis on four exemplar articles purposively sampled from a 10% subset of the articles analyzed in the content analysis. The content analysis sample included 410 articles. News Corp published 242 stories compared to 74 for Nine Entertainment, 69 for independent sources, 19 for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and six for the Australian Associated Press. News Corp also recorded the highest prevalence of sensationalist language (43.8%), and the lowest frequency of seeking expert opinion (57.9%) or including help-seeking information (4.1%). The qualitative image analysis demonstrated how stock and promotional photography can sometimes glamourise vaping in ways that are reductive and emotive, while also being potentially promotional for younger audiences. The risks of sensationalist coverage include normalizing youth vaping, increased public confusion regarding the likely relative risks of vaping and smoking, and an emphasis on policies that focus on narrow policy goals.