Newspaper Coverage Portrays Managed Care Negatively

The news media are often responsible for explaining and providing their audiences with information about important national issues, however, when the issue is as complex as the organization, delivery and financing of health care, news coverage can be inadequate, biased and even misleading. A qualitative frame analysis is used to gain a broader view of how journalists covered the organization, delivery and financing of health care during 1996, after health care reform's prominence on the political agenda had waned. News media significantly determine whose viewpoints are heard in the public debate on health issues, what aspects of the health care system are discussed and in what context.