Publications

News coverage of child sexual abuse is typically infrequent compared to how often it actually occurs. But in November 2011, the arrest of Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on charges of child sexual abuse catapulted the issue into the spotlight and generated an extraordinary volume of coverage. In this report, BMSG examines news coverage generated in the first 9 days of the Sandusky case, compares it to our earlier findings about how child sexual abuse is usually covered, and offers suggestions to reporters and advocates based on our observations.

Sexual and domestic violence advocates cannot change norms and environments without acknowledging and leveraging the critical role that media coverage has in shaping the understanding of, and conversations about, violence. ln this web conference, BMSG's Lori Dorfman and Prevention Institute's Larry Cohen discuss how to make the case for prevention using data and other forms of media messaging. View the slides or the recording.

Child sexual abuse is a tough and sensitive topic to discuss and to write about. In this Issue, we examine how child sexual abuse is portrayed in the news. We ask: How do journalists cover child sexual abuse, especially in the absence of a prominent case? Do sensationalist stories focusing on the "stranger danger" misconception dominate news coverage? Is preventing child sexual abuse discussed? We then use our findings to make specific recommendations for advocates and reporters.

Digital techniques are quickly evolving and unprecedentedly immersive. To assess the best ways to understand these new media effects, we convened a group of scholars to develop a conceptual framework for understanding the impact of the digital practices on food and beverage consumption among children and youth and a research agenda to guide future studies of that impact.

How do you know you are in a low income community? Often, the high numbers of fast food outlets and junk food advertising is one sign. In this webinar, American University's Dr. Sonya Grier and Chicago State University's Kwesi Ronald Harris explore how the target marketing of junk food and beverages disproportionately affects communities of color, expose some of the more insidious practices, and discuss community efforts to fight back. View the presenters' slides or webinar recording.

Food and beverage marketing influences what products kids ask for, what they end up consuming and what eating habits they carry with them into adulthood. In this interview, BMSG director Lori Dorfman discusses new tactics this industry uses to target youth online and explains how these strategies are different from more traditional forms of marketing.

Target marketing allows the fast food and soda industries to promote their products among certain groups. This marketing brief, the second part of a series BMSG is developing for the national capacity-building initiative Communities Creating Healthy Environments (CCHE), shows how those industries are focusing on African-American and Latino moms and why this is a problem. Also available in Spanish.

La mercadotecnia dirigida permite que las industrias de la soda y comida rápida les promuevan sus productos a grupos específicos. En este documento de mercadotecnia, parte de una serie desarrollada por BMSG para la iniciativa para crear capacidad nacional Comunidades Creando Ambientes Sanos, demostramos como estas industrias dirigen la mercadotecnia hacia madres de comunidades latinas y afroamericanas, y los problemas que resultan de esta practica. Tambien disponible en Inglés.

Breastfeeding can improve women's and babies' health, but simply trumpeting that message won't improve breastfeeding rates. That's because many social and cultural barriers make it difficult or undesirable for women to breastfeed. This framing brief shows advocates the key ingredients they need to produce effective breastfeeding messages that promote policies in support of this very basic but vital act.

Public health advocates have for years been trying to increase the number of women who breastfeed by educating mothers about its health benefits. Breast milk improves babies' immune systems and decreases women's risk of everything from osteoporosis to type-2 diabetes. Reporters have trumpeted advocates' message, yet breastfeeding rates remain dismally low. In this Issue, we explore what's missing from the conversation and show how advocates in California are shifting the conversation to include the factors outside of health that make it hard for even the most well-informed women to breastfeed.

These comments were submitted on behalf of the California Convergence to the White House Interagency Task Force on Obesity to inform it's recommendations for the First Lady's Let's Move campaign to eliminate childhood obesity in a generation. The comments emphasize the policies across the four pillars of the Let's Move campaign that will create healthy food and activity environments, focusing on a multi-sector, community-based approach to inform progress.

This framing brief describes the intensive, immersive, incessant marketing tactics soda companies are using to encourage young people to drink more of America's top non-alcoholic beverage.