Newspaper Coverage of Snus in an Emerging Norwegian Snus Market 2002-2011: A Content Analysis

Abstract

Background: In a context where snus is a legal product, its advertising is prohibited and its prevalence of use has been on the rise among adolescents and young adults, the aim of this article is to identify the extent of snus coverage in Norwegian newspapers and the themes and values communicated about snus therein from 2002 to 2011.

Aim and methods: All major Norwegian newspapers were scanned for articles with "snus" (and relevant connectors) in headings, ingresses, and/or pictures/captions as search criteria. Using the Retriever media monitoring service as a database, the search returned 943 unique articles, which were subjected to quantitative content analysis.

Results: The number of articles per year increases over the period, while their average length decreases slightly. Thematically, the greatest attention is on the extent of "snus use" (occurring in 52.7% of the articles), and then more equally divided between "tobacco policy" (24.5%), "economy/markets" (29.1%), and "health" (28.7%). A total of 48.6% of the articles are "neutral/mixed" in respect of framing, 28.1% are "negative," and only 20.7% are "positive" in tone. Articles about tobacco policy are more often negative, while articles on economic factors are more often positive. Articles on health are usually negatively focused, or neutral/mixed.

Conclusion: The slight predominance of negative and/or neutral/mixed articles indicates that the newspaper coverage does not glamorize the snus product. However, the sheer amount of (and growth in) articles over time, as well as positive articles available for selective exposure and perception, may nevertheless have contributed to a normalization of snus use.

Implications: Little is known about media coverage of smokeless tobacco and whether editorial mass media glamorize or criticize its use. This study shows that the extent of snus coverage in Norwegian newspapers has increased over time, but also that the framing of Norwegian newspaper coverage of snus has mainly been neutral/mixed or negative toward snus and its use.