Fit to Print: Physical Activity and Health Messages in the Canadian News Media (2004-2007)

Drawing on research with journalists, organisations, sources and the audience, this project aims to understand how media messages regarding physical activity are constructed in the Canadian media. The media in Canada frequently highlight the health benefits provided by physical activity. Finding out how organisations, journalists, and sources construct health and physical activity messages, and examining how the audience reads these contemporary discourses on healthy behaviour will fill a gap in the Canadian and international literature on health and physical activity. As well, it will inform contemporary debates regarding health policy initiatives and the social construction of media messages. The proposed three-year project is a first in Canada and has two stages.

In Stage One it will trace the dissemination of health and physical activity messages in the media to consider their production and transmission. From this four key agencies who are concerned to highlight the links between health and physical activity will be identified (e.g. CIHR).

In Stage Two we will work with these partner organisations to look more specifically at the social construction of health and physical activity messages by considering their inception, production, transmission and consumption. We will attempt to understand the many-layered environment in which health and physical activity messages are produced and received, including the expectations of the organisations producing the messages for dissemination. The construction and consumption of these messages will be critically assessed through focus group interviews with the general public, and individual interviews with sources, journalists and editors. The study will advance knowledge and provide a wider social benefit. The potential impact of the research is to consider all levels of news production and to suggest that it is a many layered and discursively disputed area. The research will be of great interest to government, non-governmental agencies, academic institutions and the media. The research has the potential to inform health policy regarding health education, active living strategies and communication. Specifically, this research will assist in the development of the effective communication of research results both within and beyond the academic community in Canada.