Abstract:
Health is important in socio-economic development as well as the well-being of the public globally. The media play a pivotal role in transmitting information and educating the public through message construction and presentation, a role which can be directed in the area of health. Given that television news programs reach millions of audiences and play a substantial role in the provision of information and education; and in the shaping of community concerns, television news coverage of a developmental issue such as health, should be an important focus of study. The purpose of this study therefore was to content analyse health news coverage by GTV and Joy News TV from 1st July, 2015 to 31st August, 2015 to determine how much attention health news received in their news bulletins and how they were framed. The theories that guided the analysis were framing and agenda-setting. Results from the data indicated that 12.6% (199) out of a total of 1,585 stories covered by both television stations were on health. Strike actions among health professionals received the most coverage (38.1%) with health policy, health insurance and Millennium Development Goals/Sustainable Development Goals related issues receiving as low as 1.5%, 2.5% and 1% respectively. Twenty-one percent of the stories appeared in the headlines of both TV stations with 60% of the stories being presented within the duration of 30 and 120 seconds. Health stories were covered using more episodic frames (65%) than thematic frames. The study concluded that the television stations did not attach enough attention to health-related stories and that stories that were covered used more episodic than thematic frames.
