Nutritional messages in Iranian newspapers: a content analysis

Objectiv(s): To evaluate the nutritional messages in Iranian newspapers. Material &

A content analysis study was conducted on 192 issues of 8 largest national daily newspapers using a systematic monthly content analysis from March 1999 to March 2000. A coding form was devised to tabulate information. All messages related to food and nutrition was recorded by 5 trained nutritionists and double-checked by a senior nutritionist and a communication expert.

In total, 122 nutritional messages were found with a mean of 0.65 messages per issue and total printed surface of0.3%. In terms of style, 64.8, 1.6, 4.9 and 28.7% of messages classified as news, reports, articles and as others, respectively. The most frequent topic was food safety (35.3%), followed by nutrition related disorders (17.6%) and food properties (14%). While about 70% of messages were scientific-based, 17% identified as ambiguous. About 40% of messages were written by a nutritionist or an allied expert. The target audience for 75% of messages was the general public. Only 1 message was written in a non-popular language. About 30% of messages contained promotional statements, while 47.5% presented bleak news. Messages cited from different resources, from which Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency (18.9%), four major news agencies (UP, AP, Reuters and France Press) (1.6%), international and national organizations (23%) and Internet (1.6%) were foremost.

According to this study, it seems that both quantity and quality of nutritional messages in most popular newspapers are not public - oriented.