International Journal of Communication 10(2016), 1601–1621 1932–8036/20160005 Copyright © 2016 (Di Zhang, Baijing Hu, & Ruosi Shao). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org. The Efficacy of Chinese News Coverage of Tobacco Control: A Comparison of the Media Agenda and the Policy Agenda DI ZHANG BAIJING HU 1 RUOSI SHAO Renmin University of China, China This study examines the news coverage of tobacco control in China between 2010 and 2012 and compares it with the China Tobacco Control Program (2012–2015), a recent national policy initiative. The study finds that the relative salience of second-level tobacco control issues in the media have a moderate positive association with the policy agenda. However, the news coverage of tobacco control was more consistent with the agenda of anti–tobacco control forces than with the agenda of pro-control forces. The implications of the findings are discussed. Keywords: tobacco control, China, news coverage, media advocacy, antismoking China is the world’s largest manufacturer and consumer of tobacco products, and the tax on tobacco products comprises nearly 10% of the revenue of the Chinese government. However, the health toll due to tobacco is equally immense; about 1 million Chinese die from smoking annually, and this figure is estimated to increase to 2.2 million by 2020 if smoking rates remain the same (T. Hu, 2008). Additionally, 740 million people have reported exposure to secondhand smoke (Ministry of Health of China, 2012). Improved individual health often results from governmental health promotion policy initiatives such as tobacco control legislation, because such initiatives help create a context that is favorable to healthy lifestyles (World Health Organization, 2009). Over the past two decades, China has issued several national and local tobacco control laws and regulations. However, a nationwide, unified tobacco control law has long been overdue, and the enforcement of existing laws and regulations has been ineffective. The ambitiousness of the task has not deterred tobacco control advocates such as Chinese health officials and activists (hereafter referred to as pro-control forces) from actively using media advocacy to further policy changes that are conducive to improved tobacco control. Media advocacy includes cultivating and educating journalists, creating Di Zhang: zhangdi204@gmail.com Baijing Hu: hubaijing@vip.sina.com.cn Ruosi Shao: 19785411@qq.com Date submitted: 2014–11–11 1 Corresponding author.