THE SMOKING AND HEALTH ISSUE IN NEWSPAPERS: INFLUENCE OF REGIONAL ECONOMIES, THE TOBACCO INSTITUTE AND NEWS OBJECTIVITY By C. Kevin Swisher and Stephen D. Reese This study examined the possible influence on newspoper coverage of tobocco-related issues by the importance of tobocco in the somple newspapers' economy, the public relations activities of the Tobocco Institute and the importance that joumalists place on providing an objective balance of points of views in stories. Modest differences in "support" of tobacco were found in headline slont ond m use of tobacco industry sources in major smoking- related stories when newspapers of different regions were compared. Storie.^ show how the tobacco industry attempts to take advantage of reporters desire to balance stories, but with only limited regional differences. On January 11. 1964. Surgeon General Luther Terry confirmed what doctors and scientists had knovim for years: smoking was a primary cause of lung cant^er and was strongly linked to emphysema and heart disease.^ Since then, thousands of studies have only strengthened the case against cigarettes. Government estimates place the annual smoking- related death toll in the United States at 390,000 — or more than one in six deaths from all causes.^ Such figures prompted former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop tu label smoking "the chief, single avoidable cause of death in our society.""' Nevertheless, 49 million Americans smoke.^ and millions more have only a superficial understanding of the health risks involved.^ Given this state of affairs, many have accused the mass media of shirking their responsibility to communicate smoking risks. Certainly media Kevin Swislier earnt^d his master's degree in tlie University of Texos Department of Journalism where Stephen Reese is ass€>ciate professor. The authors thank Gale Wiley of the Texas Department of lournalism for help witli tl\e VU/TEXT data hase system. This study was presented at tlie in91 AEJMC conferi-nrt- in Boston. JoumaUsm Quarterly Vol. 69, No. 4 Winter 1992 987-1000 ©1992 AEJMC SMOKING AND HEALTH COVERAGE IN NEWSPAPERS 987