Attention to, Predictors of, and Potential Consequences of Racism and Counter-Messaging in Mainstream Media
Since January 2020, the Collaborative on Media and Messaging (COMM) for Health and Social Policy has continuously monitored local television news across all 210 U.S. media markets. This brief highlights COMM’s findings on how racism and diversity issues are represented in campaign advertising, as well as emerging counter-messaging from “anti-DEI” movements.
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Research Brief
Key Findings:
Although political attention to and media discussion of structural racism explicitly rose dramatically in the summer of 2020 due to the combination of COVID-19 disparities and George Floyd’s murder making the topic salient, the subsequent four years did not sustain this attention.
In the 2024 presidential campaign there was virtually no discussion of structural racism, racial equity or social justice.
Place Matters: Communicating the Relationship Between Place, Racism, and Early Childhood Development
In this brief, the FrameWorks Institute identifies an effective strategy for talking about the connections between place, racism, and early childhood development and provides a set of recommendations for advancing this strategy in your own work.
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Research Brief
Key Findings:
Be explicit about racial discrimination when describing the effects of policies. Countering racism denial requires tackling racism head-on. Tracing the effects of specific racially discriminatory policies on children makes it harder to deny the reality of racism.
Avoid talking about structural racism without talking about how it can be and has been addressed through collective action. If framing suggests that structural racism seals children’s fate, people may think it is too late to act. More importantly, without careful framing, communications can cause more distress in communities directly harmed by structural racism.
Narrative Change Through Sports
Drawing from two national surveys, six focus groups and one online discussion board, this report sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation explores the potential of sports to engage people on issues of structural racism and health equity.
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Study
Key Findings:
Most sports fans (92%) see racism as a problem in America.
45% of sports fans say they have taken some sort of action as a result of sports talking about a social issue.
63% of sports fans support athletes using their platform to speak on social issues
Finding Common Ground Through Healthy Communities
A survey from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that most U.S. adults agree that safety, good jobs and opportunities to be healthy are their highest priorities in the places they call home.
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Survey
Key Findings:
Nearly three in four (72%) of people feel it is very important that everyone in their community has the opportunity to be healthy and for the communities we live in to have clean drinking water (83%).
Respondents are concerned about the high cost of living (87%), including unaffordable housing (76%) and the lack of affordable, quality healthcare (69%).
Communicating Health Equity: Strategies and Challenges for Public Health Communicators
Researchers conducted a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with 36 public health communicators across four professional categories: public health leaders, journalists, advocates/narrative change organizers and thought leaders.
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Study
Key Findings:
Communicators employ a range of strategies, from framing health equity issues around shared values to using community-centered storytelling, but they often face significant pushback due to political polarization and misinformation.
Journalists, in particular, described institutional barriers such as editorial gatekeeping and difficulties sourcing diverse perspectives, while public health leaders expressed concerns about alienating audiences with terms like “structural racism.”
Across all groups, communicators relied heavily on informal networks for support, highlighting a gap in accessible, research-backed resources.
Original research by Sarah E. Gollust, Kristina Medero, Quin Mudry Nelson, Ceron Ford, Erika Franklin Fowler, Jeff Neiderdeppe and Rebekah H. Nagler published in The Milbank Quarterly, Vol. 103, No. 2, […]
The Public Health Communicators Guide to Misinformation
This guide, developed by the Public Health Communications Collaborative in partnership with the Infodemiology Training Program, provides foundational insights into the current misinformation landscape and an overview of tools for assessing risk and determining responses.
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Landscape Analysis
Key Findings:
False narratives can spread in various ways, including word of mouth and other non-digital channels. However, the rise of the internet, social media platforms, and artificial intelligence has rapidly increased the spread of information.
Our identity influences the way we interpret information, meaning people are more likely to believe headlines that fit within their current worldview. As a result, online communities like social media networks can become echo chambers that reinforce.
If misinformation sparks an emotional response, people are more likely to believe or share it.
Medicaid Cuts Would Rip Away Health Coverage from Millions of Americans, Disproportionately Harming People of Color
This report, co-authored by UnidosUS and other leading civil rights and health equity organizations, highlights the devastating impact of Medicaid cuts on communities across the United States, particularly communities of color.
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Report
Key Findings
People who are uninsured rather than covered by Medicaid experience great harm:
Uninsured people are far more likely to go without essential care due to cost.
By foregoing essential care, many people who are uninsured rather than covered by Medicaid experience severe damage to their health.
Without health insurance, families’ healthcare costs skyrocket.
Childhood insurance gaps have profound, lifelong effects.
