• Nicolai Bodemer, Stephanie M Müller, Yasmina Okan, Rocio Garcia-Retamero, and Angela Neumeyer-Gromen.
• Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Harding Center for Risk Literacy, Berlin, Germany. bodemer@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
• Vaccine. 2012 May 28; 30 (25): 3747-56.

AbstractThe media is a powerful tool for informing the public about health treatments. In particular, the Internet has gained importance as a widely valued source for health information for parents and adolescents. Nonetheless, traditional sources, such as newspapers, continue to report on health innovations. But do websites and newspaper reports provide balanced information? We performed a systematic media analysis to evaluate and compare media coverage of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine on websites and in newspapers in Germany and Spain. We assessed to what extent the media provide complete (pros and cons), transparent (absolute instead of relative numbers), and correct information about the epidemiology and etiology of cervical cancer as well as the effectiveness and costs of the HPV vaccine. As a basis for comparison, a facts box containing current scientific evidence about cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine was developed. The media analysis included 61 websites and 141 newspaper articles in Germany, and 41 websites and 293 newspaper articles in Spain. Results show that 57% of German websites and 43% of German newspaper reports communicated correct estimates of epidemiological data, whereas in Spain 39% of the websites and 20% of the newspaper did so. While two thirds of Spanish websites explicitly mentioned causes of cervical cancer as well as spontaneous recovery, German websites communicated etiological information less frequently. Findings reveal that correct estimates about the vaccine's effectiveness were mentioned in 10% of German websites and 6% of German newspaper reports; none of the Spanish newspaper reports and 2% of Spanish websites reported effectiveness correctly. Only German websites (13%) explicitly referred to scientific uncertainty regarding the vaccine's evaluation. We conclude that the media lack balanced reporting on the dimensions completeness, transparency, and correctness. We propose standards for more balanced reporting on websites and in newspapers.Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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