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Serving Smoke-Free Air: Reframing the Public Debate for Passage of a Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars law in N.C. Ann Houston Staples, CHES Tobacco Prevention & Control Branch NC Division of Public Health.
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Serving Smoke-Free Air: Reframing the Public Debate for Passage of a Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars law in N.C. Ann Houston Staples, CHES Tobacco Prevention & Control Branch NC Division of Public Health
The heavy lifting for this report was done by: Erin Bunger, Allie Lieberman, Menaka Mohan, Lauren Toledo Public Health Graduate Students The Capstone Project Gillings School of Global Public Health University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Outline • What was happening in NC? • What did we do to respond to the challenge? • How did we measure it? • What did we learn?
Is N.C. a fluke? • Overnight success? • Full of folks who come from other places? • Not really “Southern”?
New Law Gets Rave Reviews in tobacco-dependent Wilson • http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/6726055/
What happened in N.C.? • In both 2007 and 2009, a comprehensive smoke-free worksite, restaurants and bars bill was introduced. Both bills were weakened to cover restaurants and bars only. • In 2007, an age-provision was added to exempt many bars, and the bill failed narrowly in the House. • In 2009, a similar age-provision was added in the House, removed by the Senate, and the Senate bill was adopted by the House.
House Bill 2: Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars in NC • Bill was signed by Gov. Perdue and went into effect January 2, 2010 • Very few exceptions: private clubs and country clubs that are non-profit and cigar bars open to 21-and-older.
Did Media Advocacy Strategies Make a difference? • In 2007 and 2009 • Supportive Poll Data • Strong Editorial Board Support • Surgeon General’s Report • Hands-Off Governor • House Majority Leader and cancer survivor as bill sponsor
Restaurant & Lodging Association Not Actively Supporting More discussion of “local control” More effort around LTEs rather than Op/Eds Editorial support from nearly all major dailies Restaurant & Lodging Association in Support SHS Health Care Cost Study Bi-Partisan Sponsorship Hard work on supportive Op/Eds Editorial Board Memos 2007 2009
What Worked? We worked with the Capstone Team to try and determine what strategies might have made a difference in news coverage of the 2009 bill over the 2007 bill, and, ultimately, help with the passage.
Methods: Sampling Strategy • Daily keyword search using Google News Alert and Tobacco.org about 2007 and 2009 Legislative sessions • Keywords: Smoking+NC, Tobacco+NC, Holliman • 360 newspaper articles received: • 2006-07: 91 • 2009: 269
Methods: Sampling Strategy • 357 daily newspaper articles included in the sample • 2006-07: 97 • 2009: 260 • Modified Sample • Not relevant to House Bill 2 • Message Board comments • Press Release • Multiple articles in one document
Coding Sheet • Identified Each article using the following categories: • Type of Article - eg. News, Editorial, Letter to Editor, Op-Ed, Column • Topics Mentioned (Codes) – eg. Holliman, Legislation, Secondhand Smoke • Sources of Quotes and Affiliations – eg. Public Health Leader, Restaurant and Bar owner • Point of View – eg. Pro-Bill, Anti-Bill, Neutral For Opinion Articles: • Frame – eg. Economic, Pro-Health, Personal Rights
Methods: Data Analysis • Collapsing Codes • Codes and Affiliations • Related topic codes were combined into 8 main codes • Calculated frequencies and cross-tabulations
Codes • Tobacco Industry • Legislation • Setting and People • Health • Money • Ideology • Federal Initiatives • Other
Point of View • Pro-Bill • Anti-Bill • Neutral • Unsure
Results: Point of View of Opinion Articles 2007 n=72 2009 n=140
Results: Opinion – Point of View by Type of Article 2007 2009
Frame • Property Rights • Personal Rights • Economic • Free Market • Pro-Health • Worker Health • Government Protection • Unsure
Recommendations • “Costs of Secondhand Smoke” Study based on the BCBS of Minnesota model • Developing a media committee/strategy that • Follows news media and strategically plans responses to misinformation and negative opinion writing. • Selects specific newspapers to place op/eds in, based on where legislative support is needed • Recruits strong local authors for op/eds and assists in writing and placing them (docs, LHD) • Distributes editorial board memos as needed
Recommendations (Content) • Have a Strategy for Dealing with “Property Rights” issue • Bring Restaurant Association on-board • Counter with strongest possible arguments • Focus on strongest arguments • Reducing Health Effects of SHS • Reducing Health Care Costs