The associated press stylebook changes and the use of addiction-related stigmatizing terms in news media

Abstract

Background

The May 2017 publication of the updated Associated Press (AP) Stylebook offered guidance that advised against stigmatizing. The objective of this study was to assess the frequency of stigmatizing terms describing substance use and disorder in news articles before and after the update of the AP Stylebook.

Methods: We reviewed articles containing terms “opioid” or “addiction” from three major news outlets. We counted the number of AP Stylebook proscribed terms found in each article and compared the proportions of articles from each outlet with proscribed terms before and after AP Stylebook publication.

Results: In 2016, 56–94% of articles from each of the three news outlets contained a proscribed term. The use of proscribed terms in articles identified by searching “opioid” published in the New York Times decreased (72% vs. 94%, p = 0.01) after the AP Stylebook change. For other news outlets, there were no significant differences, though all proportions were lower after publication.

Conclusions: Evidence for a decrease in the use of stigmatizing terminology for substance use and disorders in news articles after publication of guidance was limited. Additional efforts should address use of such terminology to maximize implementation of effective addiction health policies and practices.

Keywords:

• Stigma
• opioid
• addiction
• media

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the following people for their work in data collection during their commitment to the Boston College Public Health Club: Zainab Abbasi, Anna Akkara, John DiBello, Sageene Francis, Sarah Ryan, Jenny W. Shi, Julia Sughrue, and Stephanie Wall.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

RS contributed to the study’s conception, design, interpretation of results, and writing of this manuscript. LGB contributed to the study’s design, data collection, interpretation of results, and writing of this manuscript. SCH contributed to the study’s design, analysis and interpretation of results, and writing of this manuscript. HD contributed to the study’s design and data collection. AA contributed to the study’s analysis and data collection.