Cancer coverage in newspapers serving large and small communities in Ontario

Local newspapers are an important source of health news, especially in small communities. We describe the amount and type of cancer information in Ontario daily newspapers dichotomized by circulation size (> 400,000 or < 40,000) and community size (> 250,000 or < 25,000 people) for 1991. All cancer articles (n = 1027) in five newspapers with large circulations, serving large communities, and five newspapers with small circulations, serving small communities, were read and evaluated for focus and newsplay. Although large newspapers had an absolute greater number of cancer articles, there were no significant differences by newspaper size in the number of cancer articles per 1,000 pages. Large newspapers included more cancer articles with a scientific vs. human interest focus than did small newspapers (p < 0.001). Large newspapers tended to use wire services whereas small newspapers tended to use staff reporters. Differences in the type and amount of cancer information varies by newspaper and community size, potentially contributing to differences in community cancer information resources.