Public relations & the media : a new influence in "agenda-setting" and content

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Book review: Hannah Murphy, The Making of International Trade Policy: NGOs, Agenda-setting and the WTO (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2010), 240 pp., £65.00, ISBN 978 18498 00181 (hbk).

The nexus between states,non-state actors and intergovernmental organisations is an increasingly important area in both the study and practice of global governance. Hannah Murphy makes a meaningful contribution to this area in examining the informal role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in relation to agenda-setting within the World Trade Organization (WTO). © Dean Coldicott, Deakin University 2012.

Race as political strategy by US presidential candidates: a case study

Race has played an important part in US presidential politics in contemporary history. Different political parties and candidates have followed covert strategies playing on the prejudices of white voters both cognitively and emotionally by linking racerelated issues to the majority's individual and group interests. This elite discourse carried to the public by the mainstream media, along with media's practices of stereotyping, priming, framing and agenda setting, help to justify racial prejudice, discrimination against minorities and their marginalized status, while maintaining the status quo. Taking the social constructionist position, this case study examines the opinions expressed by a sample of undecided voters selected from different geographic locations at various stages of the 1992 US presidential campaign under the themes 'Candidates' racial prejudice' and 'Race is used as political strategy by candidates.'

Population ageing and the politics of demographic alarmism : implications for the nursing profession

Objectives
This article provides a brief examination of the prejudices and politics framing current public debate on population ageing in Australia and the possible implications of this for the allocation of required health and social sector resources. The role and responsibility of nurses and professional nursing organisations to engage in and influence public policy debate concerning the health and social care of older people is highlighted.

Setting
Australia

Subjects
Australia's ageing population and succeeding generations over the next 40 years

Primary argument
According to the Australian government, population ageing in Australia is poised to cause unmanageable chaos for the nation's public services. The cost of meeting the future health and social care needs of older Australians is predicted to be unsustainable. Officials argue that government has a stringent responsibility to ration current and future resources in the health and social care sector, cautioning that if this is not done, the nation's public services will ultimately collapse under the strain of the ever increasing demands placed on these services by older people. This characterisation of population ageing and its consequences to the nation's social wellbeing may however be false and misleading and needs to be questioned.

Conclusion
The nursing profession has a fundamental role to play in ensuring responsible debate about population ageing and contributing to public policy agenda setting for the effective health and social care of Australia's ageing population.

Media pressures and corporate disclosure of social responsibility performance : a case study of two global clothing and sports retail companies

This paper investigates the social and environmental disclosure practices of two large multi-national companies, specifically Nike and Hennes and Mauritz. Utilising a joint consideration of legitimacy theory and media agenda setting theory, we investigate the linkage between negative media attention, and positive corporate social and environmental disclosures. Our results generally support a view that for those issues attracting the greatest amount of negative media attention, corporations react by providing positive social and environmental disclosures. The results were particularly significant in relation to labour practices in developing countries – the issue attracting the greatest amount of negative media attention for the companies in question.

Media pressures and corporate disclosure of social responsibility performance information : a study of two global clothing and sports retail companies

This paper investigates the social and environmental disclosure practices of two large multinational companies, specifically Nike and Hennés & Mauritz. Utilising a joint consideration of legitimacy theory and media agenda setting theory, we investigate the linkage between negative media attention, and positive corporate social and environmental disclosures. Our results generally support a view that for those industry-related social and environmental issues attracting the greatest amount of negative media attention, these corporations react by providing positive social and environmental disclosures. The results were particularly significant in relation to labour practices in developing countries - the issue attracting the greatest amount of negative media attention for the companies in question.

Utilization of a population health survey in policy and practice: a case study

Background
There is growing interest by funding bodies and researchers in assessing the impact of research on real world policy and practice. Population health monitoring surveys provide an important source of data on the prevalence and patterns of health problems, but few empirical studies have explored if and how such data is used to influence policy or practice decisions. Here we provide a case study analysis of how the findings from an Australian population monitoring survey series of children’s weight and weight-related behaviors (Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey (SPANS)) have been used, and the key facilitators and barriers to their utilization.

Methods
Data collection included semi-structured interviews with the chief investigators (n = 3) and end-users (n = 9) of SPANS data to explore if, how and under what circumstances the survey findings had been used, bibliometric analysis and verification using documentary evidence. Data analysis involved thematic coding of interview data and triangulation with other data sources to produce case summaries of policy and practice impacts for each of the three survey years (1997, 2004, 2010). Case summaries were then reviewed and discussed by the authors to distil key themes on if, how and why the SPANS findings had been used to guide policy and practice.

Results
We found that the survey findings were used for agenda setting (raising awareness of issues), identifying areas and target groups for interventions, informing new policies, and supporting and justifying existing policies and programs across a range of sectors. Reported factors influencing use of the findings were: i) the perceived credibility of survey findings; ii) dissemination strategies used; and, iii) a range of contextual factors.

Conclusions
Using a novel approach, our case study provides important new insights into how and under what circumstances population health monitoring data can be used to influence real world policy and practice. The findings highlight the importance of population monitoring programs being conducted by independent credible agencies, researchers engaging end-users from the inception of survey programs and utilizing existing policy networks and structures, and using a range of strategies to disseminate the findings that go beyond traditional peer review publications.

Policy and practice impacts of applied research: a case study analysis of the New South Wales Health Promotion Demonstration Research Grants Scheme 2000-2006

Background
Intervention research provides important information regarding feasible and effective interventions for health policy makers, but few empirical studies have explored the mechanisms by which these studies influence policy and practice. This study provides an exploratory case series analysis of the policy, practice and other related impacts of the 15 research projects funded through the New South Wales Health Promotion Demonstration Research Grants Scheme during the period 2000 to 2006, and explored the factors mediating impacts.

Methods
Data collection included semi-structured interviews with the chief investigators (n = 17) and end-users (n = 29) of each of the 15 projects to explore if, how and under what circumstances the findings had been used, as well as bibliometric analysis and verification using documentary evidence. Data analysis involved thematic coding of interview data and triangulation with other data sources to produce case summaries of impacts for each project. Case summaries were then individually assessed against four impact criteria and discussed at a verification panel meeting where final group assessments of the impact of research projects were made and key influences of research impact identified.

Results
Funded projects had variable impacts on policy and practice. Project findings were used for agenda setting (raising awareness of issues), identifying areas and target groups for interventions, informing new policies, and supporting and justifying existing policies and programs across sectors. Reported factors influencing the use of findings were: i) nature of the intervention; ii) leadership and champions; iii) research quality; iv) effective partnerships; v) dissemination strategies used; and, vi) contextual factors.

Conclusions
The case series analysis provides new insights into how and under what circumstances intervention research is used to influence real world policy and practice. The findings highlight that intervention research projects can achieve the greatest policy and practice impacts if they address proximal needs of the policy context by engaging end-users from the inception of projects and utilizing existing policy networks and structures, and using a range of strategies to disseminate findings that go beond traditional peer review publications.

Social media's impact on journalism : a study of media's coverage of anti-corruption protests in India

The year 2011 was memorable for many in India – for those who participated in numerous anti-corruption protests, and for those who witnessed these protests via all pervasive mainstream news media. This paper will use inter-media agenda-setting discourse to explain the Indian media’s coverage of the so-called ‘Anna movement’. It will outline how the use of mobile and social media platforms by the ‘India Against Corruption’ organisers and the educated middle class influenced the mainstream media’s coverage of the protests. The paper will consider the implication of this coverage, in the light of the unique position of power the Indian news media has in this transitioning society.

Managing intravenous medications in the non-hospital setting: an ethnographic investigation

Little published information exists about the issues involved in conducting complex intravenous medication therapy in patients’ homes. An ethnographic study of a local hospital-in-the-home program in the Australian Capital Territory explored this phenomenon to identify those factors that had an impact on the use of medicine in the home environment. This article focuses on one of the three themes identified in the study—Clinical Practice. Within this theme, topics related to the organization and management of intravenous medications, geography and diversity of patient caseload, and communication in the practice setting are discussed. These findings have important implications for policy development and establishment of a research agenda for hospital-in-the-home services.

(Un)safe routes : maternal mortality and Ethiopia's development agenda

This study juxtaposed women's experiences of birth at home in rural Ethiopia where it is 'safe' with that in a modern health care setting where it is 'unsafe' because the distance from international maternal health policy to its implementation is vast and the 'pathway to maternal survival' can be circuitous.