LIST OF PANELS

Mass media can influence health policy in myriad ways, through influencing the political agenda (e.g. McCombs and Shaw 1972; Sato 2003), framing particular health issues for public and policy consumption (e.g. Entman, 1993; Feeley & Vincent 2009; Hawkins & Linvill 2010) and shaping public preferences for particular policy options (e.g. Dixon et al. 2014; Son and Weaver 2000). Therefore, we cannot fully understand the policy-making process, or the policy implementation environment, without understanding the role of mass media in it.

The purpose of this panel is to contribute to our understanding of how mass media (including social media) can impact public health policy communication, creation and successful implementation. 

Mass media can influence health policy in myriad ways, through influencing  

the political agenda (e.g. McCombs and Shaw 1972; Sato 2003), framing particular health issues for public and policy consumption (e.g. Entman, 1993; Feeley & Vincent 2009; Hawkins & Linvill 2010) and shaping public preferences for particular policy options (e.g. Dixon et al. 2014; Son and Weaver 2000). Therefore, we cannot fully understand the policy-making process, or the policy implementation environment, without understanding the role of mass media in it.

The purpose of this panel is to contribute to our understanding of how mass media (including social media) can impact public health policy communication, creation and successful implementation. 

Possible topics might include media representations of health policies, media representations and framing of health issues, theoretical and methodological contributions to understanding the relationship between media and health policies, and case studies of agenda setting in health policy.