ISBN:  Unavailable

Category: Unavailable

Page count: 32

The majority of the news focused on the Richmond tax proposal: 64% of articles were about Richmond, compared with only 15% about El Monte; 6% were primarily about some other sugary drink policy (such as a soda size limit proposed by New York City's then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg), while 15% of news stories had another focus, such as a profile of Jeff Ritterman, the city council member who developed, sponsored and promoted the Richmond measure. The majority of the coverage was news (57%), while 43% was opinion writing, includ- ing letters to the editor, editorials, op-eds and blogs. Opinion coverage was more or less evenly divided: 44% of opinion pieces favored soda taxes, 39% opposed the policies, and 17% took a mixed or unclear position. However, all nine editorials took an anti-tax position. News articles were evenly distributed across the year, but most of the opinion cover- age appeared directly before and after the elections: 70% appeared between September and November 2012, with 40% appearing in October alone. Tax proponents in Richmond made extensive use of the opinion space (including edi- torials and letters to the editor). By focusing their advocacy efforts primarily on the election period, public health advocates may have missed an opportunity to build on a groundswell of news coverage growing around sugar-sweetened beverage regulation that began earlier in the spring of 2012.