The Efficacy of Chinese News Coverage of Tobacco Control: A Comparison of the Media Agenda and the Policy Agenda

This study examines the news coverage of tobacco control in China between 2010 and 2012 and compares it with the China Tobacco Control Program (2012-2015), a recent national policy initiative. The study finds that the relative salience of second-level tobacco control issues in the media have a moderate positive association with the policy agenda. However, the news coverage of tobacco control was more consistent with the agenda of anti-tobacco control forces than with the agenda of pro-control forces. The implications of the findings are discussed.