696881

research-article2017
JMQXXX10.1177/1077699017696881Journalism & Mass Communication QuarterlyKim et al.

Advances in Global Health Communication

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
2017, Vol. 94(2) 443­–464
News Media Presentations © 2017 AEJMC
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DOI: 10.1177/1077699017696881
https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699017696881
Content Analysis of News http://journals.sagepub.com/home/jmq

Coverage in South Korea

Sei-Hill Kim1, James F. Thrasher1, Myung-Hyun Kang2,

Yoo Jin Cho1, and Joon Kyoung Kim1

Abstract
Analyzing newspaper articles and television news transcripts, our study examines the
quantity and the nature of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) coverage in South Korea.
In terms of the quantity, we found that news coverage of e-cigarettes significantly
increased in the most recent 2 years (2014 and 2015). Our analysis of story topics
indicated that South Korean news media were more likely to present e-cigarettes as
a policy issue than a health issue, talking primarily about how to regulate this new
product. When it comes to potential benefits and drawbacks of e-cigarettes, news
coverage was unbalanced and more likely to talk about health risks than benefits.
Overall, the tone of news stories was largely unfavorable, suggesting that public
sentiment in South Korea has been rather negative than positive toward e-cigarette
vaping. We also found that such journalistic practices as relying heavily on established
routine sources and focusing on the stories that can attract larger audiences might
have affected the way e-cigarettes were presented in the news.

Keywords
electronic cigarettes, tobacco control, South Korea, news media, content analysis,
frame building

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have become globally popular over the recent
years, with many countries reporting rapid increases in the number of e-cigarette users
(e.g., Brown et al., 2014; Yates et al., 2015). E-cigarettes are promoted as a tobacco
harm reduction product although their potential harmful effects are still inconclusive

1University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

2Hallym University, Chuncheon, South Korea

Corresponding Author:
Sei-Hill Kim, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina, 800 Sumter
Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
Email: seihillkim@gmail.com
444 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 94(2)

and cannot be dismissed (Fairchild & Bayer, 2015). A recent Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) review (Cheng, 2014), for example, has reported that many
e-cigarette products contain various chemical substances known to be toxic and carci-
nogenic, suggesting that policy discussions of e-cigarettes should include an articula-
tion of negative health outcomes.
The number of e-cigarette users in South Korea has significantly increased during
the last several years (Lee, Grana, & Glantz, 2014). In 2015, about 39.0% of the adult
male population were smokers, and as many as 7.7% of the same population reported
ever using e-cigarettes (Korea Health Promotion Foundation, 2015). As e-cigarettes
represent an increasingly important public health issue in the country, our study reports
how the issue has been presented in news media. Analyzing news portrayals is particu-
larly necessary at this early stage of public adoption and usage, given that news media
can play an important role in shaping the public’s understanding and perceptions about
tobacco-related issues (Wackowski, Lewis, Delnevo, & Ling, 2013) and that certain
inconsistencies and conflicting information in the news as well as in the scientific
community may affect people’s perceptions about the risks of e-cigarette vaping
(Yates et al., 2015).
In this study, we content-analyze news articles and transcripts from a number of
print newspapers, online newspapers, and television channels published or aired
between 2007 and 2015. In addition to analyzing the quantity, we examine the nature
of e-cigarette stories by looking at several key components of news coverage. First, we
examine the sources of e-cigarette stories, looking at who were typically cited or ref-
erenced as a news source (e.g., government officials, doctors, or average citizens). We
then examine the key story topics, which can suggest the audience what the issue is all
about (Nisbet & Huge, 2006). E-cigarettes, for example, can be presented as a health
issue, talking about potential harmful effects. Alternatively, stories can present e-ciga-
rettes as a policy issue, discussing primarily about how to regulate the product. To put
the topics in context, our study also examines issue attributes, looking at which poten-
tial benefits and drawbacks of e-cigarette vaping have appeared more frequently than
others in news coverage. Finally, the tone of each story is examined. The story tone
deals with the question of whether the story is overall in support of or in opposition to
the uses of e-cigarettes. The overall story tone can not only be a good indicator of cur-
rent public opinion, but also set the direction of future government policies in address-
ing e-cigarettes (Rooke & Amos, 2014).
Although previous studies have examined how the media present e-cigarettes in
their news coverage, little effort has been made to understand why the media pres-
ent them in certain ways. Using the notion of frame building (Scheufele, 1999),
another key objective of this study is to address the question of what factors have
influenced the media’s selective uses of news sources, story topics, issues attri-
butes, and story tones. We explore typical journalistic practices and constraints—
such as heavy reliance on established routine news sources, organizational pressure
to focus on the stories that attract larger audiences, and the journalistic norm of
balanced reporting—that may have affected the e-cigarette discourse in South
Korean news media.
Kim et al. 445

This study can make a contribution to the e-cigarette and news media literature in
several ways. South Korea can provide a useful case study, as the country recently
adopted and implemented comprehensive e-cigarette regulations, along with a number
of drastic tobacco control measures at the national level. This case study will allow us
to compare our findings with previous content studies from other countries, providing
a better understanding of the unique factors that may have affected the public dis-
course on e-cigarettes in South Korea. In particular, the cross-national comparison can
provide important implications for public health communicators, informing the future
advocacy in South Korea and elsewhere. Given that the media can represent as well as
affect public opinion, our analysis of news coverage can also inform policy makers
and stakeholders, allowing them to better understand the areas of public concern and
the public’s support for policy action. Finally, our study can contribute to the burgeon-
ing communication literature on frame building. Whereas agenda-building studies
(Shoemaker & Reese, 1991) deal with certain organizational constraints and practices
that can affect the media’s selection of which issues to cover, our study examines
whether the same organizational factors can affect how to cover the issues.
There has been a considerable divergence among tobacco control advocates on the
role of e-cigarettes as a “harm reduction” alternative, questioning whether smokers
should aim to reduce harm or become abstinent (Rooke & Amos, 2014). Supporters of
the harm reduction approach believe that harm from smoking derives not from nico-
tine use but from exposure to cigarette smoke, and thus that using alternative tobacco—
such as e-cigarettes—to maintain nicotine use is reduced harm, compared with
combustible cigarette smoking (Eversman, 2015). On the contrary, supporters of the
abstinence framework argue that tobacco or nicotine uses are unhealthy per se—com-
pared with not using them at all—and that using alternative tobacco will only discour-
age cessation, while encouraging tobacco initiation particularly among youth
(Hatsukami, Henningfield, & Kotlyar, 2004). How the debates on harm reduction will
evolve in the media as well as among tobacco control experts will have important
implications in terms of shaping government policies on e-cigarettes, whose health
effects are still largely undetermined.

E-Cigarettes in the News

E-cigarettes represent a relatively new technology, and it is only recently that research-
ers have begun to systemically examine the patterns news coverage. Analyzing news-
paper articles published in the United States, for example, Yates et al. (2015) examined
what were the typical topics of e-cigarette stories in the news. Their content analysis of
450 articles between 1997 and 2014 indicated that more than half of the articles were
talking about regulations as the primary topic, suggesting that how to regulate e-ciga-
rettes has been at the center of e-cigarette discussions in the United States. The majority
(61.1%) of news articles were published in the recent 2 years, indicating that e-ciga-
rettes have become a prominent topic only recently. A large majority of (85.0%) of the
articles were either balanced or neutral toward e-cigarettes, though most recent articles
were more likely to address potential drawbacks of e-cigarettes rather than benefits.
446 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 94(2)

Rooke and Amos (2014) examined how e-cigarettes were presented in the United
Kingdom and the Scottish newspapers. Their content analysis of 119 articles between
2007 and 2012 revealed five key story themes: healthier choice, getting around smoke-
free policies, celebrity use, price, and risk and uncertainty. The amount of news cover-
age rose significantly over the years, with the majority (75 of the total 119 articles
found) occurring in the most recent 2 years. Although most stories involved both posi-
tives and negatives of e-cigarette use, the overall tone was rather favorable toward
e-cigarettes as the stories tended to focus more on reasons for using the product than
on potential risks.
In another study of U.K. and Scottish newspapers, Patterson, Hilton, and Weishaar
(2016) specifically examined stories about e-cigarette regulations. Their content anal-
ysis of 104 articles between 2013 and 2014 investigated who were the typical stake-
holders cited as a source and what their stances were toward different forms of
regulation. In terms of the quantity, the number of articles about regulations increased
significantly during the 2-year time period examined. Not very surprisingly, govern-
ments and regulatory bodies were most frequently cited sources and largely supported
regulating e-cigarettes. Although arguments supporting regulation significantly out-
numbered arguments against it, stakeholders did not uniformly support every form of
regulation. In particular, stakeholders were highly divided on prohibiting e-cigarette
vaping in enclosed public spaces. In justifying regulation, child protection and concern
about the safety of e-cigarette products were the two most frequently used talking
points in newspapers.

E-Cigarettes in South Korea

Although e-cigarettes were first introduced to the South Korean markets as early as
in 2007 (International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, 2011), their usage
was minimum at least before 2014. It was only recent couple of years (2014 and
2015) when the number of users increased quite significantly. For example, although
only about 2.0% of adult males used e-cigarettes in 2013, the number went up to
4.4% in 2014 and 7.7% in 2015 (Korea Health Promotion Foundation, 2015).
E-cigarette usage among South Korean youth has increased more rapidly. Although
only about 0.5% of adolescents between 13 and 18 had ever used e-cigarettes in
2008, the number went up to 9.4% in 2011 (Lee et al., 2014). These large increases
can be attributed to the implementations of strong and comprehensive tobacco con-
trol measures in the most recent years. With the rapidly growing antismoking public
sentiment (Gallup Korea, 2013), the government announced in 2014 and imple-
mented in 2015 a number of drastic measures, which included a total ban of smoking
in all indoor public spaces and an increase of tobacco taxes from 1,550 Korean Won
(about US$1.35) to 3,318 Korean Won (about US$2.89) per pack of cigarettes. Many
smokers seem to have switched to e-cigarette vaping as a cheaper alternative to ciga-
rette smoking, as a way to get around smoke-free policies, as a way to avoid growing
social pressure against smokers.
Kim et al. 447

In response to the increase in e-cigarette usage among adults and adolescents, the
South Korean government has implemented a number of regulations in recent years.
In 2011, the Law for the Promotion of Nation’s Health was amended to impose the
first e-cigarette tax in the amount of 221 Korean Won (about 19 U.S. cents) per 1.0 ml
of nicotine solution. More comprehensive measures were introduced in 2014. The
Tobacco Business Act was amended to broadly define tobacco products as the prod-
ucts made entirely or partly of leaf tobacco, which are intended to be smoked, vaped,
chewed, or snuffed. As a consequence of this broader definition, the new smoke-free
law now includes e-cigarettes, making it illegal to vape e-cigarettes in all indoor public
spaces. A legal ground was also established to prohibit sales of e-cigarettes to minors
as another consequence of this new definition.

Frame Building
The term frame building captures the roles played by certain internal and external fac-
tors of news organizations in shaping the way the media present or frame a story.
Selection of a certain frame is moderated by such factors as cultural norms and values,
organizational constraints, and professional routines, the factors that often affect the
way journalists make sense of an issue (Scheufele, 1999). Frame-building research
examines how these organizational factors interplay with the framing process, influ-
encing the way news story is constructed.
Operationally, our study borrows from Ghanem’s (1997) relatively broad conceptu-
alization of framing that incorporates four major components: the topic of a news story
(e.g., the storyline or the organizing theme), the presentation (e.g., the size and place-
ment of a story), cognitive attributes (e.g., the key arguments in a story), and affective
attributes (e.g., the story tone). Among these four, we select three components—story
topics, issues attributes, and story tones—and examine whether certain organizational
factors of news media have affected their selective uses of these framing components.
In addition, we examine whether the organizational factors have also affected the
media’s uses of certain news sources.
First, commercial pressures can be a form of organizational constraint. News media
are for-profit organizations, and news items that can attract larger audiences tend to
become a regular choice (Wallack, Dorfman, Jernigan, & Themba, 1993). Similarly,
framing a story in a way that attracts large audiences may become necessary when jour-
nalists consider how to present an issue (Kim, Carvalho, Davis, & Mullins, 2011). Second,
such professional routines as relying heavily on established sources can be another frame-
building factor. Routine sources who can promptly provide reliable information that is
easily transferable into a news story are typically selected (Shoemaker & Reese, 1991).
Finally, being balanced is a journalistic norm that can affect a framing process. Maintaining
a balance, or presenting both sides of an issue, is a technique to ensure objectivity a story
(Wallack et al., 1993). In our study, we look closely at whether these organizational fac-
tors have affected the media’s selective uses of certain framing components, including
news sources, story topics, issue attributes (benefits and drawbacks), and story tones.
448 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 94(2)

Research Questions
News Sources
By simply examining who the sources are, knowledgeable readers can quite accurately
tell what will be in the news story even without reading the entire content (Reese,
Grant, & Danielian, 1994). News sources can often lead the journalists to a particular
story, helping the media set the agenda (Gans, 1979). It is also the sources who can
provide interpretive frameworks, telling the reporters what the key talking points will
be in a story (Entman, 1993). In this way, news sources can exert significant influences
on news content by functioning as an agenda setter or a news framer. We put forth the
following research question:

RQ1 (sources): Who are the typical sources of e-cigarette stories in South Korean
news media? Have certain news sources been used more often than others in news
coverage?

Topics of E-Cigarette Stories

The primary topic of a story, or the central organizing idea, provides meaning to a
sequence of information presented in the story (Gamson & Modigliani, 1989). This
organizing idea functions to package an issue in a certain way, suggesting what the issue
is about. An e-cigarette story, for example, can be organized as a policy issue, highlight-
ing the lack of adequate regulations that will address potential problems with e-cigarette
usage. The media can also define the scope and nature of a problem by suggesting what
the most important consequences are (Kim et al., 2011). E-cigarettes, for example, can
be discussed in terms of safety, magnifying potential safety issues associated with e-cig-
arette vaping (e.g., battery explosion). At the same time, e-cigarettes can be presented in
connection with youth, focusing on the problems with e-cigarette usage among adoles-
cents (increasing popularity, easy access, etc.). The primary story topics, therefore, can
affect the audiences’ conceptions of what the issue is all about, shaping the public dis-
course on how to approach the issue (Entman, 1993). Our second research question
(RQ2) addresses which topics appeared more often than others in e-cigarette stories:

RQ2 (topics): What are the key topics of e-cigarette stories in South Korean news
media? Have certain topics appeared more often than others in news coverage?

Benefits and Drawbacks of E-Cigarettes

Our study also examines the key attributes of e-cigarettes, looking at which specific
benefits and drawbacks were typically presented in news coverage. A discussion of
e-cigarettes, for example, can involve health-related attributes, talking about whether
or not e-cigarette vaping is harmful, affects others, or helps smoking cessation (Cobb,
Byron, Abrams, & Shields, 2010; Laugesen, 2008). At the same time, stories can
Kim et al. 449

involve discussions about usage-related benefits and drawbacks, such as whether or

not e-cigarette vaping can become a cheaper and more convenient alternative to con-
ventional smoking (Pepper & Brewer, 2014). Youth being particularly affected by
e-cigarettes has been another primary talking point when discussing potential draw-
backs (Wills, Knight, Williams, Pagano, & Sargent, 2015). According to McCombs
(2005), the media tend to selectively use certain attributes over others when present-
ing an issue. In this way, the selective use of attributes can affect the audience’s
evaluation of an issue by shaping their understanding of what can be the reasons to
either support or oppose the issue. Our next research question (RQ3) examines which
benefits and drawbacks appeared more often than others in news stories:

RQ3 (benefits and drawbacks): What are the typical benefits and drawbacks of
e-cigarette vaping discussed in South Korean news media? Which benefits and
drawbacks have appeared more often than others in the media?

Tones of E-Cigarette Stories

Whereas issue attributes tap the cognitive dimensions of a news story, story tones take
on an affective aspect, giving the story a positive, negative, or neutral connotation
(Coleman, McCombs, Shaw, & Weaver, 2009). A dominant story tone may not only
reflect the current public sentiment on e-cigarettes but also provide a good sense of
how public opinion will evolve during the years to come (Rooke & Amos, 2014). In
our study, story tones are categorized into favorable, unfavorable, or neutral/balanced
toward e-cigarettes. We put forth the following research question:

RQ4 (story tone): What is the tone of e-cigarette stories like? Has the tone been
largely favorable, unfavorable, or neutral/balanced toward e-cigarettes?

Method
Data
To draw a representative sample of South Korean news media, we first selected
three national daily newspapers with the largest circulation figures (Chosun Ilbo,
Joonang Ilbo, and Donga Ilbo). Their online editions (Chosun Online, Joongang
Online, and Donga Online) were also included in our data. Because these three
newspapers tend to represent conservative perspectives, we added two largest lib-
eral newspapers as well (Kyunghyang Shinmoon and Hankyoreh Shinmoon). Online
editions of these two newspapers were not included in our data because of their lack
of articles about e-cigarettes. Data for television news content came from three
national television networks: Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), Munhwa
Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), and Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) in South
Korea (see Table 1 for the final number of articles/transcripts from each newspaper/
channel included in our data).
450 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 94(2)

Our data included news stories from the last 9 years (2007-2015), with 2007 as the
first year when e-cigarettes were introduced to the South Korean markets and 2015 as
the most recent full year prior to our data analysis. For the convenience of data analy-
sis, these 9 years were further collapsed into three time periods (2007-2013, 2014, and
2015). The first 7 years (2007-2013) were combined into one time period because of
the small number of news stories found (see Table 1) and the lack of e-cigarette related
policy developments during the years. The years 2014 and 2015 were analyzed sepa-
rately because it was during these time periods when full-scale e-cigarette regulations
were first time implemented in South Korea, producing a significant amount of news
coverage. It was also during the same time periods when the government introduced
(2014) and implemented (2015) new comprehensive tobacco control measures, which
seem to have affected e-cigarette sales and usages in the country.
News stories were retrieved from the Korean Integrated News Database System (an
online news archive) and the Internet home page of each newspaper/channel, using the
keyword Jeonja Dambae (e-cigarettes). The keyword search yielded a total of 1,160
articles and transcripts about e-cigarettes. An initial screening sorted out 595 (51.3%)
duplicates and “unrelated” stories where e-cigarettes were mentioned simply in pass-
ing. Additional 70 duplicates and unrelated stories were further filtered out during the
actual coding process. Remaining 495 stories were all included in our data for analy-
sis. Among these 495, 343 (69.3%) presented e-cigarettes as the primary focus of the
story, whereas 152 (30.7%) discussed them as a secondary focus (see Table 1). Of the
219 print and online newspaper stories, 209 (95.4%) were news articles, and only 10
(4.6%) were op-eds (editorials, columns, or letters to the editor).

Coding
Our coding variables were identified using a combination of deductive and inductive
approaches (Neuendorf, 2002). We first deductively identified variables through a
review of the e-cigarette literature (e.g., Hajek, Etter, Benowitz, Eissenberg, &
McRobbie, 2014; Pepper & Brewer, 2014; Rooke & Amos, 2014; Yates et al., 2015).
A coding sheet was then crafted with these initial variables. During coder training and
pilot-test sessions, the initial coding sheet was applied to analyzing a sample of news
articles. In this inductive approach, we examined whether there were any variables to
add to or remove from the initial coding sheet. The coding sheet was revised multiple
times to its final version during these training and pilot-test sessions.
The entire text of each article/transcript was examined for coding. We calculated
intercoder reliability by double-coding a random subsample (n = 107 or 21.6%) of the
data. Intercoder reliability corrected for agreement by chance (Krippendorff’s α)
ranged between .853 and 1.000, with an average of .959 (see Table 2). Intercoder reli-
ability could not be calculated for two variables (e-cigarettes being not addictive and
e-cigarettes not tasting like real cigarettes) because their frequencies were too small
to determine reliability. These two variables appeared in only one and three articles
in the final sample (N = 495), and they were not found by either of the coders in any
of the articles sampled for intercoder reliability calculation (n = 107). Therefore,
Kim et al. 451

Table 1.  Descriptive Statistics (N = 495).

Variables Frequency (%)

News media
  Print newspapers
  Chosun Ilbo 25 (5.1)
  Joonang Ilbo 56 (11.3)
  Donga Ilbo 28 (5.7)
  Kyunghyang Shinmoon 33 (6.7)
  Hankyoreh Shinmoon 20 (4.0)
   Print newspaper total 162 (32.8)
  Online newspapers
  Chosun Online 32 (6.5)
  Joongang Online 14 (2.8)
  Donga Online 11 (2.2)
   Online newspaper total 57 (11.5)
  Television news
   Korean Broadcasting System 114 (23.0)
   Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation 69 (13.9)
   Seoul Broadcasting System 93 (18.8)
   Television news total 276 (55.7)
Year
 2007 1 (0.2)
 2008 6 (1.2)
 2009 25 (5.1)
 2010 22 (4.4)
 2011 40 (8.1)
 2012 31 (6.3)
 2013 38 (7.7)
 2014 109 (22.0)
 2015 223 (45.1)
Focus
  E-cigarettes as the primary focus of the article 343 (69.3)
  E-cigarettes as the secondary focus of the article 152 (30.7)
Article type (newspapers only)
 News 209 (95.4)
  Op-eds (editorials, columns, letters to the editor) 10 (4.6)

Krippendorff’s alpha was not calculated, though the uncorrected agreement was 100%
for each variable. Nevertheless, we decided to include these two variables in our anal-
yses as we intended to compare their frequencies with the frequencies of their “coun-
terarguments” (e-cigarettes are addictive and e-cigarettes taste like real/conventional
cigarettes), which have been some of the primary talking points in discussing e-ciga-
rettes (Hajek et al., 2014).
452 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 94(2)

Table 2.  News Sources, Topics, Benefits, Drawbacks, and Story Tone (Coding Sheet and
Intercoder Reliability).

Coding variables Krippendorff’s α

News sources
  Government officials and lawmakers 1.000
  Scientists and doctors .882
  Average citizens .965
  E-cigarette manufacturers, vendors, and importers .853
  Law enforcement (the police, prosecutors, national and local 1.000
tax services, customs)
  NGOs and advocacy organizations .951
Topics (code just one primary topic from each article) .921
  (Regulations) Policy updates, regulating e-cigarettes, whether  
or not to regulate? Need for regulation (e.g., restricting
marketing to youth), how to regulate?
  (Health effects) Is e-cigarette vaping harmful, less harmful, or  
not harmful? Are health-effects unknown? Does e-cigarette
vaping help smoking cessation?
  (Law enforcement) Police crackdown on unlicensed  
manufacturing, smuggling, and illegal sales
  (Youth) E-cigarette usage among youth, access to  
e-cigarettes, sales and marketing to youth
  (Usage) E-cigarette usage statistics, user profile, increasing  
popularity
  (E-cigarette content) Nicotine level, flavors, additives,  
chemicals
  (Safety) E.g., battery explosion  
  (Description of e-cigarettes) What is an e-cigarette? How it  
works (technology)?
  (Others) celebrity usage of e-cigarettes, introducing a new  
e-cigarette brand/product
Benefits (Can code multiple benefits from each article?)
 Health-related
   (Not harmful) E-cigarettes are not harmful or less harmful 1.000
than conventional cigarettes.
   (Not affect others) E-cigarette vaping does not affect 1.000
others.
   (Help cessation) E-cigarette vaping helps smoking cessation. 1.000
   (Not addictive) E-cigarettes are not or less addictive. Undefineda
 Usage-related
   (Taste like cigarettes) E-cigarettes taste like conventional 1.000
cigarettes.
   (Convenient and safe) Compared with conventional 1.000
cigarettes, e-cigarettes are more convenient and safer to
use (e.g., no combustion).
(continued)
Kim et al. 453

Table 2. (continued)
Coding variables Krippendorff’s α
   (Cheaper) E-cigarette vaping is cheaper than smoking 1.000
conventional cigarettes (e.g., less tax).
   (Getting around smoke-free legislation): E-cigarettes can be .853
used in places where smoking is forbidden.
Drawbacks (Can code multiple drawbacks from each article?)
 Health-related  
   (Harmful) E-cigarettes are harmful. .976
   (Affect others) E-cigarette vaping affects others. .855
   (Not help cessation) The efficacy of e-cigarettes for 1.000
smoking cessation has not been proven.
   (Addictive) E-cigarettes are addictive. .918
   (Health-effects unknown) Health effects of e-cigarette .943
vaping are unknown.
   (Nicotine overconsumption) E-cigarette vaping leads to 1.000
nicotine overconsumption (e.g., higher levels of nicotine in
e-cigarettes).
   (Gateway) E-cigarettes serve as a “gateway” to 1.000
conventional cigarette smoking.
 Usage-related
   (Not taste like cigarettes) E-cigarettes do not taste like Undefineda
conventional cigarettes.
   (Inconvenient and less safe) E-cigarettes are inconvenient .985
to use (e.g., need to charge the battery; inconvenient to
carry) and less safe (e.g., battery explosion).
 Youth-related  
   (Youth) Youth are particularly affected (e.g., higher usage 1.000
among teenagers, easy access, and usage in classroom).
Story tone (code just one overall tone from each article) .911
  (Tone) Overall, is the story in favor of, in opposition to, or  
neutral/balanced toward e-cigarettes?
   After reading the story, would the reader become more  
favorable, unfavorable, or no different?

Note. NGO = nongovernmental organization; e-cigarette = electronic cigarette.

aFrequency is too small to determine intercoder reliability.

Coders first determined the key topic of each e-cigarette story. Each story was coded as
having one of nine topics: regulations, health effects, law enforcement, youth, usage, e-cig-
arette content, safety, description of e-cigarettes, and others (see Table 2). Only one most
prominent topic was selected from each story. Topics were determined only for the stories
where e-cigarettes were presented as the primary, not the secondary, focus (n = 343).
News sources were then coded by looking at whether each of the following was
either referenced or quoted: (a) government officials and lawmakers, (b) scientists and
454 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 94(2)

Table 3.  News Sources.

2007-2013 2014 2015 Total

Sources (n = 163) (n = 109) (n = 223) (N = 495)

Government officials and 96 (58.9) 38 (34.9) 102 (45.7) 236 (47.7)
lawmakers***
Scientists and doctors* 30 (18.4) 35 (32.1) 55 (24.7) 120 (24.2)
Average citizens 22 (13.5) 17 (15.6) 31 (13.9) 70 (14.1)
E-cigarette manufacturers, vendors, 32 (19.6) 8 (7.3) 20 (9.0) 60 (12.1)
and importers**
Law enforcement*** 12 (7.4) 1 (0.9) 36 (16.1) 49 (9.9)
NGOs and advocacy organizations** 11 (6.7) 7 (6.4) 2 (0.9) 20 (4.0)

Note. Pearson’s chi-square tests across the years. Values inside the parenthesis represent percentage of
n. NGO = nongovernmental organization; e-cigarette = electronic cigarette
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

doctors, (c) average citizens, (d) e-cigarette manufacturers, vendors, and importers, (e)
law enforcement (the police, prosecutors, national and local tax services, customs),
and (f) nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and advocacy organizations.
Coders also analyzed whether each article mentioned any one or more of the ben-
efits (not harmful, not affect others, help cessation, not addictive, taste like cigarettes,
convenient and safe, cheaper, and getting around smoke-free legislation) and draw-
backs (harmful, affect others, not help cessation, addictive, health-effects unknown,
nicotine overconsumption, gateway, not taste like cigarettes, inconvenient and less
safe, and youth) of e-cigarette vaping (see Table 2). Each story was coded as having
none, one, or more than one of these attributes (benefits and drawbacks). In many
stories, the same attribute was mentioned more than once. Counting them as multiple
mentions might unnecessarily inflate the number of total mentions made of a particu-
lar attribute. By counting how many articles mentioned each attribute—instead of how
many times each attribute was mentioned in the articles—we were able to count those
multiple mentions of the same benefit/drawback as one mention.
Finally, coders determined the tone of news stories by coding each as favorable,
unfavorable, or neutral/balanced toward e-cigarettes (see Table 2). This was done by
looking at (a) what was highlighted in the lead, (b) the balance of the benefits and
drawbacks, (c) whether the metaphors used in the story were related to either positive
or negative social values (e.g., relating e-cigarettes with marihuana smoking: “It was
reported that one in five adolescent users in the United States used the e-cigarette
device to smoke marihuana”), and (d) whether the reader would become more favor-
able, unfavorable, or no different toward e-cigarettes after reading the story.

Findings
In terms of the quantity, our data indicated that news coverage had substantially
increased in the most recent 2 years (2014 and 2015). Although there were only a total
Kim et al. 455

Table 4.  Topics of E-Cigarette Stories.

2007-2013 2014 2015 Total

Topics (n = 122) (n = 69) (n = 152) (n = 343)

Regulations 40 (32.8) 31 (44.9) 36 (23.7) 107 (31.2)
Health effects 41 (33.6) 14 (20.3) 25 (16.4) 80 (23.3)
Law enforcement 13 (10.7) 1 (1.4) 33 (21.7) 47 (13.7)
Youth 7 (5.7) 10 (14.5) 18 (11.8) 35 (10.2)
Usage 3 (2.5) 3 (4.3) 10 (6.6) 16 (4.7)
E-cigarette content 4 (3.3) 0 (0.0) 12 (7.9) 16 (4.7)
Safety 0 (0.0) 1 (1.4) 12 (7.9) 13 (3.8)
Description of e-cigarettes 2 (1.6) 1 (1.4) 0 (0.0) 3 (0.9)
Others 12 (9.8) 8 (11.6) 6 (3.9) 26 (7.6)

Note. Values in parentheses represent percentage. e-cigarette = electronic cigarette.

of 38 e-cigarette stories in 2013, the amount nearly tripled to 109 in 2014 (see Table 1).
Then, the amount more than doubled to 223 in 2015, indicating that there were an aver-
age of 20 e-cigarette stories in each of the 11 newspapers and television channels exam-
ined. Although e-cigarettes had rarely been an issue in the news before 2014, the media
seem to begin to pay a significant amount of attention in recent years, suggesting that
e-cigarette vaping has become an increasingly prominent issue in South Korea.
RQ1 questions who the typical sources are in new coverage of e-cigarettes. Table 3
(see the “Total” column) shows that government officials and lawmakers were either
cited or referenced most often, appearing in a total of 236 out of the 495 stories ana-
lyzed (47.7%). A series of McNemar’s chi-square1 tests indicated that government
officials and lawmakers were used significantly more often than scientists and doctors
(24.2%, χ2 = 44.68, p < .001), average citizens (14.1%, χ2 = 108.04, p < .001), e-ciga-
rette manufacturers, vendors, and importers (12.1%, χ2 = 128.68, p < .001), law
enforcement (9.9%, χ2 = 124.90, p < .001), and NGOs/advocacy organizations (4.0%,
χ2 = 195.87, p < .001). These findings may support the ideas that South Korean media
have relied heavily on established routine sources—government officials and lawmak-
ers in this case—in their news coverage of e-cigarettes.
RQ2 questions what the key topics of e-cigarette stories are (see the “Total” col-
umn in Table 4). Of the 343 stories where e-cigarettes were the primary, not the sec-
ondary, focus, regulations were the most frequently appearing topic found in a total of
107 (31.2%), indicating that stories about new e-cigarette policies, how to regulate
e-cigarettes, or need for regulation appeared in almost one out of three articles and
transcripts. McNemar’s chi-square tests confirmed that this frequency significantly (or
marginally significantly) outnumbered uses of other story topics: health effects
(23.3%, χ2 = 3.62, p < .06), law enforcement (13.7%, χ2 = 22.60, p < .001), youth
(10.2%, χ2 = 35.50, p < .001), usage (4.7%, χ2 = 65.85, p < .001), e-cigarette content
(4.7%, χ2 = 65.85, p < .001), safety (3.8%, χ2 = 72.08, p < .001), and description of
e-cigarettes (0.9%, χ2 = 96.45, p < .001). In 2014, in particular, regulations were the
456 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 94(2)

topic of about 45% of the entire stories, and this is not very surprising given that full-
scale e-cigarette regulations were first time implemented in this year. Following next
were health effects, talking about potential health consequences of e-cigarette vaping.
Health effects were found as the topic in a total of 80 (23.3%) stories, which was the
second most frequent but still less frequent than regulations. Table 4 also shows that
the proportion of the health-effect stories has been declining over the years, from
about 33.6% between 2007 and 2013 to 16.4% in 2015.
Law enforcement and youth were the next most frequently appearing topics found in
a total of 47 (13.7%) and 35 (10.2%) stories. Table 4 shows that of the 47 law enforce-
ment stories, a large majority (n = 33) were found in 2015. The same table shows that a
large majority of the youth stories (28 out of 35 total) were also found in the most recent
2 years (2014 and 2015). As e-cigarette usage increases in recent years, related illegal
activities might have increased as well. Also, as adolescent e-cigarette usage rapidly
increases in recent years, there might have been growing concern about it. At the same
time, however, the increasing amount of crime and youth stories can be an outcome of
news media’s focus on the stories that can attract larger audiences. To further examine
whether framing e-cigarettes as a crime or youth issue was at least partly an outcome of
the effort to attract larger audiences, we analyzed the frequencies of crime and youth
stories separately for television and newspapers (not shown in tables). It was our
assumption that television would present more crime and youth stories than newspapers
because television, in general, relies more heavily on advertising revenue. At the same
time, television news is distinctively episodic and event-oriented, and to draw a large
audience, television must provide dramatic stories with appealing visuals, which are
typically found in crime and youth stories. Supporting these ideas, crime stories were
found significantly more often in television (15.7%) than in newspapers (6.9%,
Pearson’s χ2 = 4.18, p < .05). Youth stories were also found more often in television
(12.4%) than in newspapers (4.6%, Pearson’s χ2 = 4.17, p < .05).
RQ3 examines the benefits and drawbacks of e-cigarette vaping discussed in news
media. Findings in Table 5 indicate that health-related arguments have been somewhat
unbalanced, with mentions of drawbacks outnumbering mentions of benefits. For
example, the argument that e-cigarettes are harmful was found in a significantly larger
number of stories (n = 138, 27.9%) than the argument that they are not (n = 66, 13.3%,
McNemar’s χ2 = 35.50, p < .001). Also, the amount of the argument that e-cigarettes
are not harmful has substantially declined from about 22.7% between 2007 and 2013
to about 6.3% in 2015 (Pearson’s χ2 = 22.00, p < .001). The argument that e-cigarette
vaping is addictive (n = 31, 6.3%) significantly outnumbered the counter argument
that it is not (n = 1, 0.2%, McNemar’s χ2 = 26.28, p < .001). Another drawback, not
helping smoking cessation, was found in a slightly larger number of stories (n = 56,
11.3%) than the benefit of helping cessation (n = 49, 9.9%), though the difference was
not statistically significant (McNemar’s χ2 = 0.49, p = ns). One exception was the
question of whether e-cigarette vaping affects other people. The argument that e-ciga-
rettes do not affect others (n = 44, 8.9%) significantly outnumbered the argument that
they do (n = 16, 3.2%, McNemar’s χ2 = 14.02, p < .001). Table 5 shows that large
numbers of stories mentioned that health effects were largely unknown (n = 50, 10.1%),
Kim et al. 457

Table 5.  Benefits and Drawbacks of E-Cigarette Vaping.

2007-2013 2014 2015 Total

  (n = 163) (n = 109) (n = 223) (N = 495)

Benefits
 Health-related
  Not harmful*** 37 (22.7) 15 (13.8) 14 (6.3) 66 (13.3)
   Not affect others* 22 (13.5) 10 (9.2) 12 (5.4) 44 (8.9)
  Help cessation*** 21 (12.9) 19 (17.4) 9 (4.0) 49 (9.9)
  Not addictive 1 (0.6) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 1 (0.2)
 Usage-related
   Taste like cigarettes** 16 (9.8) 4 (3.7) 4 (1.8) 24 (4.8)
   Convenient and safe 2 (1.2) 1 (0.9) 5 (2.2) 8 (1.6)
  Cheaper 2 (1.2) 7 (6.4) 11 (4.9) 20 (4.0)
   Getting around smoke-free 8 (4.9) 4 (3.7) 5 (2.2) 17 (3.4)
legislation
Drawbacks
 Health-related
  Harmful 39 (23.9) 30 (27.5) 69 (30.9) 138 (27.9)
  Affect others* 6 (3.7) 7 (6.4) 3 (1.3) 16 (3.2)
   Not help cessation 21 (12.9) 11 (10.1) 24 (10.8) 56 (11.3)
  Addictive 14 (8.6) 7 (6.4) 10 (4.5) 31 (6.3)
  Health-effects unknown** 27 (16.6) 10 (9.2) 13 (5.8) 50 (10.1)
  Nicotine 17 (10.4) 5 (4.6) 39 (17.5) 61 (12.3)
overconsumption**
  Gateway 2 (1.2) 2 (1.8) 5 (2.2) 9 (1.8)
 Usage-related
   Not taste like cigarettes 1 (0.6) 0 (0.0) 2 (0.9) 3 (0.6)
   Inconvenient and less 27 (16.6) 7 (6.4) 51 (22.9) 85 (17.2)
safe**
 Youth-related
  Youth* 18 (11.0) 27 (24.8) 35 (15.7) 80 (16.2)

Note. Pearson’s chi-square tests across the years. Values in parentheses represent percentage.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

and that e-cigarette vaping could lead to nicotine overconsumption (n = 61, 12.3%).
These findings, taken together, indicate that South Korean news media have been
more likely to report health-related risks than benefits of e-cigarette vaping.
When it comes to usage-related attributes, Table 5 shows that e-cigarettes being
inconvenient and less safe have been mentioned most frequently as a drawback (n =
85, 17.2%). In fact, being inconvenient and less safe was the second most frequently
mentioned attribute of all 18 potential benefits and drawbacks examined. An increas-
ing number of e-cigarette related accidents (e.g., battery explosion) in recent years
seem to have contributed to the growing concern about the safety issue. All other
458 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 94(2)

usage-related benefits and drawbacks were mentioned relatively less often, each
appearing in less than 5% of all articles and transcripts examined.
Table 5 shows that youth being particularly affected by e-cigarettes (e.g., high and
increasing usage among teenagers, easy access, or usage in schools) has been an
important talking point in news coverage of e-cigarettes. This particular drawback was
the third most frequently mentioned attribute, appearing in as many as 80 (16.2%)
news articles and transcripts.
RQ4 examines the tone (favorable, unfavorable, or balanced/neutral) of e-cigarette
stories. Our analysis (findings not reported in a table) shows that a large majority (n =
393, 79.4%) of the stories were unfavorable toward e-cigarettes, whereas only 34
(6.9%) and 68 (13.7%) were categorized either favorable or neutral/balanced. The
unfavorable tone has been consistently dominant across all three time periods exam-
ined (80.4% between 2007 and 2013, 70.6% in 2014, and 83.0% in 2015).

Discussion
Our findings indicate that government officials and lawmakers were cited or referenced
most often as a source of e-cigarette news coverage. Government officials and lawmak-
ers (n = 236) were used almost 12 times more often than NGOs and advocacy organiza-
tions (n = 20, see Table 3), supporting the idea that news media tend to rely heavily on
established routine sources for information, whereas less established or presumably
unreliable sources are hardly used (Shoemaker & Reese, 1991). It is also important to
note that such less established sources as e-cigarette manufactures and vendors (n =
60), who would be rather favorable than unfavorable toward e-cigarettes, were used
significantly less often than scientists and doctors (n = 120, see Table 3), and this might
have contributed to the nature of news coverage being largely unfavorable. The media’s
heavy reliance of established sources seems to affect the nature of news coverage, and
this is demonstrated by a significantly greater number of articles mentioning health
risks than benefits and the story tones being largely negative toward e-cigarettes.
In our analysis of the key topics, regulations were found most often as the primary
focus of e-cigarette stories. Although health effects were the second most frequently
found topic, the regulation stories considerably outnumbered the health-effect stories,
suggesting that South Korean news media were more likely to present e-cigarettes as
a policy issue rather than a health issue. This is not necessarily surprising in a sense
that the largest amount of e-cigarette coverage was produced during the years (2014-
2015) when the government introduced and implemented comprehensive regulations.
Therefore, the heavy reliance on government officials and lawmakers can be explained
in part by the large number of regulation stories. As the media present e-cigarettes as
a regulation issue, it seems to be an obvious choice to refer to government sources for
information. At the same time, however, an opposite causal direction is also possible.
It is possible that the large number of regulation stories were an outcome of relying
heavily on government sources in the first place. A close look at Table 4 indicates that
regulations were one of the two most prominent topics between 2007 and 2013, during
which comprehensive regulations were not yet introduced or implemented, suggesting
that the heavy reliance on government sources might have resulted in—as well as
Kim et al. 459

resulted from—the large number of stories about regulations. As Reese et al. (1994)
pointed out, the way news sources are selected seems to affect, at least partly, how an
issue is presented or framed.
Law enforcement and youth were the third and fourth most frequently used topics,
and had been increasingly prominent in news coverage. Although this might be attrib-
uted to the actual increases in e-cigarette related crimes and adolescent e-cigarette
usage, this could also be an outcome of news media’s focus on stories that might
attract large audiences. Linking e-cigarettes to a crime story must be a preferred way
of talking about the topic, as it will necessarily involve conflict, good, and evil, the
ingredients to attract a larger audience (Kim et al., 2011). Similarly, stories about ado-
lescent e-cigarette usage will also attract a larger audience because they deal with an
issue about which people are highly concerned—children (Wallack et al., 1993). We
found that television was significantly more likely than newspapers to frame e-ciga-
rettes as a crime or youth issue. Compared with newspapers, television is more event-
oriented and focuses more on telling stories than discussing an issue. As an effort to
attract larger audiences, television should be more likely than newspapers to present
e-cigarettes in a crime or youth story, as it will likely involve dramatic stories with
appealing visuals (Kim et al., 2011).
When it comes to benefits and drawbacks, the arguments that e-cigarettes are harm-
ful significantly outnumbered their counterarguments, suggesting that the media dis-
cussion of health-related attributes has been unbalanced. Also, the overall story tone
was largely negative, with about 80% of stories being unfavorable toward e-cigarettes,
suggesting that the journalistic norm of balanced reporting does not exist in South
Korea when it comes to covering e-cigarettes. This is particularly surprising consider-
ing that more than 95% of the stories analyzed were news, not op-ed, pieces. However,
the way balanced reporting is conceptualized and assessed may need to be revisited
particularly when it comes to science and health news. Simply giving both sides equal
coverage may result in gross miscarriages, including the public believing false claims
widely discredited in the scientific community. Global warming, for example, is a sub-
ject that has received scientific consensus, but, as Boykoff and Boykoff (2004) argued,
the attempt by journalists to give equal play to both sides may have resulted in a skewed
perception of this topic by the American public. Journalists now seem to agree that
“balance” means something else when it comes to particular health and science topics,
and our findings may need to be reinterpreted in this renewed perceptive. Also, it can
be argued that journalists in fact are balanced in a sense that they do not inject their own
opinions into news stories. Rather, the tone of new stories (as well as the frames) may
derive from the sources that they use, and, as discussed earlier, the negative tone of
e-cigarette stories can be an outcome of relying heavily on government officials and
scientists/doctors, who presumably are unfavorable toward e-cigarettes. A more infor-
mative research would track which sources are associated with which frames and tones,
but, unfortunately, these associations were not examined in our study.
Before further discussing our findings, it is necessary to mention some of the limita-
tions of this study. First, analyzing only traditional media limits the external validity of
our findings. As Yates et al. (2015) pointed out, there have been many public and private
discussions on e-cigarettes in social media, which will play a significant role in shaping
460 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 94(2)

public opinion. Also, when e-cigarette marketers are increasingly utilizing social media
as a way to promote their products, an analysis social media content will provide a better
understanding of what is typically communicated in these more informal and personal-
ized media platforms. The largely descriptive nature of our findings is another limitation.
Although we discussed several organizational practices that might explain why the
media presented or framed e-cigarette stories certain ways—such as relying heavily on
established sources and focusing on stories that can draw larger audiences—our expla-
nations were largely speculative, and a content analysis alone cannot confirm any of our
explanations. For example, although we found that government officials and lawmakers
were used most often as news sources, this finding alone may hint, but will never be able
to confirm, that this was an outcome news media’s heavy reliance on established sources.
Future research needs to contain an understanding of the journalistic processes behind
the content, and will have to investigate news production itself by interviewing news
editors and writers, which would further validate our explanations.
With these and other limitations in mind, our case study of South Korea allows for
an international comparison of e-cigarette news coverage, which can help future advo-
cacy better understand cross-national similarities and differences. In terms of the quan-
tity, first, we found that news coverage of e-cigarettes in South Korea had significantly
increased in the most recent 2 years (2014 and 2015). The implementation of compre-
hensive e-cigarette regulations in 2014 seems to have driven the large increase. Also,
the drastic tobacco control measures (a 214% increase in tobacco taxes and a total
smoking ban in all indoor public places) introduced in 2014 and implemented in 2015
seem to result in many smokers switching to e-cigarette vaping, which in turn might
have contributed to the large increase in news coverage of e-cigarettes. Our review of
the previous literature (Patterson et al., 2016; Rooke & Amos, 2014; Yates et al., 2015)
indicates that the amount of e-cigarette coverage has substantially increased recently in
the United States and the United Kingdom as well, suggesting that e-cigarettes may
have become a globally prominent issue. With the rapidly increasing number of users,
there has been growing concern about e-cigarette vaping, and the large increase in news
coverage seems to well demonstrate the growing public concern in different countries.
The increasing news coverage will provide tobacco control advocates with an ample
opportunity to shape public discourses on e-cigarettes, which will in turn have impor-
tant implications in terms of discussing potential policy options.
The majority of e-cigarette news in South Korea seems to be driven not by the public
but rather by the government. Regulations being the most prominent topic and govern-
ment officials and policy makers being the most frequently cited sources both support
this conclusion. This seems to be the case not only in South Korea but also in other
countries. Regulations were the most frequently found topic of e-cigarette stories in the
United States (Yates et al., 2015), and a U.K./Scottish study (Patterson et al., 2016)
reported an increasing number of regulation stories, with governments being cited most
often as a source. As the popularity of e-cigarettes rapidly grows, the question of how
to regulate them seems to be a natural choice of story topic at this early stage of public
adoption. To promote greater civic participation in policy making, it seems necessary
for both policy makers and news media to make extra effort to understand what the
public knows and thinks about e-cigarettes and what their preferred policy options are.
Kim et al. 461

Besides potential health risks, safety and youth were the second and the third most
frequently found e-cigarette drawbacks in South Korean news media. It is important to
report that these two specific drawbacks were increasingly prominent concerns in the
United States and in the U.K./Scottish media as well (Patterson et al., 2016; Yates
et al., 2015), suggesting that safety and youth have become globally prominent areas
of e-cigarette debates. When health effects of e-cigarettes are still undetermined, safety
and child protection seem to be highly useful talking points when discussing reasons
to regulate or oppose e-cigarettes.
The argument that e-cigarettes do not affect others significantly outnumbered its
counter argument, and this finding raises concern. Although the current law in South
Korea prohibits e-cigarette use in enclosed public spaces, the idea of e-cigarettes not
affecting others, along with the lack of evidence supporting the risks of secondhand
vaping, may promote greater e-cigarette usage in other public spaces. The question of
whether or not e-cigarette vaping affects others has been an important talking point in
the United States and in the United Kingdom/Scotland, where the tobacco control
community is highly divided on prohibiting e-cigarette vaping in public places
(Patterson et al., 2016; Yates et al., 2015). E-cigarette vaping highly visible in public
places may undermine the effort to “de-normalize” smoking behaviors, which has
been an important strategy in tobacco control in many countries (Hammond, Fong,
Zanna, Thrasher, & Borland, 2006).
In terms of story tone, South Korean media have been uniquely unfavorable
toward e-cigarettes, compared with other countries. Yates et al.’s (2015) analysis of
U.S. newspapers, for example, indicated that the large majority of articles were
either neutral or balanced. From an analysis of newspaper articles in the United
Kingdom and Scotland, Rooke and Amos (2014) reported that e-cigarette stories
tended to be largely favorable rather than unfavorable. The strong negativity in
South Korean news media can be explained by the lack of public knowledge of
e-cigarettes, combined with the highly unfavorable public sentiment against ciga-
rette smoking. It is likely that average citizens and journalists alike tend to simply
assume that e-cigarettes are unhealthy without fully understanding fundamental dif-
ferences between conventional cigarettes and such a new form of nicotine delivery
device as e-cigarettes. Without adequately understanding the differences, the strong
antismoking public sentiment might have been projected onto e-cigarette vaping,
resulting in highly unfavorable public attitudes toward e-cigarettes. In this regard, it
is important to report that e-cigarette stories in South Korea rarely talked about
exactly what e-cigarettes were and how they worked as a new technology (see
“description of e-cigarettes” in Table 5). This specific finding does raise concern in
the sense that a proper understanding of the technology will be essential in terms of
making an adequate assessment of potential risks. As there remains public confusion
about e-cigarettes and how to regulate them, providing greater information about
how e-cigarettes work will not only enhance pubic knowledge of the product but
also promote more educated and informed policy making.
The negativity in South Korea news media, as Rooke and Amos (2014) pointed out,
can be received differently by those with different positions on e-cigarette debates.
Supporters of the abstinence framework who aim to eliminate all potentially harmful
462 Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 94(2)

habits, including e-cigarette vaping, may see this negativity as a promising develop-
ment. On the contrary, those who support harm reduction and find e-cigarettes as a less
harmful alternative may find the same negativity as a problem, particularly when there
is little scientific agreement on potential health effects of e-cigarette vaping. Although
the effectiveness of the harm reduction approach is still highly debatable, policy shifts
embracing tobacco harm reduction have received increasing attention from the U.S.
and U.K. media (Eversman, 2015; Rooke & Amos, 2014), and the divergence between
the harm reduction versus abstinence perspectives seems to have contributed to the
continuing disagreement and confusion about whether or not and how to regulate
e-cigarettes in these two countries. This, however, does not seem to be the case in
South Korea. Health risks are presented significantly more often than health benefits
in news stories, and story tone has been largely negative toward e-cigarettes. Given
that the story tone in the media can reflect the current public sentiment (Rooke &
Amos, 2014), this dominance of negative new tone in South Korea can serve as a
ground for more restrictive e-cigarette regulations in the future.
Analyzing the influences of several frame-building factors, our study can make a
contribution to the framing literature. Our findings provide support for the idea that
certain organizational constraints and professional routines can affect not only which
issues the media will cover but also how they will cover the issues (Scheufele, 1999).
Future research will need to further examine how the frame-building factors can affect
the selections of news sources, story topics or frames, issue attributes, and story tones,
and how these selections altogether can shape the nature of news coverage.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.

Note
1. McNemar’s chi-square is used to assess the significance of a difference in proportions (%)
between two variables. Basically, it is the categorical variable equivalent of the paired-
samples t test. McNemar’s chi-square is a nonparametric test of two related samples, used
with dichotomous data to determine whether two sample proportions can be considered
equal (Morrison, 2010).

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Author Biographies
Sei-Hill Kim (PhD, Cornell University, 2001) is Eleanor M. & R. Frank Mundy Professor in the
School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina. His
research interests include health and science communication.
James F. Thrasher (PhD, University of North Carolina, 2005) is an associate professor in the
Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior at the University of South Carolina.
His research aims to better understand how policy and media influence health-related percep-
tions and behaviors across a variety of domestic and international contexts.
Myung-Hyun Kang (PhD, Michigan State University, 2001) is a professor in the School of
Media and Communications at Hallym University. His research interests include media policy
and audience analysis.
Yoo Jin Cho (MPH, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2014) is a doctoral
student in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior in the Arnold School
of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. Her research interests include tobacco
control and health disparities.
Joon Kyoung Kim (MA, Syracuse University, 2015) is a doctoral student in the School of
Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina. His research inter-
ests include corporate social responsibility and health communication.