Representations of the National Health Service (NHS) in UK print Media

Generating negative news of state has been as a to create for aimed to such provision. coverage welfare p rovision strategy designed public support radical To date of this kind has on and However, little is known about the complex relationship between media representations of specific events, and those of media representations in the lead up to these events, what we refer to as periphery representations. Drawing on a coding framework methodology, this paper analyses the frequency and intensity of peripheral representations of the National Health Service (NHS) in the British print media for one week a month before and for one week during three key events in recent NHS history: the official consultation period for the Health and Social Care Act (2012); the publication of Five-Year Forward View, and the first Junior Doctor Strike. This article finds that negative NHS representations in articles that are peripheral to particular topical issues of controversy evidence fluctuations, amplifications and intensities across time periods, depending on the particular context. The paper concludes by arguing that repetition of negative themes in news helps to build a sensibility of ‘inadequacy’ of vital services. We hope that this focus on the ways in which amplifications and de-amplifications in negative intensity of peripheral NHS representations across time and content, helps to contribute to debate about the complex interplay between public health services, media representation and policy consent.