Civic journalism meets civic social science: foregrounding social determinants in health coverage

Abstract

Many of the intricacies of health feature regularly in news reports depicting, medical practices, specific diseases, breakthroughs in treatment, and lifestyle-orientated interventions. Despite social scientists also demonstrating the importance of economic prosperity, community cohesion, stress, material hardship and stigma for health, such social determinants are often absent from health news. The inclusion of social determinants of health in coverage is crucial for ensuring a vibrant public sphere for health. This article draws on the example of street homelessness as a pressing societal health concern in order to explore the potential of collaborations between civic-orientated journalists, social scientists and marginalized groups. Such collaborations are central to the production of a civic-oriented form of health journalism that extends and repoliticizes the present scope of news coverage.