Death Panels

At the 2011 National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media, AIR presented a study of how the 2009 “death panel” discussion influenced public attitudes and perceptions of health care reform as reflected in polling data.

AIR Institute Fellow Marilyn Moon, Ph.D., joined Jim Beakey, AIR’s communications data analysis lead, to describe our mixed methods approach, which included comparing ongoing opinion polling data, daily media tracking and analysis, and influencer and stakeholder mapping to examine how media discussion and public attitude interact and shape a national debate.