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Portrayal of New Psychoactive Substances in the Hungarian Online Media

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Abstract

We assessed the portrayal of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in online Hungarian printed media between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014 using content analysis. Altogether five topics were identified: 1: effects/side effects from the point of view of an outsider; 2: motivation of drug use; 3: type of NPS mentioned; 4: location of consumption or seizures; 5: tone of the article. The results suggest that much of the Hungarian online printed media is written in a sensation seeking way and mainly focuses on police seizures and on the physical (especially on the deviant and aggressive behavioral) effects of NPS usage. Articles mainly associate NPS with events among the marginalized population of the 8th district in Budapest (a low socioeconomic and drug infested area with a high population proportion of marginalized Roma minorities), or law-enforcement activities outside of Budapest. The monitoring of written online media may inform public health professionals and policy makers about emerging problems related to NPS, while such professionals may inform journalists to counterbalance the sensationalist tone of news pieces about NPS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Gergely Pelbát & József Rácz

  2. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    V. Anna Gyarmathy

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

    V. Anna Gyarmathy, Ágnes Bacsó, Edit Bartos, Andrea Bihari & József Rácz

  4. Blue Point Drug Counselling and Outpatient Centre, Budapest, Hungary

    Gergely Pelbát & József Rácz

Authors
  1. Gergely Pelbát
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  2. V. Anna Gyarmathy
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  3. Ágnes Bacsó
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  4. Edit Bartos
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  5. Andrea Bihari
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  6. József Rácz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to V. Anna Gyarmathy.

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Conflict of Interest

Gergely Pelbát declares no conflict of interest.

V. Anna Gyarmathy declares no conflict of interest.

Ágnes Bacsó declares no conflict of interest.

Edit Bartos declares no conflict of interest.

Andrea Bihari declares no conflict of interest.

József Rácz declares no conflict of interest.

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Pelbát, G., Gyarmathy, V.A., Bacsó, Á. et al. Portrayal of New Psychoactive Substances in the Hungarian Online Media. Int J Ment Health Addiction 15, 110–117 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-015-9629-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-015-9629-z

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