Keeping the Community Posted: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Blogs and the Tobacco Epidemic.

PURPOSE: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are more likely to use tobacco products than heterosexual people. This results in disproportionate death and disability for LGBT communities. Yet, addressing the tobacco epidemic is generally low on the agenda of LGBT community organizations, and LGBT individuals report lower levels of support for some evidence-based tobacco prevention and control policies than heterosexuals. Informed by agenda-setting theory, this study investigated coverage of the tobacco epidemic in LGBT news blogs.

METHODS: Sixteen blogs and 105 tobacco-related posts from 2003 to March 9, 2013, were identified, and a quantitative content analysis was conducted.

RESULTS: Coverage of the tobacco epidemic was primarily concentrated in four blogs and focused on the epidemiology of the epidemic and on tobacco-related policies. Little coverage focused on the tobacco industry, addiction, or health effects. A substantial minority of coverage focused on socially conservative arguments comparing smoking to homosexuality as a lifestyle choice. Thirty-three organizations working on LGBT tobacco prevention and control were present in blog posts.

CONCLUSIONS: LGBT news blogs have a potentially important and mostly untapped role in tobacco-related media advocacy. LGBT health advocates would do well to cultivate relationships with LGBT bloggers as well as include bloggers in dissemination and media strategy efforts.