Presentation of obesity in the newspapers

This study aims to examine how obesity, which is an international public health issue, is presented on daily newspapers and whether there are any quantitative and qualitative changes in the obesity news before and after "World Health Organization European Ministerial Conference on Counteracting Obesity", which was held at Istanbul in 2006. Within this framework, 752 articles published in Akşam, Güneş, Hürriyet, Milliyet, Posta, Sabah, Türkiye, Vatan and Zaman newspapers on the years 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2014 are analyzed via content analysis method. Findings show that newspapers present obesity as an individualistic issue in relation to cause and solution of obesity. Consequences of obesity presented in the newspapers are mostly biological. Also, according to results of this study, although some decreases between 2002 and 2014, the number of articles published increased by years. Qualitatively, presentation of obesity are not changed except from certain years. In other words, presentation of obesity is mostly an individualized health issue before and after "WHO European Ministerial Conference on Counteracting Obesity" in the newspapers. Systemic factors are kept in the background in the news. Key Words: Health communication, health journalism, obesity, nourishment, content analysis.