Keywords:
Medical crowdfunding; Media portrayal of medical crowdfunding; Ethical issues; Health inequalities
医疗众筹;媒体报道;伦理问题;健康不平等
Abstract:
Nowadays, the medical crowdfunding has attracted worldwide attention. By creating medicalcrowdfunding campaigns on online platforms and spreading them through social media, individualscould collect donations from the public to meet their illness-related needs. Using a content analysis,this study attempted to explore how media in China medical crowdfunding. Our results revealedthat most media coverage were neutral or positive towards medical crowdfunding, portraying it as asignificant way for poor patients suffering from major diseases to obtain “life-saving money”. Driven bycontroversies, media coverage often discussed ethical issues and legitimacy of medical crowdfundingand solutions to them. The most prominent problem of medical crowdfunding in Chinese media isthe veracity of campaigns information, followed by the misuse of donations. With regards to solutions,media highlight the self-regulation of crowdfunding platforms and regulations from government.Media portrayal of medical crowdfunding echoes the current situation of philanthropy in China andthe public's continued concern for its transparency.
医疗众筹在全球范围内引发关注和热议。个体在众筹平台发起筹款项目,借助互联网尤其是社交媒体进行信息扩散,请求社会公众提供资金捐助以支付医疗费用。本研究运用内容分析法,考察了2014—2020年医疗众筹在国内媒体上的呈现图景。研究发现,国内媒体对医疗众筹持中立或正面态度,将医疗众筹呈现为贫困大病患者获得“救命钱”的途径。媒体报道通常由争议事件驱动,也常伴随着对当前医疗众筹实践的伦理问题、法律困境和解决对策的讨论。信息真实性、资金滥用问题的媒体显著度最高,众筹平台自律、政府监管被呈现为最主要的问题对策,这与我国慈善事业现况、公众对慈善事业透明度的持续关注相呼应。