(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- When newspaper and magazine journalists report about cancer, they may be putting an optimistic spin on it. A new study shows that reports about cancer are more likely to discuss aggressive treatments and survival rather than death or treatment failure.

A content analysis of cancer news reports between 2005 and 2007 was conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. A random sample of 436 articles was selected from eight large U.S. newspapers and five national magazines.

Analysis showed that 32 percent of the articles focused on individuals that have survived or been cured of cancer, while 7 percent focused on patients dying of or had died of cancer. Only 2 percent of the articles focused on both survival and death. Aggressive treatments for cancer were discussed in 57 percent of the article, but end-of-life care was mentioned in only .5 percent.

Cancer has earned a prominent place in the news with one in two men and one in three women being diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and more than half a million Americans dying of cancer every year.

"The media routinely report about aggressive treatment and survival presumably because cancer news coverage is relevant to a large portion of the population, and, for some reason, similar attention should be devoted to the alternatives," concluded the study authors.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, March 16, 2010