Media Coverage and Framing of Oakland's Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax, 2016-2019.

Purpose: To describe media coverage and framing of Oakland, California's, sugar-sweetened beverage tax.

Design: Media content analysis.

Sample: Media documents (n = 90), published January 1, 2016-August 31, 2019, were retrieved from Oakland news outlets and ProQuest, NexusUni, EBSCO, and Google.

Analysis: Documents were coded using constant comparative analysis in Atlas.ti v8; with descriptive analyses conducted using Stata/SE v. 15.1.

Results: Documents were published evenly between pre- and post-ballot periods (n = 45); the majority (n = 47) provided neutral framing. Protax documents (n = 33) highlighted SSB consumption and health associations and countered antitax messaging; antitax documents (n = 10) focused on misinformation and sowing public confusion.

Conclusion: Neutral media educates and raises awareness. Published prior to a vote, the media may help influence public opinion regarding SSB taxes. SSB tax media advocacy campaigns, giving particular attention to timing and perspective-based framing, may help to secure adoption and support implementation.