Media coverage and organ donor registration

How organ donation is covered in the press might effect donor registrations. Here's a paper from the PNAS:

Effect of media presentations on willingness to commit to organ donation

1. Inbal Harela, 
2. Tehila Koguta, 
3. Meir Pinchasa, and 
4. Paul Slovicb,c,1

 Contributed by Paul Slovic, March 23, 2017 (sent for review February 28, 2017; reviewed by Max H. Bazerman and Thomas Gilovich)

 Significance

We often encounter cases of organ donation in the press or on television. How might these stories affect readers? We found that reading coverage of cases that include identifying information about the receiver (saved by organ donations) increased participants’ willingness to commit to organ donation themselves, to donate the organs of a deceased relative, or to support a transition to an “opt-out” policy. Conversely, identifying the deceased donor induced thoughts of death rather than about saving lives, resulting in fewer participants willing to donate organs or to support policies that facilitate organ donation. We show that most of the stories that appear in the press include an identified donor rather than an identified receiver, possibly reducing organ donations.