Women's health and the mass media: The reporting of risk

News about women's health risks is prevalent in the mass media, and how that news is presented is important for the women who uses it to make decisions about her health. Conferees at a Jacobs Institute symposium reviewed the presentation and discussion of risk factors in scientific articles and the subsequent translation of this information by the media to their consumers. The symposium participants made four major recommendations to improve the reporting of risk: 1) as information sources, the scientific community, institutions, and media organizations should share the responsibility of clearly presenting information on risk factors affecting women's health, 2) institutional public affairs officers, journal public affairs officers, and mass media editors should require that reports on single studies be placed within the context of current scientific knowledge, with limitations prominently described, 3) measures of absolute and relative risk should be interpretable by a general audience, and 4) news makers (the scientific community) and news writers (reporters and editors) should have more training opportunities to achieve a clearer understanding of the constraints on the news media and the limitations of science.     

Women's health and the mass media: The reporting of risk

News about women's health risks is prevalent in the mass media, and how that news is presented is important for the women who uses it to make decisions about her health. Conferees at a Jacobs Institute symposium reviewed the presentation and discussion of risk factors in scientific articles and the subsequent translation of this information by the media to their consumers. The symposium participants made four major recommendations to improve the reporting of risk: 1) as information sources, the scientific community, institutions, and media organizations should share the responsibility of clearly presenting information on risk factors affecting women's health, 2) institutional public affairs officers, journal public affairs officers, and mass media editors should require that reports on single studies be placed within the context of current scientific knowledge, with limitations prominently described, 3) measures of absolute and relative risk should be interpretable by a general audience, and 4) news makers (the scientific community) and news writers (reporters and editors) should have more training opportunities to achieve a clearer understanding of the constraints on the news media and the limitations of science.     

Perceived Health Reporting Knowledge and News Gathering Practices of Health Journalists and Editors at Community Newspapers

This research adds to our understanding of health and science reporting by identifying and examining the numbers, types, and simultaneous uses of resources selected by health and science journalists and editors at the initial stages of reporting, and relates this to journalists’ perceived health reporting knowledge. A telephone survey of 141 health and science journalists and editors selected from 259 community newspapers in Missouri was conducted. Information sources included those that were highly credible, easy to access, already vetted by peers, and that enabled habitual reporting. Though the majority used multiple sources to generate story ideas, about one-third of respondents used no information sources. Journalists and editors’ perceived health reporting knowledge acted as a trigger in prompting more reliance on a wider diversity of information sources, greater use of empirical evidence in health stories, and more time spent researching/writing health stories. Implications for community news organizations include education to improve actual and perceived knowledge of journalists on health and science information gathering.     

Engaging media in communicating research on sexual and reproductive health and rights in sub-Saharan Africa: experiences and lessons learned

Background

The mass media have excellent potential to promote good sexual and reproductive health outcomes, but around the world, media often fail to prioritize sexual and reproductive health and rights issues or report them in an accurate manner. In sub-Saharan Africa media coverage of reproductive health issues is poor due to the weak capacity and motivation for reporting these issues by media practitioners. This paper describes the experiences of the African Population and Health Research Center and its partners in cultivating the interest and building the capacity of the media in evidence-based reporting of reproductive health issues in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods

The paper utilizes a case study approach based primarily on the personal experiences and reflections of the authors (who played a central role in developing and implementing the Center’s communication and policy engagement strategies), a survey that the Center carried out with science journalists in Kenya, and literature review.

Results

The African Population and Health Research Center’s media strategy evolved over the years, moving beyond conventional ways of communicating research through the media via news releases and newspaper stories, to varying approaches that sought to inspire and build the capacity of journalists to do evidence-based reporting of reproductive health issues. Specifically, the approach included 1) enhancing journalists’ interest in and motivation for reporting on reproductive health issues through training and competitive grants for outstanding reporting ; 2) building the capacity of journalists to report reproductive health research and the capacity of reproductive health researchers to communicate their research to media through training for both parties and providing technical assistance to journalists in obtaining and interpreting evidence; and 3) establishing and maintaining trust and mutual relationships between journalists and researchers through regular informal meetings between journalists and researchers, organizing field visits for journalists, and building formal partnerships with professional media associations and individual journalists.

Conclusion

Our experiences and reflections, and the experiences of others reviewed in this paper, indicate that a sustained mix of strategies that motivate, strengthen capacity of, and build relationships between journalists and researchers can be effective in enhancing quality and quantity of media coverage of research.

     

De‐legitimising complementary medicine: framings of the Friends of Science in Medicine‐CAM debate in Australian media reports

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has developed into a complex and formidable commercial, sociocultural and political force in Australia, and given its influence, it is a relevant subject for scholars, health practitioners, health communicators, journalists, policy‐makers, and consumers of healthcare products and services. This research will consider a relative newcomer to the claims‐making space about CAM in the Australian health media‐scape; the Friends of Science in Medicine (FSM), an activist group of medical practitioners, researchers, and scientists, founded in late 2011. Using content analysis supported by NVivo, I searched for articles specifically referring to FSM and measured the patterns and frequencies of media frames, intonation and sources that are featured in Australian mainstream news reports between December 2011 and April 2017. The negative headlining and intonation of reports predominated, along with framing CAM as part of a lucrative, undisciplined and unethical industry as well as an illegitimate healthcare approach, more broadly. The findings offer insight into how journalists respond, replicate or reconstruct the framings that are provided by an influential and elite group of medical practitioners and scientists, and readdresses issues surrounding the need for more critical health reporting in Australia.     

Reporting on violence: bringing a public health perspective into the newsroom.

The authors present a case study of a collaboration among the Berkeley Media Studies Group, the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism, and journalist Jane Ellen Stevens to introduce to five metropolitan newspapers new violence-reporting techniques that include a public health perspective. A handbook was designed for journalists, and workshops were conducted to explore with editors and reporters how newspapers can report highly unusual crimes and yet avoid misrepresenting the patterns of violence in their communities and creating misguided fear in the public. This case study documents how journalists can be meaningfully engaged on this topic with people from public health despite typical barriers to access faced by public health practitioners and solid resistance from many editors and reporters. The authors describe goals, objectives, and activities across five daily newspapers along with journalists' reactions, concerns, and resistance to the issues that were raised.     

Print media coverage of risk-risk tradeoffs associated with West Nile encephalitis and pesticide spraying

When mosquito-borne West Nile virus emerged in the United States in 1999 and triggered pesticide spraying, society was faced with a controversy over an important risk-risk tradeoff—the risks of pesticide exposure versus those of West Nile encephalitis. Effective public communication about risk-risk tradeoffs is important because it can assist individuals and society in investing resources optimally. This study examined how effectively major North American print media in the year 2000 provided information on this risk-risk tradeoff. My colleagues and I found that the print media were generally ineffective in providing precise information about pesticide risks and in comparing risks of pesticide exposure with those of West Nile encephalitis. The media were also ineffective in mentioning the efficacy of pesticide spraying or comparing the economic costs of pesticide spraying with those of West Nile encephalitis. We suggest that greater effort in collecting and reporting precise risk information, fostering more active relationships between journalists and scientists/public health professionals, and recognizing biases resulting from preconceptions can help improve reporting by the print media and public health agencies on risk-risk tradeoffs associated with emerging insect-borne infectious diseases. These efforts could help improve public health by improving decision making related to the control of insect-borne diseases.     

Maternal and child health care in Ecuador: Obstacles and solutions

This report analyzes the obstacles to improving maternal and child health care in Ecuador and examines the steps that have been followed to alleviate these problems. The principal factors hindering maternal‐child health program effectiveness are the lack of a grassroots program and insufficient organization development. Several recommendations are made for alleviating these problems in Ecuador's health system, most notably reorganization strategies that support local initiative. This analysis has value for developed and developing countries interested in improving the delivery of maternal‐child health services.     

Fact or fallacy? Immunisation arguments in the New Zealand print media

Objective: To explore New Zealand's four major daily newspapers' coverage of immunisation with regards to errors of fact and fallacy in construction of immunisation‐related arguments. Methods: All articles from 2002 to 2007 were assessed for errors of fact and logic. Fact was defined as that which was supported by the most current evidence‐based medical literature. Errors of logic were assessed using a classical taxonomy broadly based in Aristotle's classifications. Results: Numerous errors of both fact and logic were identified, predominantly used by anti‐immunisation proponents, but occasionally by health authorities. The proportion of media articles reporting exclusively fact changes over time during the life of a vaccine where new vaccines incur little fallacious reporting and established vaccines generate inaccurate claims. Fallacious arguments can be deconstructed and classified into a classical taxonomy including non sequitur and argumentum ad Hominem. Conclusion: Most media ‘balance’ given to immunisation relies on ‘he said, she said’ arguments using quotes from opposing spokespersons with a failure to verify the scientific validity of both the material and the source. Implications: Health professionals and media need training so that recognising and critiquing public health arguments becomes accepted practice: Stronger public relations strategies should challenge poor quality articles to journalists' code of ethics and the health sector needs to be proactive in predicting and pre‐empting the expected responses to introduction of new public health initiatives such as a new vaccine.     

The news on health behavior: coverage of diet, activity, and tobacco in local newspapers.

News media are an important and influential part of the social environment, calling attention to certain issues by the amount and nature of their coverage. To better understand how health behaviors are covered, we examined more than 80,000 stories in 1,354 newspaper issues from four midsize Missouri communities. Health behavior stories were rare. Of 1,373 stories (1.7%) that addressed diet, physical activity, or tobacco, few were prominently located in the paper, and only half had a primary prevention focus. A large majority had no local angle, local quotes, or call to action for individuals or the community, and only 10% were generated by local reporters. Because the local newspaper can be especially influential in smaller communities, strategies are needed to help reporters and editors in these settings provide more and better coverage of health behavior-related stories.     

The transfer of medical information. A journalist's view.

Despite the quantity of material on medical issues which journalists typically receive, and the tremendous public interest in health news, journalists are only rarely able to provide medical information of any real value to the public. Good news, no matter how tentative, always gets more attention than critical assessment. Deadlines pressure journalists to look only at the surface of the issues that they describe, and few have the expertise necessary to judge the importance of their stories. When accurate, authoritative information is available in a structured format; however, the news media can publicize medical findings rapidly, effecting significant changes in public behavior.     

食物成分研究的发展与未来方向

食物成分的研究在食品科学和人类营养学研究中既是应用基础、又是研究工具。本文综述了食物成分研究的几次大发展、食物成分数据的应用、提高食物成分数据的报告、减少实际食物和测量食物间含量的变异和食物成分研究的未来方向。为食物成分和其他相关学科的研究和应用提供参考     

Patient resistance as a resource: candidate obstacles in diabetes consultations

This study uses conversation analysis to explore ‘candidate obstacles’, a practice observed in sequences of patient resistance to lifestyle advice within health professional consultations. This article presents illustrative analyses of selected data excerpts drawn from audio‐visual recordings of 116 tracked consultations between health professionals and 34 patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus in New Zealand. The analysis shows that in consultations where health promotion activities are central, patient resistance can provide space for patients to identify obstacles to their compliance with lifestyle advice. Identifying candidate obstacles provides opportunities for health professionals to align advice with concerns of patients and potentially improve patient outcomes.     

How can we improve medical reporting? Let me count the ways.

Gary Schwitzer, former medical correspondent at CNN and now a professor of journalism, listed "10 troublesome trends in TV health news," making the important point that most people today get their health information from the media, and from TV in particular. In this article, the author presents Schwitzer's list and expands it with 10 more troublesome trends. Good health reporting should provide a straightforward, balanced, comprehensible summary of health issues that provides context to information-hungry consumers; it should rarely be sensational, but always skeptical. And there should be a lot more of it.     

Health issues in journalism and reporting

Journalists witness events and report the news. The gathering and presentation of this information may subject the journalist to a variety of physical and psychological hazards. Some health and safety risk factors are inherent within the profession: for example, stress associated with deadlines and reporting on events in dangerous climactic or social conditions. Survey data and information collected by professional journalism associations should be used to educate journalists and, whenever possible, to attenuate the risk factors. Some of the more common risks within the profession include those relating to travel, repetitive strain, and psychological stress.     

The Future of Health Journalism

The HealthNewsReview.org project finds that many news stories reflect an overly optimistic view of progress in medical research. This may lead citizens to develop unrealistic expectations of their health care system, raising undue demand for costly and unproven approaches that may, in the end, cause more harm than good. The future of health journalism will be determined by which roles journalists choose for themselves: cheerleader or watchdog, fear-mongerer or evidence-based reporter, part of the solution or part of the problem.     

Hype in health reporting: "checkbook science" buys distortion of medical news.

The greatest danger to public health might be "checkbook science": research intended not to expand knowledge or to benefit humanity but to sell products. Much of the media coverage of health news stories is based on public relations efforts on behalf of the companies that sell the products, including pharmaceutical companies, diet clinics, or doctors selling new techniques. The author presents three case studies of how companies selling medical products effectively but invisibly shaped recent news coverage of medical products: fen-phen diet pills, breast implants, and hormone replacement therapy. All involve subtle strategies whereby physicians and other experts paid by corporate interests are influential because they are perceived to be objective medical experts. Articles in prestigious medical journals are sometimes ghostwritten by individuals paid by companies or are based on biased analyses or interpretations shaped by corporate interests. Nonprofit organizations that tout the benefits of specific medical products also may be part of the public relations efforts of the companies making the product. Meanwhile, important newsworthy studies are ignored by the mass media when corporate interests do not publicize or pitch the results to influential reporters and producers.     

Opportunities for improving the nation's health through collaboration with the mass media

Understanding the mass media is a prerequisite to gaining the cooperation of those who control access to media time and space to improve the coverage of health issues about which the public needs, and often wants, to know. To address the complexities of the mass media and how they influence the public's health, a group of Public Health Service agencies, foundations, and research institutions collaborated to review recent changes in the mass media and public health sectors and to recommend steps for increased interaction. These included broadening strategies to include paid advertising, media advocacy, and other tactics beyond public service campaigns; increasing awareness within the public health sector of the media's perspective on health; working collaboratively with media professionals and organizations, including the minority media; and developing guidelines for public-private sector partnerships. These recommendations, and factors affecting the roles of the media and public health communities in informing the public about health, are described in this paper. A complete discussion of these recommendations and related issues can be found in "Mass Media and Health," edited by Caroline McNeil and Elaine Bratic Arkin, a forthcoming publication of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Public Health Service.