A Decade of Research on Health Content in the Media: The Focus on Health Challenges and Sociocultural Context and Attendant Informational and Ideological Problems

Abstract

There is a burgeoning interest in the health and illness content of popular media in the domains of advertising, journalism, and entertainment. This article reviews the past 10 years of this research, describing the relationship between the health topics addressed in the research, the shifting focus of concerns about the media, and, ultimately, the variation in problems for health promotion. I suggest that research attending to topics related to bodily health challenges focused on whether popular media accurately or appropriately represented health challenges. The implication was that there is some consensus about more right or wrong, complete or incomplete ways of representing an issue; the problem was that the media are generally wrong. Alternatively, research addressing topics related to sociocultural context issues focused on how certain interests are privileged in the media. The implication was that competing groups are making claims on the system, but the problem was that popular media marginalizes certain interests. In short, popular media is not likely to facilitate understandings helpful to individuals coping with health challenges and is likely to perpetuate social and political power differentials with regard to health-related issues. I conclude by offering some possibilities for future health media content research.

Religion in Mass Media Social Marketing Campaigns: A Paradox

“…Seale (2001) suggests that both scientific ideas and medical practices are sometimes unable to "address existential questions of ultimate meaning or justice that often trouble people when they face a life-threatening illness" and whilst this problematic area would normally be addressed by religious discourse, unfortunately this does not occur due to the media's marginalisation of religion. Kline (2006) evokes the argument of whose views, values, interests and/or messages are privileged or more privileged than another, specifically when religion is proven to have foundations for behavioural interventions (Ahmad & Harrison, 2007).…”

Civic journalism meets civic social science: foregrounding social determinants in health coverage

“…Research has established the importance of such coverage in communicating disease risk, showcasing medical breakthroughs and framing professional concerns (Finaly & Faulkner, 2005;Clarke & Everest, 2006;Kline, 2006;Salleh, 2008;Wallis & Nerlich, 2005;Wilson et al, 2004). Coverage also promotes the importance of personal behaviour change in maintaining health and preventing illness, particularly in relation to lifestyle 'diseases' such as obesity (Howell & Ingham, 2001).…”

“…Such stories reflect a moral obligation to be healthy based on notions of individual responsibility for health (Hodgetts, Bolam & Stephens, 2005). Health is predominantly defined by medical and lifestyle-oriented perspectives and has become a major category for news, shaping coverage of a range of health concerns, from surgery, diabetes and stress to health service reform (Hodgetts, Bolam, & Stephens, 2004;Kline, 2006;Seale, 2003). In a content analysis of US prime-time television, Byrd-Bredbenner, Finckenor, and Grasso (2003) defined health-related content as: …any scene that included visual or verbal information related to mental or physical health, medical treatments (e.g., medications, surgery), substance use (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, drugs), food / nutrition, body image, fitness / exercise, promiscuous sex, or safety.…”

News Media Reporting on Substance Use Among People of African Ethnicity in Three Australian States, 2003-2013

“…Media play an important role in influencing public opinion and community discourse, including how health issues and health-related behaviours are perceived (Kline, 2006;Saguy, Frederick, & Gruys, 2014;Wakefield, Flay, Nichter, & Giovino, 2003). Alcohol and illicit drugs feature in thousands of articles in Australian print media each year (Azar et al, 2014;, making this an important source of information about substance use for the general population (Fan, 1996).…”