Media Representations of Health Issues
The public are exposed via the written and broadcast mass media (including the internet) to a vast array of findings from medical research. Much of this material stems from epidemiological research and deals with everyday risks (e.g. smoking, diet, where you live), while some deals with novel risks or theories about risks (e.g. BSE, GM foods, MMR vaccine). Increasingly the relationship between science, the media and public opinion has been the centre of debate, recent high profile examples include: the 2009/2010 swine flu pandemic, the MMR controversy, the BSE crisis, and the GM food debate. As part of the MRC’s commitment to engage with the public on the issues in science that matter to them, and to engage in the timely translation of scientific knowledge we aim to respond quickly to investigate emerging public health issues that become newsworthy or controversial, and to disseminate findings to the public and key stakeholders.
Publications
Hilton S, Patterson C, Teyhan A. Escalating coverage of obesity in UK newspapers: the evolution and framing of the ‘obesity epidemic’ from 1996 to 2010 [Epub ahead of print]. Obesity 2012.
pubmed open accessHilton S, Hunt K. UK newspapers representations of the 2009-2010 outbreak of swine flu: one health scare not over-hyped by the media?. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 2011; 65:941-6.
pubmed open accessHilton S, Hunt K, Langan M, Petticrew M. Newsprint media representations of the introduction of the HPV vaccination programme for cervical cancer prevention in the UK (2005-2008). Social Science & Medicine 2010 ; 70:942-50.
Hilton S, Hunt K. Coverage of Jade Goody's cervical cancer in UK newspapers: a missed opportunity for health promotion? BMC Public Health 2010; 10:368.
pubmed open accessKitzinger J. The Media and Health. In: Alder B, Porter M, Abraham C, van Teijlinger E, eds. Psychology and Sociology Applied to Medicine: churchill-livingstone, 2004:50-51.
Davidson R, Hunt K, Kitzinger J. Radical blueprint for social change? Media representations of New Labour's policies on public health. Sociology of Health and Illness 2003; 25:532-552.
pubmedKitzinger J. Creating discourses of 'false memory': media coverage and production dynamics. In: Reavey P, Warner S, eds. Challenging the Tyranny of Truth. London: Routledge, 2003.
Eldridge J. Risk, society and the media: now you see it, now you don't. In: Philo G, ed. Message Received: Longman, 1999:106-127.
Kitzinger J. Researching risk and the media. Health, Risk and Society 1999; 1:55-69.
Miller D, Macintyre S. Risk communication: the relationship between the media, public beliefs and policy-making. In: Bennett PG, Calman KC, eds. Risk Communication and Public Health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999:229-240.
Miller D. Risk, science and policy: definitional struggles, information management, the media and BSE. Social Science & Medicine 1999; 49:1239-1255.
pubmedPhilo G. Message Received. Harlow: Longman, 1999.
Reilly J. Just another Food Scare? Changes in public understandings of BSE. In: Philo G, ed. Message Received. London: Longman, 1999:128-147.
Kitzinger J. The gender politics of news production: silenced voices and false memories. In: Carter C, Branston G, Allan S, eds. News, Gender and Power. London: Routledge, 1998:186-203.
Macintyre S, Reilly J, Miller D, Eldridge J. Food choice, food scares, and health: the role of the media. In: Murcott A, ed. The Nation's Diet: The Social Science of Food Choice. London: Addison Wesley Longman, 1998:228-249.
Miller D, Kitzinger J, Williams K, Beharrell P. The Circuit of Mass Communication: Media Strategies, Representation and Audience Reception in the AIDS Crisis. London: Sage, 1998.
Reilly J. The salmonella-in-eggs crisis in Britain. In: Applebaum M, ed. Alimentation, Peurs, et Risques: Ouvrage sous la Direction. Paris: Observatoire Cidil de L'harmonie Alimentaire, 1998:14-22.
