Sensationalizing health coverage
Fraser University, published this spring in an academic journal,
concludes that Canadian newspapers miss the “real stories” about health
issues and “dwell on covering the more simplistic and sensational
stories.”
Simplistic and sensational, eh. Never heard that before.
The SFU press release is here. It’s from last month but I post it here because its points are relevant to our industry.
The
study didn’t get a lot of media attention (we really don’t like
reporting on ourselves for our audience, do we) but the alternative Georgia Straight picked up
the story with a fairly thorough analysis. In her story, reporter Gail
Johnson also discussed the work of University of Victoria researcher
Alan Cassels on Media Doctor Canada, a Web site that reviews and rates news coverage on medical issues.
Fraser University, published this spring in an academic journal,
concludes that Canadian newspapers miss the “real stories” about health
issues and “dwell on covering the more simplistic and sensational
stories.”
Simplistic and sensational, eh. Never heard that before.
The SFU press release is here. It’s from last month but I post it here because its points are relevant to our industry.
The
study didn’t get a lot of media attention (we really don’t like
reporting on ourselves for our audience, do we) but the alternative Georgia Straight picked up
the story with a fairly thorough analysis. In her story, reporter Gail
Johnson also discussed the work of University of Victoria researcher
Alan Cassels on Media Doctor Canada, a Web site that reviews and rates news coverage on medical issues.
