Health and the Media: Do the media have an ethical responsibility in presenting health information?

Welcome to the first in a series of posts that I'll be doing based on some of my university studies.

This is a short video presentation that I had to do for a sociology subject (Social Determinants of Health) on the ethical implications of how the media present health information.

It's fairly quick and to the point, being that the media should take ethical responsibility for the way in which and the information it presents regarding health and well-being. Inaccurate or misleading claims can in some cases be quite dangerous (Belle Gibson anyone?), so it is important that all due care is taken to ensure that the information being put to the public is accurate.

On Slide 4 you'll notice a quote from the lovely Adina Pearson, RD, she's most definitely worth a follow and my references are listed in the video, but are added here for your perusal :)

References: 

Australian Press Council (2001). Guideline: Health and medical matters. Retrieved from www.presscouncil.org.au/document-search/guideline-health/

Eysenbach, G. (2008). Credibility of Health Information and Digital Media: New Perspectives and Implications for Youth. In M.J. Metzger &  A.J. Flanagin (Eds), Digital media, youth and credibility (pp. 123-154). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

Green, S. (2017). The Ethics of Science and Health Journalism: A Q&A with Gary Schwitzer. The Wiley Network. Retrieved from https://hub.wiley.com/community/exchanges/discover/blog/2017/06/07/the-ethics-of-science-and-health-journalism-a-qa-with-gary-schwitzer

Haman, L., Barker-Ruchti, N., Patriksson, G., & Lindgren, E. (2015). Orthorexia Nervosa: An integrative literature review of a lifestyle syndrome. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being 10(1). 26799. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/qhw.v10.26799

Portsmouth, L. (2012). Health and the media. In P. Liamputtong, R. Fanany, G. Verrinder (Eds), Health, Illness and Well-being: Perspectives and Social Determinants (pp. 257-277). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. 

Schwitzer, G., Mudur, G., Henry, D., Wilson, A., Goozner, M., Simbra, M., Sweet, M., & Baverstock, K.A. (2005). What are the roles and responsibilities of the media in disseminating health information? PLoS Medicine 2(7), pp.576-582. Retrieved from http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020215