Health And Mass Media Case Study

2.1 HEALTH, DEVELOPMENT AND MASS MEDIA

The World Health Organisation (WHO, 1948) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (p.100). WHO (n.d) advances that many factors combine together to affect the health of individuals and communities – where people live, the state of the environment, genetics, income and education levels, and relationships with friends and family. Factors such as access and use of health care services often have less of an impact.

On the other hand, the concept of development has had many definitions over the years. Initially, development was viewed mostly as an economic issue, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. Economists took over

Reviewed specifically below are four studies – three of them were interested in the framing of health news while one especially evaluated problems in health reporting in Africa.

The social construction of HIV/AIDS in African media came under investigation by Hughes and Malila (1999). The assertion fueling the research was that despite years of mass media campaigns to change behaviors and attitudes, little proof existed of the success of these campaigns in changing behaviors and attitudes towards the disease. Using framing analysis, the study classified cultural themes used by African media to characterize HIV/AIDS. The researchers found that while reporting on HIV/AIDS, the media assumed too much in terms of the rationality and awareness of their audience with regards understanding what was at stake, expecting them to make healthy behavior choices, based on rational judgments. The recommendation from the study was that the media need to consider the reasoning of target groups, understand their needs and interests in order to provide alterative education to turn knowledge into

The investigation used content analysis to unearth problems in tackling public health issues in African media. The results of the study found several lapses in the coverage of health in African media. African journalists were reported to have little training in covering health issues, limited time and resources to work in settings that were heavily politicized and almost no capacity to closely analyze health delivery systems and policies. Most health stories were also found to lay emphasis on government and personalities, sacrificing in-depth analysis and education in the process. It also found that there was not enough content to push young people to adopt positive approaches towards health information and health policies. One of the strongest points that emerged from the investigation was that few journalists are dedicated health reporters and majority of African media had no newsroom policy to sustain health coverage, and therefore relied heavily on event-related coverage to generate health news. The study also revealed loop holes in communication and coordination between the media and policy makers on public health