title: Medicine, the media and political interests.
abstract: The news media is frequently criticised for failing to support the goals of government health campaigns. But is this necessarily the purpose of the media? We suggest that while the media has an important role in disseminating health messages, it is a mistake to assume that the media should serve the interests of government as it has its own professional ethics, norms, values, structures and roles that extend well beyond the interests of the health sector, and certainly beyond those of the government. While considerable attention has been given to the ways in which uncritical publication of industry perspectives by news media can negatively impact on public understandings of health and health behaviours, we would argue that it is equally important that journalists not become the 'lapdogs' of government interests. Further, we suggest that the interests of public health may be served more by supporting the ongoing existence of an independent media than by seeking to overdetermine its purpose or scope.
authors.affiliation: University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia. w.lipworth@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lipworth
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kerridge
authors.forename: Bronwen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Morrell
authors.forename: Catriona
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bonfiglioli
authors.forename: Rowena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Forsyth
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D006076:Government; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education; D006291:Health Policy; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000941:ethics*; D018156:Journalism, Medical / Q000592:standards; D008402:Mass Media / Q000941:ethics / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000941:ethics / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D011057:Politics; D011634:Public Health / Q000941:ethics / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D012109:Research Support as Topic / Q000639:trends; D012941:Social Responsibility; D014481:United States