Media are powerful institutions that shape our beliefs about health and diseases. Media (e.g. films, television, books, magazines, newspapers, music, social media) play a significant role in increasing awareness and knowledge about health behaviours and promoting behaviour change. However, they can also play a role in misinformation and negatively impact public health. Thus, it is important for scholars and health professionals to critically evaluate media messages about health and diseases to understand how they might be impacting health-related beliefs, attitudes, and perceived social norms. The Mayo Clinic’s Proceeding (2006, p. 291) highlights some critical questions that need to be asked with regards to media and health: 

• How do the media portray persons with a particular illness?
• Is a particular illness portrayed in the media as more or less common than in the real world?
• Are the severity and types of illness portrayed similar to what is seen in the real world?
• How do the media portray medical practitioners?
• Is the portrayal more negative or more positive than what scientific studies document?
• What is the cognitive, emotional, physiological, and attitudinal impact of these media messages?

In addition to these critical questions, one should also ask, how do media structures, news norms, and commercial goals of the media impact the nature and type of health information produced and disseminated to the public? How do media coverage of health and diseases impact individuals and social groups, especially marginalized groups within a society? As media consumption increases worldwide, people spend more than 7.5 hours per day consuming different types of media (Watson, 2020). These examinations become even more critical.

To understand how media impact health, scholars have developed several macro and micro-level theories, which include the Agenda setting theory (McCombs, 2004), Diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers, 2003), Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986), Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986), Message framing; Uses and gratifications (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974; Rubin, 2002), and Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954). These theories highlight that health is impacted by a complex set of factors ranging from individual-level factors to social and cultural factors and that media play a role at both these levels.

Studies in this area have highlighted that media play a role in a multitude of health outcomes. For example, media portrayals of mental illnesses on television and in films are said to contribute to the public’s perception of people suffering from mental illnesses, increase stigma, discrimination, stereotyping, and labeling of people with mental illnesses as “crazy,” dangerous, and violent. In developing countries where there is even lesser awareness of mental health issues among the public than developed countries, and there is limited availability of mental health professionals and care, media can play an even bigger role in filling in the public’s knowledge gap. 

Similarly, in the absence or limited education about sex and sexual health, individuals learn about sex and sexual health through media. Mobile and internet technologies have made pornography available to individuals worldwide at the click of a button affecting their real-life sexual encounters, contributing to sex addiction and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Unrealistic depictions of sex in the media help create unrealistic expectations for couples leading to separations and divorce. However, media can play a positive role in this area by increasing the public’s knowledge about sex and activating their desire to seek information related to sex, sex addiction, and STDs.

Media also impact physical health. Information and promotional messages about foods and lifestyles impact people’s choices in these areas. For example, advertising and promotion of fast and unhealthy foods, tobacco, and alcohol contribute to obesity, smoking, and alcohol-related health problems. Media also contribute to the public’s unhealthy obsession with appearance and body weight through unrealistic and photoshopped images of celebrities. These images make men and women think that these unrealistic bodies are attainable. Some go to extreme ends to get their perfect bodies, whether it be through excessive exercise, implants or surgeries. Women’s obsession with thinness and men’s obsession with bulking up and having six-pack abs are influenced by media portrayals. Media, however, can and do play a positive role in individuals awareness of and adoption of healthy foods and exercise, helping them achieve better health outcomes.   

Media also play an important role in informing people about infectious and contagious diseases. In this time of COVID-19, media are playing a major role in bringing information about the virus and the vaccines to the public, helping the public understand the impacts of the virus, be informed about masks and physical distancing, and reducing their hesitancy in taking vaccines. However, there are also media outlets, including social media, which are spreading vaccine-related misinformation and intentionally or unintentionally fueling anti-vaccine sentiment. As the world spend more time indoors because of COVID-19 related shut-ins, media usage and consumption has only increased. This is bound to impact people’s psychological and physical health.

References:

Watson, A. (2020, March 23). Media Use – Statistics & Facts. Statista. https://www.statista.com/topics/1536/media-use/

Mayo Clinic (2006). Mass Media and Medicine: When the Most Trusted Media Mislead. Mayo Clinic’s Proceedings, 81(3), 291-293.

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Dr Suman Mishra teaches in the Department of Mass Communications, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.