The Politics and Economics of Health and Science Journalism on TV

Health and science reporting on TV is often influenced by economic and political factors. Specifically, the journalistic output is shaped by outside institutions such as hospitals and research organisations. In many developing countries, the government defines reporting about the environment and epidemics. Research on television health and science reporting seems to be limited by difficulties in accessing television journalists and by the complexity of audiovisual content. There seems to be a lack of resources such as archives of TV content. One way researchers might access participants could be workshops for producers and audiences. More research should explore the effects of well-documented trends on TV, such as the prevalence of citizen sources, limited contextual information and presentation styles that include humour, dialogue and speculation.